Editor’s Note: This article contains mentions of gun violence in schools.

A stunned silence settles over the audience. Soft music plays and lights slowly flicker on, yet nobody moves for a few seconds as “Drill Drill Drill” begins its 10 minute intermission. A question lingers with the audience: What else is there to say?

That silence and the accompanying sinking feeling of dread are going to stick with me for a long time and are indicative of the amount of talent contained within the UI’s theatre program.

“Drill Drill Drill” is a workshop show by Bridget Dieden, which ran at the UI Theatre building from Oct 17-19, and centers around a group of five kids who spend their formative years in school together from ages 5 to 18.

These kids, each of whom is memorable, distinct, and complicated in their own way, face a series of lockdown drills meant to keep them safe in the event of an active school shooting.

Each member of the cast represents a different view on safety measures and the state of gun control in the U.S., and the actors portray them in such a realistic way I could truly see these characters as real kids with their own futures, dreams, and ambitions.

From age five until around middle school, the kids’ school drills mirrored certain lockdown drills I took part in throughout grade school. I remember my own teachers telling me to stay quiet, huddle in the corner, and not panic when a police officer bangs on the door.

Part of the brilliance of “Drill Drill Drill” is how it takes those shared experiences and escalates them in a hauntingly realistic way.

Kids simply staying quiet evolves into kids being mandated to carry their own firearms. Teachers are required to take vows to protect their classrooms, no matter the cost. Everyone must be trained on how to operate a gun, and there is no way to opt out.

While these concepts may seem dystopian or restricted to mere fantasy, they are not out of the realm of possibility for real life, especially with the continued impact of shootings on U.S. school districts. I quite enjoyed this progression and how unsettling it was to see these drills become increasingly more entwined in modern U.S. schools.

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Commercials intersperse the different drill scenes. Static fills the background, and the characters march out, mechanical and fake as they advertise first bulletproof backpacks, then personal firearms, until eventually it becomes too much and one of the kids — Mia — rushes forward. She pleads with the audience to save her while the audience does nothing but watch.

This direction and fourth-wall break was a powerful part of the show, representing the silence of a world that watches school shootings almost like a theatrical audience — horrified, yet passive.

The passiveness is contrasted by Mia, played by Frances Dapier, who spends her life protesting against gun violence in schools, pleading with her school district to “protect kids, not guns.” Throughout Dapier’s performance, I could feel Mia’s passion, desperation, and anguish as she shouts at a world that refuses to listen.

Tragically, it is also Mia who eventually dies from the very violence she hoped to restrict, after she finds herself trapped in a school hallway and shot by another student carrying his mandated weapon. This student mistook Mia and her boyfriend, Conrad, for the shooters. 

This scene caused the stunned mid-show silence and drove home the show’s message. 

Throughout the play, each scene had importance. As the kids grew up, their ages flashed across the backdrop, and the set was adjusted to reflect their evolving classroom experiences. Each drill also grew more complicated, as did the trials the kids faced growing up. 

Above all, the show was focused on the kids’ lives, both before and after the tragedy that shaped them. 

Post-intermission, it was difficult to see where the show would go next. What it eventually reveals is four kids broken from the loss of their friend. Their school is used as an example of safety precautions gone “right,” as the shooter was stopped due to the kids’ mandated handguns. However, the reality is different and, as one character so aptly pointed out, none of them truly made it out that day.

“Drill Drill Drill” was an excellent exploration of both student psychology and gun control in the U.S., and just how quickly so-called safety drills can escalate.