Gathering Blue

The November 21-23, 2025 performances were Gathering Blue, a play conceived and adapted by Eric Coble and based on the book by Lois Lowry.

Overview

This year’s high school play, Gathering Blue—the companion story to The Giver—follows two teens who use creativity and courage to stand up to cruelty in their world. Their story shows how art, friendship, and hope can help bring people together and make even the hardest places brighter. It was set in an isolated village in a post-apocalyptic world.

In our fall play, Gathering Blue, "blue" was a metaphor for hope, for freedom, for a shift in perspective or epiphany, and for interconnectedness. And so our daily practice together was to sit in a circle, take a deep breath, and gather our blue, taking turns to name where we had spotted or experienced metaphorical blue that day. The reflective practice was shaped by students, and when the time came to name our blue from the whole process of the play, the practice itself was the "blue" for most students. Sharing those reflections gathered us as a community and helped us foster a supportive culture in which everyone felt seen and accepted. We produced a play with a timely theme.

Actors and crew members alike were invested in bringing the story to life, and collaborated to create art that surrounded the audience with sight, sound and feeling. The students told the story so well. But the key ingredient was not the talent on the stage. It was sitting together every day, taking a breath, looking each other in the eyes, and gathering our blue.

This perfomance was produced by special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing, Inc., of Woodstock, Illinois. Originally commissioned by Oregon Children’s Theater and First Stage Theater in 2012.