A&E

Tea time

by Anna Purdy

Local theatre troupe founded and managed entirely by its teenage members is performing this weekend and the following at Cite des Arts in downtown Lafayette.

A local theatre troupe founded and managed entirely by its teenage members is performing this weekend and the following at Cité des Arts in downtown Lafayette.

The Tea-Sippers are barely a year old, having been brought together after the kids were cast in a play together at Cité. Any adult looking back on their time as a "theatre nerd," if they were one, would remember they had a hard enough time just getting to rehearsals mandated by adults, so the fact that The Tea-Sippers are composed entirely of people not old enough to vote and some not even legal to drive is impressive. The name of the troupe derives from what they deem their daily rehearsal ritual.

The performances have two back-to-back short plays that are very different from one another. The first play, Bang Bang You're Dead, written by William Mastrosimone, is a one-act about a girl who has been bullied by her schoolmates and peers for as long as she can remember and it leads her to violence. The troupe raised the money to purchase the rights to this play themselves as well as casting and building the sets. The second play is written by one of The Tea-Sippers' own. Called The Outside, it was penned by Lafayette High junior Andrew Lee Vincent, who also directed. It's a comedy about varied characters from all walks of life, including but not limited to a squirrel and a woman in a straight jacket.

Come see what the teens hath wrought at 7:30 p.m. July 8 and 9 then the same bat time, same bat channel July 15 and 16. You can pick up the $10 at the door or at citedesarts.org.