Katie Nowak | Actor & Stage Manager
#ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence
Director & Project Lead
Loyola University Chicago | Spring 2024
Creative Team
Director, Project Lead: Katie Nowak
Stage Manager, Sound/Lighting Coordinator: Ceci Skemp
Costume Coordinator: Emma Smith
Scenic/Props Coordinator: Yasmine Yaworski
Faculty Mentor: Mark Lococo
Content Warning
Contains depictions and discussions of gun violence, depictions and discussions of death, and themes of grief.
Production Description
With the rampant nature of gun violence in educational settings, it is essential to hear the voices of students affected by this epidemic. #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence is a 2020 series of seven 10-minute plays written by high school students about gun violence in schools. Project leader Katie Nowak will produce three of these plays--Malcolm, Ms. Martin's Malaise, and Guns in Dragonland --in the Underground Theatre with a student-based cast to open a dialogue about this ubiquitous violence. Along with the production, we will partner with Students Demand Action to do a post-show discussion. This project aims to produce theater that creates real change in the educational community.
Directing Reel
Malcolm
by Debkanya Mitra
Synopsis
Four individuals tell the story of Malcolm, a Black folk musician whose quest through the Eastern Seaboard to find himself was violently interrupted, painting an evocative picture of the connection shared among strangers through a single life.
Cast
Pablo Gonzalez, Owen Ingram, Eve Owens, Aliyah Polk
Guns in Dragonland
by Eislinn Gracen
Synopsis
During a recess like any other, Lilah Gordon and her best friend/imaginary dragon, Toucan, set off on a special adventure to help Lilah earn dragon wings of her own. But things go awry when a mysterious noise from her nearby school compels the duo to embark on the biggest quest they have ever encountered.
Cast
Randy Brauer, Megan Parent
Ms. Martin's Malaise
by Adelaide Fisher
Synopsis
Ms. Martin is an ordinary high school teacher, trying to deal with the everyday stress and worrying "what-ifs" of 21st century teaching. But when her worst fears come true, and she is forced to make a difficult decision and an even more difficult confrontation, what will she do? And how will she move forward from it?
Cast
Riley Dougherty, Corin Friese, Willa Henske, Liv Lloyd, Libby Phillips, Heidi Reissenweber, Anna Sandberg, Riley Townsend,
Directing Photos
Photos by Emma Smith