UWM alum Michael Cotey (BFA Theatre, 2008) is the founder of ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence, a nationwide initiative that invites teen writers to create ten-minute plays confronting the issue of gun violence. Cotey conceived the project after the 2018 Parkland shooting and further developed it following the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Every other year, a selection committee chooses several of these submitted plays for a nationwide reading, giving youth a platform to express their perspectives and spark critical community conversations. In 2025, readings took place in 31 states and 70 communities all on the same day.
A Marquette Wire article by Kaylynn Wright highlights Cotey’s motivation to center youth voices, noting that many young people today experience the threat of gun violence far differently than older generations.
“Their reality being young people did not match my reality,” Cotey said. “I maybe had an active shooter drill at some point, but the threat of being shot in school was not ubiquitous with me growing up as a teenager, as a kid.”
To read the full article, visit the Marquette Wire.