Indian journalist acquitted of defamation in #MeToo case

126494594_web1_vaccine

Mistakes mean Pennsylvania faces shortage of Moderna shots

&ldquo;I spend a lot of time in my room.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Sometimes I showered less.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Being alone with your thoughts can drive you crazy.&rdquo;
				Those are just a few of the thoughts 12 young people from the Scranton area will share in &ldquo;Lockdowns and vaccines and masks, oh my!: Pandemic Scranton,&rdquo; a virtual performance to be live streamed at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19.
				&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all speaking from their hearts, and they&rsquo;re doing it beautifully,&rdquo; said Rudy Caporaso of the Philadelphia-based REV Theatre who with his partner, Rosey Hay, is guiding the young participants through the project.
				Over the past 16 years REV has partnered with the United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania&rsquo;s (UNC) Youth Department to bring a free theatrical production to the public. Often, it&rsquo;s been a Shakespeare play. Other times, it&rsquo;s been a reworked fairy tale, or a vaudeville collaboration between area seniors and teens.
				This year, COVID-19 prevented Caporaso and Hay from meeting their protegees in person. But it also inspired the idea for a virtual show. The young people have prepared a script that shares their pandemic experiences &mdash; everything from watching your grades spiral downward to hovering outside your mom&rsquo;s bedroom door as she quarantined to watching an internship opportunity disappear or a full-time job shrivel to part time.
				They&rsquo;ve also interviewed other people &mdash; a nurse, a police officer, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland and others &mdash; to learn about their perspectives and share them with the online audience.
				&ldquo;That COVID nurse,&rdquo; Caporaso said, speaking of Debbie Stoppard, whose testimony touches on the exhaustion of 12-hour shifts on the COVID floor as well as the sadness of families being separated from their dying loved ones. &ldquo;The things she said, it brings me to my knees. Imagine what that would be like to try to say goodbye on an iPad.&rdquo;
				While some of the stories the audience will hear in the hour-presentation are stark, several touches of youthful good humor shine through. Log on and you&rsquo;ll hear Izzy DeFlice yodel as she talks about drinking chamomile tea from Switzerland. You&rsquo;ll see Hailee Shea holding her pet rabbit, which she has apparently taught to twerk. You&rsquo;ll see Chris Pehanich demonstrate the making of a hearty sandwich. And Connor Griggs will make you guess the location of whatever background happens to be behind him. Are those the Rockies? The Himalayas?
				Then there are the defiant little comments, including one that comes after a student&rsquo;s description of getting poor grades until in-person classes resumed at Lackawanna College. &ldquo;Now my lowest grade is 97. Ha! Take that, COVID!&rdquo;
				Music is traditionally a big part of REV Theatre&rsquo;s Scranton production, and Caporaso has written new lyrics set to the melodies of some familiar tunes.
				To the tune of Eric Carmen&rsquo;s &ldquo;All By Myself,&rdquo; Karla Sandoval sings &ldquo;Please wear your mask. It&rsquo;s all that anybody asks. It seems it&rsquo;s just too great a task. It&rsquo;s just a mask.&rdquo;
				And, to the melody of Hank Williams&rsquo; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so Lonesome I Could Cry,&rdquo; Cameron Heffley sings: &ldquo;I see the grass growin&rsquo; slower now. Here in quarantine I could cry. My sweatpants stand up by themselves. Need a wash and dry. My hoodie should be set on fire. Here in quarantine I could cry.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;It was very, very important to us to focus on their experiences, which includes home life and school experiences and their emotional state of being,&rdquo; Caporaso said. &ldquo;It was also important to us to have touches of humor and lightheartedness.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;We have some dark stuff, but then it&rsquo;s important to hear Izzy yodel, or see her Mandalorian headgear or the baby carrier she made for Baby Yoda.&rdquo;
				The cast and roles include Miranda Chemchick as Maureen Gray, executive director, NEPA Youth Shelter; Isabella DeFlice as Mayor Paige Cognetti; Connor Griggs as Jill Foley, police patrolwoman; Cameron Heffley as Cathy Warpus, social worker; Makayla Jones as Debbie Stoppard, nurse; Taryn Loney as Tim Rowland, county coroner; Enjelis Madera as Carlene Howard, senior citizen; Christian Pehanich as Malek Thomas, restaurant line cook; Kelis Perkins as Mark Brozoski, teacher; and Karla Sandoval as Wanda Wojnarowicz, retail worker. Trey Griggs and Hailee Shea are also performing in the production.
				Funding for the production was provided by the Overlook Estate Foundation and the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties.
				If you want to watch the show at 7 p.m. on Friday, log onto United Neighborhood Centers&rsquo; Youth YouTube channel &#8211; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMpxyF5KcC-8nRAwzBk30A.
				A question-and-answer period will follow the virutal performance.
				And if you&rsquo;re eager to attend a live show, please note REV is planning an outdoor event this summer. &ldquo;Something big and fun and colorful, in a big country music spectacular kind of way,&rdquo; Caporaso said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be putting the &lsquo;hoot&rsquo; in hootenanny.&rdquo;

‘Lockdowns and vaccines and masks, oh my!’