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Clayton Teachers, Alumni Take Part in “Every 28 Hours” Festival
Several current and former members of the School District of Clayton community took part in the “Every 28 Hours” One Minute Play Festival held in St. Louis on Oct. 23-24. The festival featured more than 60 one-minute plays focused on the issues raised regarding racial inequalities following the shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. The plays were written, acted and directed by artists from the St. Louis region and across the country, including two Clayton teachers and two CHS alumni.
One-minute plays “A Birthday Wish” and “Dinosaurs,” written by Wydown Middle School Literacy Teacher Rob Maesaka and Clayton High School Theater Teacher Kelley Weber respectively, both were performed during the festival. Maesaka, along with CHS alumni Ellie Schwetye (’00) and Maalik Shakoor (’14), also acted at the festival.
The name of the Every 28 Hours project was derived from the widely shared statistic that every 28 hours, an African American person is killed by an authority figure, such as a police officer. The festival was produced through a partnership between Jacqueline Thompson, assistant professor of theater at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Claudia Alick of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Dominic D’Andrea of New York’s One Minute Play Festival.
One-minute plays “A Birthday Wish” and “Dinosaurs,” written by Wydown Middle School Literacy Teacher Rob Maesaka and Clayton High School Theater Teacher Kelley Weber respectively, both were performed during the festival. Maesaka, along with CHS alumni Ellie Schwetye (’00) and Maalik Shakoor (’14), also acted at the festival.
The name of the Every 28 Hours project was derived from the widely shared statistic that every 28 hours, an African American person is killed by an authority figure, such as a police officer. The festival was produced through a partnership between Jacqueline Thompson, assistant professor of theater at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Claudia Alick of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Dominic D’Andrea of New York’s One Minute Play Festival.