Andy Carvin, then working at NPR in Washington, DC. played “distant witness” to events documented via Tweets by “citizen journalists” in Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, Libya and other Middle Eastern countries from December 2010 into 2012. In 2013, Carvin published a book by the same name. and social media classes, led by professors and , initially adapted the book for the stage in the fall of 2014.

Workshop performances on Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9, represent a more formalized scripting. Both events, which are free and open to the public, begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio Theater on campus and will be followed by a talkback with Carvin and the play’s creators.

The event is co-sponsored by 91����Ƶ’s and the . The latter has granted funds through the to develop a full-fledged play that will debut in the spring of 2016.

An ensemble production

The creation of the “Distant Witness” play has merged multiple interests and specialties of its co-creators. Poole, who developed most of the current adaptation, had previously worked in cross-cultural theater and specifically with Arab culture organizations.

“I’d been wanting to do a project on the Arab Spring for some time,” Poole says, adding that he visited Egypt mere months before the uprisings began. “I witnessed a lot of class tensions. This prompted my interest in what those tensions might mean.”

Poole became involved in the fall of 2014, when professor Paulette Moore, on behalf of students in her “Social Media” class, invited the campus community to a Skype interview with Carvin. (Moore had met Carvin at a Washington, DC. conference and had been using his book in her courses as required reading.)

Poole and Moore decided to integrate the social media class with Poole’s “Devised Theater” class, in which students are taught the principles of ensemble play development. Eventually, the two professors pitched the idea of adapting the book for the stage to Carvin.

“He was very receptive [to the idea] and gave us some feedback on how to frame it immediately,” Moore said.

Groups of students in the combined class were asked to explore specific sections of the book through various improvisational exercises,  research and discussions – the results of which helped Poole write the play later. Throughout the process, students shared their experiences through live Tweets. and responded to their questions.

“Andy ‘dropped in’ virtually to one of the early classes unexpectedly and then showed up regularly thereafter,” said Moore. “It was pretty thrilling for the students.”

In an interview with 91����Ƶ news, Carvin applauded this cross-disciplinary creativity. The play “does justice to the Tweets that were written in real time,” he said. “It shows the authors were actual people calling for the world to bear witness to their reality.”

Each week, Carvin saw the students beginning to gain a better understanding of “the circumstances in which the revolutions were happening in the Arab world.”

Tweeting is also a good way to illustrate how journalism is changing, he said, adding that 140-character Tweets may have as much impact on the world community as traditional journalism.

Audience immersed in media-rich environment

Both the production in the fall, which occurred during Poole’s class final, and the spring workshop are what Poole calls “hybrid” productions. “It is designed to be a totally immersed experience for actors and audience,” he said, in words that evoke a living IMAX production.

The performance is in the round and will combine videography, streamed YouTube videos (taken from actual footage by citizen journalists in the Middle East), dialogue adapted from the book, Tweets from people during the Arab Spring, and live streaming of both audience and actors.

The actors are students from both Moore and Poole’s classes who are staying on campus for two weeks after the semester ends to participate in the production. Moore said he hopes a few volunteer actors from the , which includes approximately 50 peacebuilders from 20 countries, will join the production.

As for the audience experience: “I hope that the viewers come away from the experience of watching this piece with a better understanding of the Arab Spring,” Poole said. “I want to humanize these stories. I want to bring these stories close to home. I think plays are a really great way for people to learn how to be empathetic with people from other cultures and to break down cultural boundaries.”

Nevertheless, Castillo, a national leader in advocating for immigration-law reform, says “deferred action” falls far short of addressing the plight of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. For Castillo, the solution lies in enacting the , along with larger immigration reform and community support.

DREAM (which stands for Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors) and Obama’s have parallel criteria to permit minors brought illegally to America to remain in the country after they become young adults. The criteria include:

• having arrived before the age of 16

• having lived in the U.S. for more than five years

• being between 15 and 35 at the age of applying

• no criminal record

The big difference between the two is that DACA is short term, while DREAM offers the hope of a permanent solution. DACA provides those eligible with work permits and is only valid for a two-year period, putting childhood arrivals at risk of deportation in the future.

“Deferred Action is very temporary, and it’s not a path for legalization,” Castillo says. “There’s still that risk that a new president could come in and cancel this program at any time.”

Castillo has been campaigning for the DREAM Act because it would permit “conditional legal status” – and a pathway to eventual citizenship – for those who meet certain criteria in terms of educational achievement or military service.

While thrilled to see any movement whatsoever in the direction of reform, Castillo feels DACA was a political move on President Obama’s part, timed to garner the votes of Latinos in the presidential election.

Brought from Mexico to the United States at age 6, Castillo has been fighting for immigration reform since graduating magna cum laude from 91����Ƶ with a social work degree. Unable to work legally, she decided to speak up on behalf of herself and other undocumented young adults, despite the risk of deportation and separation from her loved ones.

Castillo has been covered in the , , , and , a network that produces the second-largest amount of Spanish content in the world. She has spoken before governors, members of Congress and state legislatures, and university students, sharing her experiences and advocating legislative change. She has received an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco for her efforts.

The issues faced by immigrants like Castillo go beyond inability to find legal employment. Without a social security number, they cannot get driver’s licenses, apply for government-backed student loans, or even get admitted into most colleges, even if someone pays their way. James Madison University, for example, does not take undocumented students. These difficult realities motivate Castillo to go wherever she can – as close as churches and schools in the Shenandoah Valley to educate residents, as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to rally against “low-profile” deportations, and as far west as the University of Hawaii in O’ahu, where she discussed how to achieve equality for all immigrant youth, regardless of their legal status.

In October 2012, Castillo and supporters of immigration reform achieved a victory on the local level. Castillo spoke at the Rockingham (Va.) County Government Building on the topic of 287G, a contract signed between local government and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Though the ostensible purpose of 287G was to deport high-level criminals, Castillo and her allies found that of the 297 individuals deported under 287G, only 12 percent were high-level offenders.

Thanks to mass emails, phone calls, flyers, and informational meetings, over 100 came to an Oct. 24 rally to ask that 287G be terminated, including many from 91����Ƶ.

Professor Carol Snell-Feikema of 91����Ƶ’s , who attended the rally, said afterwards that she was thankful for Castillo’s “gifted voice, speaking on behalf of those most affected.” She added that Castillo “presented solid empirical evidence, as well presented the human side of the issue. She spoke from the heart, told personal stories with real impact, and did a great job of summarizing our work of interviewing Latinos in the community on the real-life effects of 287G in their daily lives.”

ICE wanted Rockingham County to extend 287G for three more months, but Rockingham County took no action at the meeting, causing 287G to end.

Supporters of 287G could attempt to reinstate it in December, and there is ever-constant work to do when it comes to local law enforcement, let alone that of the state and federal level. Castillo does not see herself giving up the struggle anytime soon for more humane laws.

On October 6, 2010, Dick Gordon – host of NPR’s The Story – interviewed 91����Ƶ grad Kara Hartzler, attorney and playwright, about her original work . Read on and listen to Kara’s story.

The following is excerpted from NPR’s The Story website.

Kara Hartzler has a unique perspective on the immigration debate.

She has worked with immigrants and heard their stories both professionally as a lawyer and creatively as a writer. Her play No Roosters in the Desert has its American premiere tomorrow in Tucson, Arizona.