Concept/Story V.1

The “Winter Tale” Project

Concept:
Set in a lower income neighborhood in Toronto, a school in the throes of violent upheaval. The Falconer Report forms the research backdrop of the story. It was written after the death of Jordan Manners, a 15 year old high school student.

The report describes a school system in chaos and collapse. Falconer describes hundreds of cases of violence taking place in schools featuring guns, knives, theft, bullying, sexual violence, and drugs. Criminal activity and incidents went unreported to Police, to Parents as the school administration (the Principal) looked the other way.

Violence and a complete breakdown of discipline and order seemed to be normalized. Teachers appeared to have no control over students, felt powerless.

The report said the situation was not unique to this high school, but common to many other Toronto schools. Different systemic, social, and historical factors were identified that led to this. Jordan Manners' death was just the straw that broke the camel's back, making everything come tumbling down, revealing a deeper malaise.

Story:
The story starts with a school Lock Down. Students in the Drama Class are isolated, parents and adults helpless and scared outside the school. It is a high-profile high-octane event, the kind that catches the news headlines, and generates “Reports” and “Calls for change”. A teaser.

Then we go back to tell the story of the different kids, and how we got to this point.

The story focuses on a group of kids who are in a drama class. At the time of the story they are rehearsing/creating a play - perhaps Shakespeare. Through our storytelling, we tease out the causes of the school violence, and why it got so bad. During the lock-down the adults in the story come together, are connected: a parallel group. The story also explores how each character changes/evolves. The time structure of the story allows backward and forward reflection, to show the "before" as well as the "after" of the event.

Events COLLIDE when SOMETHING HAPPENS. The opening scene is explained. The EVENT hits the headlines . Could be a school shooting, death of a student in school: an outrage. The school is locked down. Media is heavily involved.

All the characters are implicated and impacted and we see the PUBLIC and PRIVATE angles of these events.