26 Pebbles Play Summary

Eric Ulloa’s play, 26 Pebbles, portrays the aftermath of the terrible tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th, 2012. This shooting resulted in 26 deaths (20 children and 6 adults) as well as the suicide of the killer. According to Ulloa, "26 Pebbles is not a play about the death of 20 young children and 6 adults. Those are just the circumstances," and this was very apparent when you see the play. Since the subject of the play is very heavy, the audience and actors all become very moved during the play giving it a sense of powerful meaning that’s deeper than just going to see a show at the theater. This sense of meaning and emotion was critical to the play. Without it, the play truly

The actors’ portrayal of residents of Newtown as well as the use of the stage are what really engaged me as an audience member. I attended they play at The Human Race Theater Company on February 3rd. I had never been to this theater so I really had no expectations of it. The cast’s ability to really make the audience feel like he or she is actually in Newtown during the aftermath of the shooting is what really engages them. The cast is able to do this by the use of their emotion and movement with one another. There were actually times that members of the cast and even the audience were beginning to or fully crying about what was happening on stage. This really honed in on the sense that this play had meaning and emotion like no other play that I had been to before. There were also times during the play that cast members would actually come down from the stage and walk into the crowd. This was one of the many aspects that really gave the audience the feeling that they were no longer at a theater to watch a play, but that they were now a part of the story and this story has