| | Published July 31st, 2013
| Two Lamorinda Students Head to Scotland Festival as Part of Oakland School for the Arts Production
| | Submitted by Jennifer Duff |  | | Student performers rehearse prior to their trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Photo provided
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Olivia Lowe of Orinda and Noah Baldwin of Moraga, both 16-year-old juniors at the Oakland School for the Arts - a public charter arts school located in the Fox Theater in Oakland - will be heading with 12 other performers, ages 16-18, to Scotland to perform "Signs of Our Occupy" Aug. 2-10 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The production is based upon protest signs created by actual protesters of the Occupy Oakland movement - a protest encampment established in downtown Oakland at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on Oct. 10, 2011.
"The show is a political commentary on what happened in downtown Oakland during the Occupy Oakland riots," said Baldwin's mom, Jennifer Duff. "The school is just a few blocks from Frank Ogawa Plaza; they were up close and personal to this historical event. Many of the teachers brought the students through the camp as a learning experience. The actors from the Theatre Department got together with the Literary Arts Department at the school and wrote this thought-provoking play to take to the Fringe theater festival."
Lowe plays a homeless woman who has had her home foreclosed upon, and is a down and out alcoholic, losing herself in the despair of having her house taken from her.
Baldwin plays a police officer, and to prepare for the performance, he sat down with an Oakland Police officer for a few hours to get a firsthand account of what the officers went through as well as the officer's perspective on the movement. The officer Baldwin interviewed also grew up in Moraga.
"This show has really opened my eyes to the many perspectives of this powerful movement that has impacted the history of the world," said Baldwin. "To be able to tell the story of all these people and make sure their voices are heard is unlike any theater performance anyone will ever see; this show rocks."
Other characters in the show include a student who is worried about trying to pay for college; a mother who was a political activist as a young person; a soldier finding that it is hard to come home from fighting for her country to find she can't afford to live in the country she defends; and a political candidate looking to stir things up at the general assembly. The comic relief of the show is a character from Kensington who attended the riots just to follow a girl; he soon feels terrible for breaking a window and gets intimidated by the police.
For more information about the Oakland School for the Arts and its School of Theatre, visit www.oakarts.org.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA