"Let the People Come Inside"

Interviews with TCU Students About their Research

Visit stories.tcu.edu/forbo to read more about this project, about "For BoL A Play Inspired by the Murder of Botham Jean by Officer Amber Guyger," and about the For Bo Initiative, linked below. 

Let the People Come Inside" is a collaborative student project developed after students in Ayvaunn Penn's Thatre classes expressed a growing desire to discuss racial injustice. Sensing this, Professor Penn accellerated her timeline for her then in-progress work, “For Bo: A Play Inspired by the Murder of Botham Jean by Officer Amber Guyger," which she had begun in early 2020 and was still developing.  When another police officer fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson in her home—this time, just four miles from TCU’s campus in Fort Worth, Texas—Penn resolved that “the conversation needed to happen now.” 

Comments from Mentors

It was such a joy working with artists on and off of the TCU campus to use theatre and film to: engage the community, shed light on the tragic local murder of Botham Jean, and facilitate community healing through much needed conversation. It was an enriching experience for me and my theatre students to collaborate with Charity Robinson and her talented documentary students on LET THE PEOPLE COME INSIDE — the documentary on the creation of FOR BO and the real-life events that inspire the play. 

The documentary students did an outstanding job, and Theatre TCU students, faculty, and staff did amazing work in bringing the film adaptation of my play FOR BO to life through vocal performance, design/tech, and illustrations.

—Ayvaunn Penn