In Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, the town Kirstin Springs has just finished building a spa for tourists hoping it will be the source of the town’s new wealth. Dr. Thomas Stockmann discovers that the spas drainage system is seriously contaminated from a local tannery. His brother, the Mayor, tries to convince him to stay quiet and soon more and more members of the community see the doctor as the “enemy of the people.” The students adapt the concept to connect to their community and then build characters who are stakeholders in the world of the play. The students explore the relationship between fiscal security and public health in An Enemy of the People.
The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt: A rich woman returns to her now impoverished home town and offers an enormous fortune in exchange for the life of the man who wronged her many years ago. After seeing an Epic in-school performance of the play, students write their own version of the play exploring the main themes of justice and complicity.