Quotes from the Audience
“Kids need to see this show. Teachers need to see this show. Parents need to see this show. I recognize each and every character up on that stage—I know them because I see them every day in my classroom and in the teachers’ lounge. Their stories need to be told, and they need to be heard—because they are real.”
--High School Teacher, Lancaster, Pa.
“This performance is transformative. You can pull a bunch of people together and ask them to change but they need a metaphor for that change. This is that metaphor.”
--High School Counselor, Ma.
“This was really emotional for me. I’m a first-year teacher and I recognized one of those students on stage as one of my own. I thought, ‘My God, that’s [student’s name]---I’m doing that to him.’ I needed to see that.”
--Teacher, Baltimore, Md.
“I was that guy---I was one of those teachers. I am going to go back to my classroom tomorrow and I am going to do some things different.
-Teacher, New Orleans, La.
"Brutally honest and deeply moving, Dilated Pupils gives voice to the voiceless in our incessant debates about public schools—the students whose dreams live and die in them.”
--Craig Jerald, Consultant, Washington DC
"After seeing that show, I went across the street to the bar to watch the football game--understand, I'm a big football fan--but all I could think about were those kids."
-Higher Education Administrator, Florida
“In her one-woman performance, Brooke captures the alienation and frustration of millions of our most disadvantaged youngsters as they struggle to survive, let alone succeed, in the artificial and stifling culture of the traditional urban high school. Mixing street language with poetry, her characters speak as much to the heart and soul as they do to the mind.”
--Ron Wolk, Founder, Education Week
“After seeing the performance, one student took over his own special education meeting. His teachers and parents sat back in amazement as he demanded to see an actual copy of his Individual Education Plan and told the group what he needed to be able to learn.”
-- Teacher, Lancaster, Pa.
“Through her talent as an actress and writer, Ms. Haycock interweaves students and adults telling each student’s story. Fast paced, the actress keeps the audience’s attention as she moves from character to character. One sees the lives of the students unfold in their world.”
--Principal, Albemarle Va.
“It was really amazing. Everything she said was so true. I wish that I could speak out and speak my mind like that but, every time I try, I get shut down. Thank you for speaking for me.”
--High School Student, Chattanooga, Tn.
“The show was so great and I could relate to it so well that I just fell apart inside. It has inspired me to be better and to teach my brothers who are experiencing the same thing to do better.”
--High School Student, Chattanooga, Tn.
“This piece made me think about my own education and the role I play in it. It made me think a lot about my future and not waiting for someone to decide it for me.”
--10th grader, Arlington, Va.
“There are not many things that I can feel in my heart, but that performance will stick with me forever.”
--High School Student, Chattanooga, Tn.