Ava Kreutziger, a Benjamin Franklin High selective charter school student, rehearses along with fellow playwriting class students for their play"The Capitol Project" at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, Thursday, March 21, 2024. In the past, students at Kreutziger's high school in New Orleans have held walkouts to protest anti-inclusion proposals.
"I just hope they can see something in us that’s worth saving,” said Kreutziger, a 17-year-old senior at Benjamin Franklin High School.“It’s the deepest expression of who they are. And that part of it, knowing that you can create something beautiful, that can make change,” said Ariella Assouline, a program manager at the It Gets Better Project, an organization that supports LBGTQ+ youth.
The students' play, dubbed “The Capitol Project,” came together with just a few rehearsals on Saturdays and in the school’s elective playwriting course. They performed it on Wednesday, four days ahead of Sunday's international Transgender Day of Visibility. Others spoke to feelings of despair and shame. In one scene, two students brought out a thick rope tied into a noose at one end. Jude Armstrong, 17, walked across it like a tightrope, legs wobbling.