The play “Bang, Bang, You’re Dead”,written by William Mastrosimone was based on a 1998 shooting in a school in Springfield, Oregon. A male student killed one fellow student and wounded 26 others.

The play, tells the story of a teenager named Josh who does not know how to handle pressure and his declining reputation at school. He is haunted by voices that ridicule him and encourage him to shoot his parents and peers. After the shooting Josh is haunted by his five victims.

The play was written with the intention of making people aware of the consequences of violence in school. The plot was formed by each individual character’s dialogue, body language and actions that made the subject relatively easy to relate to. Although the “dark” message was an eye-opening experience for many attending, some audience members found the message too mature for a high school play. The message was beneficial to the students and others watching it but it was vastly inappropriate for a healthy educational environment.

From the moment when the lights started to dim and the play began the audience was captivated. When the actors took their bows, the audience was silent before erupting with applause, but this is no “Cinderella story.”