KENNESAW, Ga. | Aug 15, 2024

A former high school wrestler, Kennesaw State University professor Aaron Levy’s play, “The Student Body,” draws from familiar source material and features familiar actors.  

The lead character is a wrestler dealing with body image issues, as Levy did. Playing that role is KSU theatre and performance studies major John Lumapas, a friend of Levy’s son Holden, who did initial readings of the play years ago as Levy developed it.

Along with Lumapas, the play’s cast features two KSU alumni from the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, 2019 graduate Brandy Bell and 2022 graduate Erin North.

And the play addresses something currently in wide cultural awareness—the teen mental health crisis—bringing together myriad familiar elements, both personal and professional. 

“I think it was inspired by a few things, mainly what’s going on in our schools and our country with teen mental health,” said Levy, who teaches English in the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “It doesn’t take a preachy angle to it, but I think it’ll generate a discussion.”

The play is produced by the Destination Theatre Company of Atlanta and opened on Friday at the Chaddick Theatre at The Galloway School in Atlanta. The final night of the play is this Saturday.

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