We start with no idea what our company of high-schoolers and undergrads will write.  Young people joining in, from different backgrounds, improvise for weeks the barriers that divide us — the stories of resilience, in our extremist era, that they have lived and witnessed.  Through six years of TOR, this process has banded together theater troupes who believe in themselves as writers.  Divisions transform into comedy; biases melt into healing melodrama.  This year, it turns out that comedy takes the fore.  Our show for you conjures — through delight — questions we think deserve consideration.

WHEN AND WHERE:

 Tuesday, May 16, 7:30 p.m., at Costa Mesa Playhouse, 661 Hamilton St, Costa Mesa, CA

 Thursday and Friday, May 18 and 19, on campus at the Yosemite Ballroom, Continuing Ed. Bldg.

Free admission and snacks Thursday and Friday on campus.

Donation requested Tuesday (pay what you can), in return for the kind support of the venerable Costa Mesa Playhouse, providing our community with amateur theater — amazingly for over 40 years!

APPRECIATION OF OUR SUPPORTERS:

UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence:  Award to TOR of “Confronting Extremism” grant (second year running).

Costa Mesa Playhouse:  Contribution of its theater space for our May 16 “road show,” including a guided theater-tech experience, using CMP’s professional equipment.

UCI School of Education:  Continuing its research on the efficacy of TOR, an innovative pedagogical form.  Principal Investigator, Rossella Santagata; Co-Principal Investigator, Gustavo Carlo; Co-Principal Investigator and Director of TOR, Joseph Jenkins; Graduate Student Researcher, Alysia Cruz.