Speech & Debate

SPEECH & DEBATE Written By: Stephen Karam Directed by: Jimmy Blackmon Assistant Director: Allison Crisostomo A sex scandal has rocked the city of Salem, Oregon, and three high school misfits find themselves allied, for better or worse, as they attempt to bring down a teacher who preys on his students. The mayor's been seducing underage boys in chat rooms, and after the newspaper publishes an expose, sixteen year old wannabe journalist Solomon makes it his goal to take down another closeted pedophile--one who walks the halls of his high school. He seeks help from Diwata, who, on her blog, claims to have dirt on the drama teacher (but may just be angry she wasn't cast in Once Upon a Mattress). She directs him to Howie, an openly gay transfer student from Portland who only wants to finish his senior year without anyone noticing he exists. Under the cover of a speech and debate team, these three very different teens band together in an attempt to take down the teacher, but in the process they each bring to the surface their own deeply guarded secrets. A dark comedy with five characters, Speech & Debate is a fast paced, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny examination of three people trying to straddle the line between adult ambition and adolescent bravado.

NIS