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The Gun Show

(Can we talk about this?)

“The commentary is killing the conversation.” The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) is a thoughtful one-man play excavating the playwright’s own complicated relationship to gun culture. While proponents on both sides talk past each other, making it seem like there is no one with conflicting feelings on the subject, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) explores the many nuanced considerations in that narrative dominated by political sound bytes and simple solutions.

Playwright E.M. Lewis shares five personal stories about her own varied experiences with guns, told by a single actor; Andrew William Smith returns to tackle the role after his previous work at Quantum in The Hard Problem and The River. Directed by Sheila McKenna, a favorite at Quantum who last directed J.T. Rogers’ Madagascar, The Gun Show bravely asks if we can really talk about this.

Runtime: 60 minutes with no intermission. Every performance will be followed by a 15-minute facilitated conversation.

SHOWTIMES

February 8 – 17: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Homewood

February 20 – 24: CCAC – Allegheny Campus, West Hall

February 27 – March 3: The Tull Family Theater

This performance has passed.

The Gun Show in the news

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Actor holding paper

‘The Gun Show’ Takes To the Stage Monday

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) | No Comments
The Intelligencer - WHEELING — Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre in Wheeling will host a one-night-only performance of Quantum Theatre’s rendition of EM Lewis’ timely and topical play “The Gun Show…
The Times

‘The Gun Show’ aims to spark conversation and bridge the political divide

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) | No Comments
The Beaver County Times - SEWICKLEY — We need to talk about guns. That's the belief of EM Lewis, who hopes her one-man play, "The Gun Show (Can We Talk…
Actor in The Gun Show

“The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?)” at Quantum Theatre

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) | No Comments
The Pittsburgh Tatler - While there are several guns conjured to the imagination in EM Lewis’s one-person play The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?), the most frightening moment of…
Actor in The Gun Show

‘The Gun Show’ inspires a coming together that transcends the complicated subject

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) | No Comments
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - “The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?)” is a plea in the form of a play. That’s not just a play on words. It is in…
Actor in The Gun Show

Bullet Points – a review of “The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?)”

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) | No Comments
‘Burgh Vivant - An actor (Andrew William Smith) speaks for a playwright (E. M. Lewis) and her relationship with guns, both positively and negatively, in E. M. Lewis’ “The Gun…
Quantum Theater

Press Release: Quantum Theatre’s “The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?)” Engages in Community Conversation

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?) | No Comments
Quantum Theatre presents EM Lewis’ timely and topical play and plea for understanding. The writer hopes that the power of personal storytelling can unite people of differing experiences, backgrounds, and…
Can we talk about this?

Quantum’s ‘The Gun Show’ goes to Homewood, North Side and Sewickley to ask, ‘Can we talk about this?’

| 2018-2019 Season, The Gun Show (Can we talk about this?), Watch | No Comments
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - On Jan. 7, citizens carrying weapons marched through Pittsburgh streets to demand their rights, and those opposed rallied alongside them. There were no incidents and no cause…