The cast of the second anti-bullying campaign that will be presented at St. Peter's Episcopal School this spring are from top down, left to right, Christopher Lee Bearden, Christina Seifert Glidden, Evelyn Glidden, Alex Seifert, Jane Porfiri, Matthew Glidden and Harlan Porfiri. (Contributed Photo by Travis Seera)When Christina Glidden says that she is a geek with a deep passion for science fiction, technology and all things Star Wars, you hear a slight giggle in her voice, as if she is a bit embarrassed by the admission. The giggle is gone in an instant, however, and it's clear she is serious and proud of it.
"I am the ultimate nerd," she says.
It's a passion she has shared with her baby brother, Alex Seifert, since the two "fortysomethings" were kids growing up in Germany or Iran or wherever else their father's work took them. It's a shared "geekness" that helps explain why Christina was so over the moon when Alex gave her a light saber for her birthday two years ago.
That seemingly simple gift led to the creation of an anti-bullying presentation complete with a script, costumes and choreography. The first one was presented to students at St. Peter"s Episcopal School last year and a second, completely new version will be presented this spring.
"It was the best gift ever," she says of the light saber.
Glidden was driving daughter Evelyn, 12, to St. Peter's one morning last year when the whole skit idea began. Evelyn suggested to her mother that she show the light saber to her classmates. Immediately upon entering the school building, she announced to the principal, Meredith Ruffner, that her mother was going to show it to the whole school and talk about how great Star Wars is.
Evelyn Glidden portrays Sith Apprentice Freya in the anti-bullying skit.
Jane Porfiri portrays Scrapper Jane.
Alex Seifert suggested using the Star Wars story in the anti-bullying skit. He is shown here in costume as Jedi Alex.Glidden says she is the type of person that once given a task, she has to do it to the max. She would need time to organize a plan before stepping in front of the student body. She told the principal she would be happy to address the students, but she needed time to prepare.
Seifert later suggested she use Star Wars as a basis for talking to the first- through fifth-graders about anti-bullying, an issue that Glidden's son Matthew was dealing with. For Seifert, Star Wars, and science fiction in general, is about using logic and reason, remaining calm in the face of adversity, confidence and vulnerability and finding a way to make the impossible possible.
These were themes the siblings knew well. Growing up in foreign countries, the brother and sister were always the outsiders.
Glidden enlisted the help of friend Christopher Bearden to help with choreography, and she ran all of the thematic and script ideas past Ruffner to make sure they fit with school policies and philosophies.
Seifert, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., was in town a couple of weeks ago to begin rehearsal for the next presentation in April. This one was written by young Evelyn, which Glidden says has made it even stronger and more relatable to the students.
Glidden says even though the skits are based on Star Wars, they wanted to be careful about copyright infringements so the characters are generic in nature and not identifiable by named characters. There are Jedi, Siths and Scrappers (the workers who gather scrap for recycling), but no Darth Vader or Yoda.
The skits have three main points of emphasis. First is that just about all of us are bullied at some point or another. The second is that often the bully is bullied somewhere along the line and is therefore acting out because of it, and the third point of the productions is to show ways to resolve the conflicts.
Seifert and Glidden agree that once the initial idea was hatched, many things fell into place.
"It developed so quickly," Seifert says. "The plot and the underlying message came together very fast."
He says the plots have elements of bullying in various forms, including on social media, verbal and physical. The students are briefed before the 15-minute skits begin on what to be looking out for, and then there is a discussion afterward on ways to identify the dark side and how to move more to the light side.
"We change things up with things like Forcebook instead of Facebook and Galaxygram instead of Instagram. We give them tools on how to stand your ground and keep cool."
Glidden says she would ultimately love to see the whole campaign go national, with an endorsement from Star Wars creator George Lucas.
"I'm not saying it will happen, but it would be great. This thing has legs, and it needs to run. I don't know where it will go, but I think we will know when we're done what this was meant to do."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.