The Gestic Theatre Company made its annual trip to Lakeland College on Sept. 12 in order to ask the tough questions and incite dialogue amongst students concerning sensitive topics like prejudice, rape, sexism and racism.

GTC Dramatic Dialogues is a group of three actors lead by Michael Agnew that performs shorts acts exploring controversial subjects at college campuses across the country.

The trio acted out the same three scenarios as last year, which included themes of racism and sexism in the first, drunk driving in the second, and rape in the third. The third scenario stirred up the biggest reaction from the audience.

Agnew says he has been interested in acting since the seventh grade and enjoys provoking thought and deep discussion in his audience.

“I’ve always wanted to become an actor,” says Michael Agnew. “I founded GTC, or Gestic Theatre Company, in 1995, and since then I have been doing what you see here.”

Agnew was joined on stage by three other performers, all of whom are freelance actors.

“This convocation was a little different than the past few years I’ve seen it,” said Paige Gerber. “This year I think the audience was louder and more responsive to what they saw. There were many people that were willing to yell out whatever was on their mind.”

When asked what her reaction to the crowd’s reaction was, Gerber responded, “There were a lot of thought provoking statements that came from the audience, but there were also a lot of negative and hurtful comments that were said as well. Some people were too quick to judge and put down.”

Gerber was referring to the first scene, which featured a woman and two men making racist comments about one another, but the crowd only focused on the female character’s remarks.

“It showed me some of the opinions of those around me,” said Gerber.

It would seem that GTC did its job of provoking thought amongst students. The crowd exploded with statements of relevance and the occasional quip that just begged a few laughs. Either way, the crowd certainly reacted and dialogue between students was opened up.