The Gifted Program
The Gifted Program
"I once got the crap beat out of me by this kid. Turns out he was in middle school."
"You saw The Breakfast Club and Heathers. So why see Ruben Carbajal's revisitation of the war between high-school burnouts, popular people, and dorks? Because Mike Shapiro's direction crackles, Joey (Brenton Popolizio) is one sexy nerd, and the outrage of Lester Suh (Aron Yoo) at his dungeonmaster's misuse of elves will convulse anybody who has ever known a D. & D. obsessive. Carbajal's humor alternates between lacerating and indulgent, and never slackens."
-- The New Yorker
"This goodhearted, often hysterical production is far more than That '80s Show meets Revenge of the Nerds. . . . Endearing and witty."
-- Citysearch.com
"Staff Pick"
-- The Leonard Lopate Show
A play by Ruben Carbajal
Directed by Mike Shapiro
Starring Darren Bos, Jeffrey Emerson, Hillary Ketchum, Shawn Modica, Brent Popolizio, Jeremy Schwartz, Ari Vena, Mary Wigmore, Aaron Yoo
Center Stage, New York City
February 2003
Set in a Wisconsin high school in 1985, the play centers on four maligned sophomores, refugees from a defunct program for gifted and talented students and the last remaining members of the Dungeons & Dragons club. When one of them is revealed as the infamous radio call-in Lothario who has courted the school's most popular girl, their simple pursuit of an education becomes a fight for survival.
An outstanding ensemble cast and inventive direction propelled word of mouth and critical attentions, leading to sold-out audiences and publication in Dramatists Play Service. In 2005, The Gifted Program was anthologized in The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2005, published by Smith & Kraus.
