Idea for a funny play or a skit?

Children burst out in uproarious laughter during a bullying skit. Does the message the kids receive reinforce the idea that bullying is funny?Does this encourage bullying?

• A skit on bullying is being performed at a middle school. When a bully knocks the books out of an actor’s arms the audience of children burst out in uproarious laughter. Does the message the audience received prove bullying is funny to them? Wouldn’t this encourage bullying?

• Answer:

  The first lesson I learned in drama class was that laughter is often an expression of pain. The problem I'd see with a dramatic depiction of bullying is that despite their intent, they come across as contrived and awkward. It's likely that awkwardness that's causing the group to chuckle. As if their parents started rapping a parable to teach them a lesson. I'd argue that the medium is insufficient to invoke empathy from a group of socially insecure pre-teens. Something less hammy and more authentic, like a personal telling, may be taken more seriously, even if its more difficult and less fun to pull off. I wouldn't think that the children laughing would encourage bullying. Kids aren't stupid, they know that bullying is wrong. And whether or not they can articulate it, the ones that do it understand its a defense mechanism. What those kids need isn't for someone to tell them its wrong. They know that. Everybody does. What they need is an alternative. Bullying, like most things with kids, isn't the cause of the problem, its the effect of one.