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Schools

Student-Penned Play Steals Show at High School Black History Month Event

Salem sophomore Darius Funches wrote the play "A Black Boy's Notebook" about the inner struggles of a young African-American male.

Students at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park recognized Black History Month on Monday with its annual Black History Month Program at .

The event featured poetry, song and dance and the day’s headliner -- a student- authored play called  A Black Boy’s Notebook.   

Producing a play written by an African-American student has become a yearly tradition at P-CEP. Past student-authored plays have examined the importance of family, Brown v. the Board of Education and segregation in the military during World War II.

This year’s budding playwright, Darius Funches, 17, a sophomore at Salem, said that he was inspired to write A Black Boys Notebook after watching the movie Freedom Writers.

Funches' revisited version of the story focuses on the inner struggles of a young African-American male and the problems and concerns that he and his peers face in a predominately white school. At the beginning of the play, the students are angry about the fact that teachers don't seem supportive of them, but with motivation from one specific teacher, the students gradually learn to address those issues and are forever transformed.

Funches said that he was advised by some faculty and students not to put on the play because the story touches on perceptions about education and stereotypes as they relate to class and race. But he believed that his story had to be heard.

“They told me not to do it, but it was something that I felt needed to be looked into,” Funches said.

According to English teacher Gretchen Miller, producer and script consultant for the play, Funches' story tapped into some concerns that school officials were already working to address.

“The district is in the third year of a program where we’re looking at how race relations are affecting achievement in the district," Miller said.

Miller said that Funches story gave teachers a way to talk to students of color about some of the issues they face.

“Darius and I started holding lunchtime panel discussions where students of color would come and just talk about what they thought the issues were at the Park and what they needed from their teachers," Miller said.

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A Black Boy’s Notebook was performed several times on Monday for staff and students at P-CEP.

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