Maggie Loxtercamp (Musical Theater 2024) and Wanjiru Njora (Musical Theater 2024) Direct in ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence Nationwide Reading

November 7, 2023

Maggie Loxtercamp (Musical Theater 2024), back row center, and Wanjiru Njora (Musical Theater 2024), back row second from the right, are pictured with other Perpich Arts High School students and Tory Peterson, Theater Instructor

Maggie Loxtercamp (Musical Theater 2024) and Wanjiru Njora (Musical Theater 2024) are accustomed to receiving direction as musical theater students at Perpich Arts High School. But they had a unique experience this fall of providing the direction when the two participated in the ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence nationwide reading on November 6, 2023. Loxtercamp and Njora directed teens in staged readings of two plays on the theme of gun violence by teens from around the country.

Six bold short plays, written by six young writers, were presented in an evening of readings staged simultaneously by theaters, schools, and community groups across the country. The plays were selected by a committee of America’s most lauded professional playwrights. Perpich Arts High School participated in the Minnesota event in collaboration with Applause Community Theatre and the performances were hosted at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.

Reflecting on the experience, Loxtercamp shared, “A lot of people were touched by the stories. Seeing everybody’s play was just inspiring to me. I learned a lot from the experience about gun violence and gun control and how to better talk and educate about it. I would definitely do this again next year.”

New to being the director, Maggie enjoyed the experience. “I hadn’t directed really anything before, other than some student-led stuff in class so it was a really interesting experience being able to work with other kids from other art areas and to work with other directors at Mixed Blood.”

Nearly 2,000 artists in more than 100 communities have participated in the Nationwide Readings in previous years. Many have used ENOUGH! to forge meaningful community partnerships and create space for the youth of their area to be seen and heard.

ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence creates space for teens to confront gun violence by creating new works of theatre that will spark critical conversations and inspire meaningful action in communities across the country. Their mission is to promote playwriting as a tool for self-expression and social change, harnessing this generation’s spirit of activism and providing a platform for America’s playwrights of tomorrow to discover and develop their voices today.