A drama about a high school shooter who is stopped before running amok is set to play at TheaterLab in March.
ManyTracks presents the World Premiere of Shooter by Sam Graber, directed by Katrin Hilbe, with previews starting March 8 and opening night Friday, March 16 through March 31.
The play, which had already bee n scheduled before the recent shootings in Florida, was inspired by what has turned into a string of national tragedies.
In Shooter, Jim sees a teenager with two shotguns beneath his trench coat nearing the entrance of the local high school, pulls his own firearm and stops a potential massacre.
“Jim is a hero,” according to the production’s description of the plot. “But as more details on the incident are uncovered, what really happened becomes a lot less clear. It is a human tale focusing on the fallout between three friends, each of whom may have contributed some way to the would-be shooting.”
Sam Graber, a playwright who lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the Playwrights’ Center, has had his work including Shooter published in the Smith and Kraus Best Plays anthologies.
“I began thinking about what became Shooter after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting,” Graber said. “I was horrified and angry and carried so much outrage that it took me years before I figured out the right story to tell.”
Shooter stars Ean Sheehy, CK Allen, David Perez-Ribada, Michael Gnat and Nicholas Tyler-Corbin. Since its inception in 2009, ManyTracks has presented projects with varied subjects and themes in New York, Seattle, Edinburgh, London, Dublin, and Liechtenstein.
Shooter runs March 8 – 31, Thursday – Sunday at 8 p.m. at TheaterLab, 357 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues — accessible from the A,C,E trains at 34th Street. Tickets are $25 available at 212-352-3101 or www.ShooterThePlay.com.