What's the latest on the Red Cross Players?

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When I hear someone start to complain about today's youth, and how actors and the media are constantly influencing today's society for the worse, I don't believe them. Why? Because I have met the actors of tomorrow, and they're a fantastic group of kids.

The newly-formed Red Cross Players, a diverse group of talented high school Juniors, meet every Wednesday at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and their purpose is to help people. They channel the cacophony of teenage minds into a thrillingly creative experience. They have just had their second meeting, which was spent hashing out ideas for a skit concerning fire safety.

The skit begins with a person cooking and starting a grease fire. The skit demonstrates a series of wrong actions that a panicked person might make, actions that only make the fire worse (waving a rag at it, poring water on it,...), then the action is stopped and reversed just as the person starts to run off stage. The scene rewinds to before the fire starts, and then progresses with the correct actions being taken, and the fire being smothered.

Four students were assigned to write a script along these lines, and to begin rehearsal. Next week they will begin work on the next script, possibly a musical, dealing with fire safety outside of the kitchen. They also plan to address other Red Cross issues such as disaster preparedness and AIDS awareness. In December 2000, the Red Cross Players will take their ideas and turn them into performances in local schools. They haven't planned any performances yet, but will work on that in the future. If these students are indicative of the caring found in schools across the nation, then the future of the Red Cross will be in good hands.

- Cassandra Gordon