22% Fear

The structure is a classic Greek play but the voices are as contemporary as this year’s Crescenta Valley High School students, in “22% Fear” – an original play crafted by the CVHS Advanced Theater class, based on student responses to a faculty survey last year.

The play goes on stage three nights this week after first playing to all CV high school students. 

In the survey, 22% of CVHS students admitted they felt harassed or bullied at school. The drama students, under teacher Brent Beerman, then set up an email account and invited students in their classes to anonymously submit their own stories of bullying and harassment. The stories were then crafted into dramatic monologues, with a chorus that comments on the actions described.

“The Greek Chorus is the perfect structure for this, because the chorus is a bridge between the audience and the actors,” Beerman said. The chorus “can provide background, emotional response and , more importantly, internal character monologues.”

The draft script was reviewed by students so that it sounded “true” for high school audiences, and later vetted by school district administration and the Board of Education. 

All Crescenta Valley students will see one of several performances of the play on Thursday, February 2, during their science or social science class periods. The play will then be presented to the general public Thursday through Saturday evenings, February 2, 3, 4, at 7 p.m., at the CVHS Auditorium, on the Ramsdell side of the campus.