Bullycide Project brings students from Denmark for special performance
May 15, 2015
Two students from Denmark joined The Bullycide Project cast to put on an international performance last Tuesday in the Ruby Zima Auditorium. Emilie Peterson and Sofie Berglund were able to get involved after drama teacher Lori Thompson made connections to their instructor overseas.
“Our teacher, Lena, was in contact with Lori and Lori has done this for a while now. She and two other teachers came to Denmark and they talked about it with us,” Denmark student Emilie Peterson said. “Then we did our own play, kind of the same as this. When we were done with that, Lori asked us if we wanted to be in the Bullycide. So, we said yes.”
This performance was a big step towards the central idea, “You never know how far your ripples reach” as stated on the front of the program.
“In Denmark, we did a show in Danish with Lori so it was kind of the same, but this is the first and I think the last time we do a show here,” Denmark student Sofie Berglund said. “We have those problems [bullying] in Denmark, but it’s much bigger over here. We did that show in Denmark and it was like amazing because this is here, but when we did it in Denmark we were able to tell all the kids in Denmark. It was so emotional. Everyone got emotional, even us.”
Both Peterson and Berglund were given the chance to tell their personal stories of self-discovery and their own personal philosophies. Berglund’s monologue, “Be Yourself,” spoke of her desire to remain true to herself, even if it meant losing popularity within her school. Peterson’s monologue, titled “Upstander,” gave a powerful message about taking action against bullying.
“I can’t stand people who bully others,” Peterson said. “It’s important to me that people are happy and if I can do something about it, I will do something about it. I think other people should do that too, so it was important to me that I could do my own story.”
However, no matter how far the message spreads it has the power to continue to impact audiences; in some cases it also impacts the cast members.
“What is really impactful is when kids just stand up and say, ‘Thank you, this is what I’ve been wanting to hear for the last three years,’ or ‘the last eight months,’ or whatever the timespan may be,” junior Mckenzie Mead said. “I think that’s what impacts me the most. When they just stand up and say ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for.’”
At the end of the performance, Thompson asked Peterson and Berglund to stand up and say their monologues in Danish. These special acts showed that the fight against bullying can be brought to anyone, in any language.
