Play urges students to break silence about bullies

Play urges students to break silence about bullies

By John Sharify

A traveling Seattle theater company is reaching out to kids and telling them not to take it anymore.

The play "Witness," by the road company at the Taproot Theatre urges kids to be witnesses to bullies. The play acts out clear examples of positive choices that are open to students being bullied or harassed.

"Like tell a teacher, or talk to the bully," according to eighth grader Kyle.

One Auburn educator says the play "brought a lot of feelings to the surface." She added after the performance, "Kids flooded the counselor's office fore the rest of the day."

Both students and school officials agree: no child is immune to the age-old problem of bullies.

"I got picked on for having a weird last name," said Nick Tollette, an eighth grader at the Holy Family School in Auburn.

Kyle has been on both ends. "I've bullied some people. I got bullied 'cause I was short when I was little," he said.

"We find similar level of bullying in public, private, suburban, and urban schools. It's really everywhere," said Corrina Skildum with Committee for Children.

The Taproot Theatre company performed at nearly 150 schools last year, reaching 54,000 children around the northwest. The performance is a part of a Bullying Prevention Program the state requires for each school district.

And company's efforts don't stop with one performance. They up with the Committee for Children to make sure the schools they visit adopt the bullying prevention program as a part of their curriculum.

"We have provided curriculum, lessons, and training for over 30 years," says Ann Halloran for Committee for Children. Ann welcomes readers to check out the committee's website at cfchildren.org. She says there's lots of "excellent resources and information" on the site.

For more information about Taproot Theatre go to http://www.taproottheatre.org

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