Out at School: Part 1 Pushing the Envelope (Scenes 1-7)
Out at School, is a verbatim audio-play about the experiences of LGBTQ families at school, created from excerpts from interviews undertaken with 37 families living in the province of Ontario, Canada, between 2014 and 2020.
The play is divided into 3 parts, with each part ending with an original song composed and sung by Canadian queer folk musician Kate Reid. Each of Kate’s songs are based the testimonies and stories the families shared in the interviews.
Part 1 of Out at School begins with a scene called “We Still Have to Fight” which introduces one of the major themes of the play: LGBTQ parents and students have to fight and advocate to make sure their families are recognized and legitimized at school. Part 1 ends with Kate Reid’s song Pushing the Envelope which speaks to the ways LGBTQ parents and students have to explain their families and relationships to school principals, teachers and staff.
Out at School: Part 2 What Would It Take to Let Love Be the Way? (Scenes 8-16)
Out at School, is a verbatim audio-play about the experiences of LGBTQ families at school, created from excerpts from interviews undertaken with 37 families living in the province of Ontario, Canada, between 2014 and 2020.
The play is divided into 3 parts, with each part ending with an original song composed and sung by Canadian queer folk musician Kate Reid. Each of Kate’s songs are based the testimonies and stories the families shared in the interviews.
Part 2 of Out at School features two scenes that discuss the ways Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are celebrated in schools. It ends with Kate Reid’s song Let Love Be The Way which continues Kate’s reflection on the ways LGBTQ parents and students need to explain themselves at school. In the song, Kate talks about how LGBTQ families often need to justify their identities, bodies, and pronouns at school. The entire song is composed of a set of questions directed to school principals, teachers and staff who identify as heterosexual and cisgender and asks them to think about their answers to these questions.
Out at School: Part 3 Risking Hope (Scenes 17-22)
Out at School, is a verbatim audio-play about the experiences of LGBTQ families at school, created from excerpts from interviews undertaken with 37 families living in the province of Ontario, Canada, between 2014 and 2020.
The play is divided into 3 parts, with each part ending with an original song composed and sung by Canadian queer folk musician Kate Reid. Each of Kate’s songs are based the testimonies and stories the families shared in the interviews.
Part 3 of Out at School ends with a scene called “Risk Hope” summarizing another key theme of the play: Although they currently have to fight and advocate to make sure their families are recognized at school, LGBTQ parents and students still maintain hope that schools are capable of change and that one day they won’t need to be pushing the envelope. Part 3 ends with Kate Reid’s song Risk Hope which puts out the idea that storytelling, for example the stories and testimonies the families share in Out at School is vital to creating social change both inside and outside of school.
