On the campus of Texas Lutheran University Monday evening, actors and volunteers rehearsed a reading of a TV pilot script titled "Region 8: The Truth Behind Texas' Foster System."
The fictional narrative is the co-creation of TLU professor and co-founder of Theatre for Change, Shannon Ivey, and television actor and Fort Worth native, Windell Middlebrooks.
Middlebrooks is best known from his appearances as a regular on the former ABC show Body of Proof and as the Miller High Life delivery man in TV commercials.
He and Ivey, graduate school classmates, compiled hundreds of interviews from foster families, biological families, court-appointed special advocates and child victims to create the script.
Ivey is a foster mother.
"Once you've seen the hurt and the triumph and the hope that these kids have, you can't unsee it," she said.
Region 8 has more than 8,000 cases of confirmed child abuse and neglect. In 2013, 14 children died in the region.
According to Ivey's research, concluded roughly one year ago, there were more than 6,000 children in foster care in Region 8.
The Region 8 script follows the fictional story of a Child Protective Services worker, CASA advocate, foster parent and abused children.
One scene depicts two young girls locked in a dog crate along with their dead baby brother while their mother sits in the same room in a drug-induced state.
Middlebrooks plays the neighbor who calls 911 after hearing the children's cries and wants to become a child advocate.
"I wish we didn't have to write this story. I wish this was not a topic we had so much truth to pull from," Middlebrooks said. "But since it is, let's do something with it."
Middlebrooks and Ivey cannot publicly reveal which television network is interested in the script, but they say it is a well-known channel.
From baking cookies for a foster parent on their court date to becoming a foster parent, Ivey and Middlebrooks hope their creation will get people involved to make a change.
"Yes, I might tell a few jokes and make you laugh. But I've got something a little deeper that I want you to listen to and want it to affect you in a way that puts you into action," said Middlebrooks.
"I happen to be a writer, I happen to be an artist. But at the end of the day I'm just a mom saying 'you guys, please listen. Please listen to their voices. They're broken,'" Ivey said. "They're small, but they're powerful."
A live script reading will be held at TLU's Jackson Auditorium Friday, April 4, at 7 p.m. The event is free. It will be followed by a panel discussion and question and answer session with District Attorney Heather McMinn and Sen. Carlos Uresti.
Another live script reading will be held at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre Sunday, April 6, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, $15, or $25. All proceeds benefit child abuse and neglect awareness.
The reading will be followed by a panel discussion and question and answer session with Bexar County District Court Judge Peter Sakai, Uresti, and Bexar County Chief Assistant District Attorney Catherine Babbitt, who is narrating the live readings.
