How Florida School Board Meeting, the play, came to be!
In September of 2023, Jennifer called Jill after watching a school board meeting unfold over a variety of hot topic issues. She couldn’t believe the drama of what she was seeing and asked Jill to collaborate on a play depicting the outrageousness of local school board meetings. Jill watched the school board meeting on YouTube and decided not to bother with much writing – the word-for-word content said it all!
Together they embarked on a months long journey to produce the first performance in August of 2024 at the Breakthrough Theater New Play Festival in Winter Park, Florida. Jill contacted every school board member in the state to get input and ideas for the direction of the show. Together, they watched hundreds of hours of school board meetings online to find the most controversial and entertaining content. Jennifer cast and directed the show.
The show was a hit and sold out each performance. The Orlando Sentinel political columnist Scott Maxwell attended, published a piece and gave an interview on talk radio about the show and Moms for Liberty’s actions at school board meetings, which became the number one story.
The Breakthrough Theater invited Florida School Board Meeting back for an encore run for more sold out shows in September 2024, attended by school board members and other local politicians.
During the summer of 2025, Jennifer applied for and won a competitive artists’ residence grant from the Hermitage Foundation to expand and update the show, which is where we are today. Florida School Board Meeting is “funny theater, sad reality”, and ready for your theater next!
