The world premiere of a play about student activism in the year leading up to the 2012 closure of Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School (PCVS) will be performed in September in the auditorium of the former McDonnel Street high school.
Written by Peterborough native and award-winning playwright Madeleine Brown and directed by award-winning director Aaron Jan, Give ‘Em Hell retells the final school year before the closure of PCVS and stars eight Peterborough teenagers — Lion Addison, Jalen Brink, Edith Burton, Ziqin Chen, Ella Cunningham, Eloise Harvey, Isabelle Siena, and Jessie Williams — alongside professional actors M. John Kennedy, Jeff Dingle, and Sarah Lynn Strange.
In 2011, the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board decided to close one of Peterborough’s four high schools due to declining enrolment and eventually announced PCVS — the city’s oldest high school and one of the oldest in Ontario — would be the one to close. The decision prompted months of student-led rallies, protests, marches, and speeches to keep the school open.
A committee of students called ‘Peterborough Needs PCVS’ raised almost $250,000 to fund a legal battle to keep the school open, a fight that ultimately failed. The students’ activism made national headlines, and even CBC TV’s Rick Mercer dedicated one of his rants to the students, encouraging them to “raise a little hell.”
Presented by Theatre Direct Canada in partnership with 4th Line Theatre, Peterborough Museum & Archives, and Public Energy Performing Arts, Give ‘Em Hell includes six public performances from September 15 to 23 in the auditorium at Peterborough Alternative and Continuing Education (PACE) in the former PCVS building in downtown Peterborough, with designs by Melanie McNeill, JB Nelles, Logan Raju Cracknell, and and Uri Livne-Bar.
“Give ’em Hell is a truly entertaining, fiercely relevant and provocative play that will surely inspire the next generation of young activists through its powerful and true story,” reads a media release from Theatre Direct Canada.
VIDEO: Rick Mercer Report: Rick’s Rant – The Kids Are Alright (2012)
Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 15th and Saturday, September 16th and on Thursday, September 21st and Friday, September 22nd, with 2:30 p.m. matinee performances on Sunday, September 17th and Saturday, September 23rd.
The hour-long play will include a 15-minute question-and-answer session with the artists. There will also be an exhibition of archival materials from this turning point in the school’s history.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children, teenagers, or students (plus tax and fee) and are available now at eventbrite.ca/e/611203876247.
Performances for schools will also be presented from September 19 to 21. For school bookings, e-mail Madeleine Brown at madeleine@theatredirect.ca.
Brown is an playwright and actor whose previous plays include the comedies Madeleine Says Sorry (2017), Everyone Wants A T-Shirt! (2018), and News Play (2019), all of which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
In 2020, she was named one of two recipients of The Ellen Ross Stuart “Opening Doors” Award and, in 2022, she was a member of Driftwood Theatre’s Beyond the Bard Playwrights Unit and 4th Line Theatre’s Interdisciplinary Residency Program.
