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Parkland high school shooting survivors perform moving tribute at Tonys

Written by gaytourism

The Parkland theater students perform at the Tony Awards. | Photo: CBS

The theater students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School performed a moving rendition of Seasons of Love in tribute to their murdered classmates.

In February, a mass shooter killed 17 people at the high school in Parkland, Florida.

Since then, the Parkland students have become the international faces for gun control in the United States. They have campaigned passionately to end gun violence and for the government to create stricter gun laws.

At the annual theater awards show in New York, known as the Tony Awards, Parkland students performed the moving song from the musical rent.

Their stirring performance brought the live audience to tears and earned them a standing ovations.

Honoring Melody

The students performed not only to remember their murdered classmates, but also in honor the school’s director of the drama department, Melody Herzfeld.

She helped hide 60 students in the drama room for two hours while the gunman went on his shooting rampage.

The Tony Awards honored Herzfeld with the Excellence in Theater Education Award for heroic efforts.

‘All the goodness and tragedy that has brought me to this point will never be erased,’ Herzfeld said in her acceptance speech.

‘I remember on February 7, in a circle with my students, encouraging them to be good to each other.And I remember only a week later, on February 14, a perfect day, where all these lessons in my life and in their short lives would be called into action.

‘We all have a common energy. We all want the same thing. To be heard. To tell our truth. To make a difference. And to be respected.

‘We teach this every day in every arts class.’

Watch Herzfeld’s speech in full

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