[NEohioPAL] Speech & Debate, needed now more than ever, Beck Center for the Arts

[Julie Gilliland]

                                                                        Beck Center For The Arts Sets The Stage For

Speech & Debate

Preview Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 pm. $15 tickets at https://beckcenter.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0FUq00000Bo6lSMAR



Lakewood, OH-Beck Center for the Arts <https://beckcenter.org> is pleased to produce the professional theater production of Speech & Debate<https://beckcenter.org/theater/speech-debate>, directed by Case Western Reserve University's Don Carrier.<https://theater.case.edu/faculty/donald-carrier/>


What happens when three high school students on the fringes decide to "take down" a corrupt drama teacher? The answer is Speech & Debate,<https://beckcenter.org/theater/speech-debate> written by Stephen Karam,<https://www.stephenkaram.com/> running in the Studio Theater from May 29 through June 28, 2026. Three misfit high school students in Salem, Oregon form a unique debate club, complete with a musical version of The Crucible, an unusual podcast, and a plot to take down their corrupt drama teacher. With his signature wit, playwright Karam follows the trio's attempts to fend off the menace of encroaching adulthood with edgy humor and subversive antics.

Director Don Carrier<https://theater.case.edu/faculty/donald-carrier/> shared, "While Speech & Debate was first produced (surprisingly) almost 20 years ago, its themes of alienation, hypocrisy, and the need to belong are all too relevant. This highly original and comic take on high school students navigating their way to graduation will strike a note of recognition to anyone who's been there, or is still on the journey!"


Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Preview performances are 7:30 p.m. the Thursday before opening night, with general admission seating for just $15. Smart Seats are available for each performance at just $15 per person. For more information on the 2025-2026 Professional Theater Season please visit beckcenter.org.<https://beckcenter.org>

This production is presented in arrangement with Dramatist Play Service.

"Stephen Karam's savvy comedy is bristling with vitality, wicked humor, terrific dialogue, and a direct pipeline into the zeitgeist of contemporary youth" -- David Rooney, Variety

"Hilarious...Speech & Debate's real accomplishment is its picture of the borderland between late adolescence and adulthood, where grown-up ideas and ambition coexist with childish will and bravado...We never feel we're being educated, just immensely entertained." - Caryn James, New York Times


All performances are at theaters inside Beck Center for the Arts<https://beckcenter.org/> located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Free on-site parking is available. For more information visit beckcenter.org.<https://beckcenter.org/>


Beck Center for the Arts is proud to be a part of Northeast Ohio's professional theater landscape, operating under a letter of agreement with Actors' Equity Association. We are a Small Professional Theater (SPT) based on the number of seats, number of our performances, and the maximum weekly hours of work we provide to actors. We produce every show on our stages, by choosing the play, casting and rehearsing it, building the sets, props, and costumes, directing and performing the live music, and designing lights and sound. We proudly utilize regional resources and talent.


Beck Center for the Arts also offers arts education for all ages, all skill levels, and all abilities with classes and lessons in music, dance, visual arts, and theater, as well as creative arts therapies. Financial assistance is offered to qualified applicants so that these programs can be enjoyed by all.


Programming at Beck Center for the Arts is made possible through the generous support of First Federal Lakewood, Callahan, Klym, and Fowler Foundations, and the Ohio Arts Council. Beck Center gratefully acknowledges the generous funding provided by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

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