Last night, the cast of Voices In Conflict, the play about the Iraq war by Wilton High School students, was honored with Music Theater International's Courage In Theater Award.
An article in today's Stamford Advocate reports that actor Joe Pantoliano presented the awards to the cast at the school's annual Fine and Performing Arts Awards ceremony. The Courage in Theatre award was the first of its kind given by the 55-year-old MTI. Pantoliano read from an MTI letter to the students:
However, we are aware that theater is not just about acting, singing, dancing and excelling in performance ... It's also about positive risk-taking for students, working as a community and utilizing theater skills to present points of view on the stage which comment on the world we live.
Voices In Conflict will be performed at several venues in Connecticut and New York City from June 6 to June 15. Details can be found on my blog or on a new site put together by Art Meets Commerce, sponsors of the June 9 staging at the Vineyard Theater in Manhattan.