Kids Coping With Violence
Images of a day that changed their lives forever still haunt the students of Thurston High School, even though it's been almost a year since a shooting spree left two of their classmates dead and 22 others injured.
A 15-year-old freshman, Kip Kinkel, faces trial this fall. The incident in Springfield, Oregon was one of many tragic school shootings in recent years.
The kids of Thurston felt a need to do something that might prevent violence from threatening the lives of anyone else, and they found a creative way to do it. CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Jane Robelot reports.
On Wednesday night, 13 student actors will take to the stage in the theatrical debut of Bang Bang You're Dead, a one-act play that they hope will spark a national dialogue about school violence.
William Mastrosimone, an award-winning screenwriter and playwright, created the script. He says the idea came from an incident that occured close to home, in Washington State. His son told him, he says, "someone had written on the black board at school, 'I'm going to kill everyone in this classroom.' And that night, I wrote the play because that statement robbed me of my peace of mind as it did other parents where I live."
Mastrosimone sent the play to Thurston High School. He's been working on it with the students since August.
"I'm doing this more as a parent than as I am a playwright," he says. "I feel you have to assume there is a potential killer in every school."
Chalan Moon, one of the student actors, says, "I took it just as seriously, probably a little bit more seriously, knowing what kind of message we were trying to get across."
Mastrosimone is not allowing the production to be videotaped and shown because he would like it to be staged by students across America. "I think it is really important that peers see their own peers on stage, that it should remain a theater piece," he says. "It should be a tool in the hands of students to talk to each other. I would sum it up by saying it is a play by kids for kids."
More on the play, and the script, can be found at www.bangbangyouredead.com
©1999 CBS Worldwide Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed