Craziness and Excesses of Contemporary College Application Process Debated for the First Time Via Lens of Public Theater in Timely and Provocative New Play

With the college application season underway, "Early Decision," David Levinson's timely, relevant and provocative new play charts fresh territory by exploring some of the “craziness” surrounding this process that has become par for the course in families all over the USA. Playing to full houses and recently extended, "Early Decision" is hitting a social nerve, successfully raising important and probing questions about our education system and why and how we pursue life's decisions.

Los Angeles, (PRWEB) November 10, 2005 -- With the college application season underway, Early Decision, author, playwright, TV and film writer David T. Levinson's timely, relevant and provocative new play explores some of the “craziness” surrounding this process that has become par for the course in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the USA.

Playing to full houses and recently extended, Early Decision is hitting a social nerve, successfully raising important and probing questions about our education system and why and how we pursue life's decisions. Examples of this "craziness" include the exorbitant amounts of money that parents are spending on tutors, SAT and other types of test prep, summer trips around the world to engage in community service designed to "pad" your child's resume and give him/her the edge when applying to college, parents’ mortgaging their retirement in order to put their children through an elite college etc.

The high costs of this intense competition to get into one's "college of choice" raises deeper questions about the value of a college education in general. Do you really get a superior education when you study at Harvard versus a less expensive, fully accredited but less prestigious, state college? Is this intense competition about the kids, or is it really about their parents' social prestige? Is this process ultimately fair? When all is said and done, does where you attended college really impact on your ability to accomplish things and positively contribute in life? This “crazy” competition, and the costs involved, now infiltrates not just the college application process, but commences at the beginning of a child's education, with intense competition and all sorts of expensive preparatory courses and coaches for kids applying to middle school, junior high and high school, even kindergarten.

Borne out of Levinson’s personal experiences with his own child’s middle school application process, Early Decision thoughtfully and humorously explores the excesses of the contemporary college application process, and its effect on the family and community, via the fresh lens of public theater. When a college-bound high school student decides that she's not going to apply for college, the effect on her family, friends and community is comical, surprising and thought-provoking.

In addition to his writing career, Levinson is also well-know as the founder and chair of Big Sunday, Los Angeles' largest all-volunteer day with more than 8,000 volunteers of every age group. Levinson started this unprecedented project that brings together thousands of people of all races, religions, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds from all over Southern California, proving that real issues, which effect people’s day to day lives, actually do cut across racial, religious, political and ethnic boundaries, and do help to build common ground. Begun six years ago with just 300 volunteers, Big Sunday recruits thousands of volunteers from – and helps in – neighborhoods of all types throughout Southern California.

Big Sunday is entirely non-denominational, apolitical and free and despite it's massive size and scope, it is a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers, with absolutely no staff: the entire management of the project- with all its complex logistics - is staffed and supervised by volunteers, including Levinson, who receive absolutely no remuneration for their work. www.EarlyDecisiontheplay.com.

Performs: October 9 – December 4. Fri. & Sat.- 7:30 PM; Sun. 7:00 PM.

Location: Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main Street, Santa Monica

Reservations: (310) 392-7327

Directed by David Levinson. Produced by Donna L. Harazim and Crazy 8 Theatricals. With Brian Chase, Ben Cornish, Freda Nelson Evans, Lara Everly, Jim Holmes, Annika Marks, Susan Merson, Bob Neches.

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