Lysistrata's Children

2 hours
This was a play I went to on November 22 called Lysistrata’s Children at the Theatre for the New City. It’s name comes from an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes called Lysistrata. It was put on by middle and high school students from the Friendship Seminary. The play was based on sets of skits performed at school, and then came together as a larger play put together by their director.
The play began with a girl singing the National Anthem. The girl stops at the line “and the rocket’s red glare…” which she pauses and then sings again, over and over. Then someone in the audience yelled “you said that already!” and she replied “I know! That’s all they taught me!” I thought that was a really powerful moment. It shows the traditional way of learning, the way that many of us have been taught, which is by memorization, not by actual meaning or connection to what we are learning. After this, the play lapses into a parade in commemoration to US Wars, however the children are questioning why a parade for war? The play continues with the idea of why America continues to wage in war constantly. One girl expresses concern for the ongoing warfare, which sparks a flame into a deep discussion into ending war in the United States and bringing peace to America. The children acted out different scenarios and strategies to create peace until they feel they have come up with an effective one. They create a peace treaty for all adults to sign. However, the adults refuse to sign the peace treaty, forcing the children to take action. They refuse to show emotion or affection toward their parents until they sign the peace treaty. The play ends with a protest, the children vs their parents, in Union Square. The parents are finally forced to sign the peace treaty. In the playbill itself, they actually included this peace treaty, which I thought was awesome.
It was really cool to see a play in which students actually took action; this could inspire a lot of children to get involved in social justice education.
By the way, kudos to Lexie for bringing her residents! It seemed like they enjoyed it.