Theater Group Brings Anti-Bullying Message

Bullying remains a major issue for many school districts, and on Wednesday, educators and students across the state participated in "No Name Calling Day" activities to help call attention to the matter.

At , those activities included a visit from members of Deana's Educational Theater, a Wakefield-based organization that specializes in bringing abuse-prevention and anti-bullying messages to young people. The organization was founded in 1995 by friends and family of Deana Brisbois, a victim of dating violence.

Three actors presented a short play to the LHS 9th graders that focused on online harassment as well as the considerable risks that come from "sexting," or sending racy pictures of one's self to somebody.

The story itself focused on three high-school characters: a football player, his longtime female friend who is more of an emo/poet type, and the football player's extremely high-maintenance and jealous girlfriend. The girlfriend, outraged over a past connection between the other two characters, ends up viciously harassing her former friend with text messages and social media, going so far as to discover an old racy photo and sending it out to a broader population. At the end, the football player discovers what has happened and breaks up with his girlfriend, but not before all three have their lives dramatically affected - complete with a suspension, an expulsion, and the potential threat of charges for transmitting child pornography because of the photo.

The previously mentioned scenario is a very realistic possibility for people under 18 who send out and receive such images, explained the group members in a discussion afterward. They also warned students that anything at all sent out online is ultimately traceable, even if it is deleted, and pointed out that even bystanders can make things far worse for a bullied individual if they fail to act.

With that in mind, the actors cited an interesting trend from some Latin American countries, where people who witness an act of bullying or something similar are encouraged to simply respond by giving the tormentor a thumbs-down signal.

Students also heard from LHS Assistant Principal Kevin Cyr, who followed up with the group's remarks on sexting by telling the freshmen "imagine that phone call home to your parents." He also said that there is almost never just one student involved in bullying, and warned that school administrators can quickly see for themselves what students have been doing to others online.

In the audience was Lynnfield's School Resource Officer Ray Barnes, who was talking to some of the students in the auditorium after the play, and the students further discussed these issues in student advisory groups.

This was one of about a half-dozen shows put on this week at various schools by Deana's Educational Theater. The theater's total of 12 performers, all of them Boston area acting professionals, are also scheduled for about 40 more shows in February alone.

At the nearby Middle School, , in part with large banners created by students in the Intensive Arts program. Another theme of the day had many students and teachers wearing black to show their commitment to "black out bullying."