Coached Drama Students in Manufactured Dissent
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Drama teacher Melody Herzfeld is being recognized by the Tony Awards for training students in her drama class to perform an pro-gun control song on nationwide television one week after the Parkland massacre event.
The New York Times reports:
Melody Herzfeld will receive a prize from the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University for her work as a drama teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.CreditIan Witlen
Melody Herzfeld, a drama teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and a survivor of the shooting there, will receive a theater education prize from the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University.
Ms. Herzfeld was on campus on Feb. 14 when a former student, Nikolas Cruz, opened fire on students, staff and faculty at the school, killing 17 people. She and dozens of her students hid in her office during the rampage for two hours before being taken to safety by authorities.
Ms. Herzfeld said in a statement that during a normal time she would feel “humbled and grateful for this recognition for the work I have done,” but since her students “have taken to action through speech, performance and passionate honesty it now means so much more.”
Only a week after the shooting, Ms. Herzfeld’s students performed “Shine,” an original song, at a CNN town hall meeting on gun violence.
Lyrics from the song include, “We’re done with all your little games. We’re tired of hearing that we’re too young to ever make a change. You’re not gonna knock us down. We’ll get back up again.”
Washington is behind the recently released offshore revelations known as the Panama Papers, WikiLeaks has claimed, saying that the attack was “produced” to target Russia and President Putin.