"Pizza with Shrimp on Top" is not the name of Emeril Lagasse's new cooking show on TV's Food Network.
It is food for thought, however.
"Pizza with Shrimp on Top" is a one-act play written by Aaron Levy, a creative writing teacher at Silverado High School. It deals poignantly with a difficult subject: teen suicide.
Levy and a cast of former and current Silverado students performed the play last week at the Charleston Heights Arts Center. It was their first public performance since Levy received a Nevada Council of the Arts grant to take the show on the road.
Last year they played to sold-out audiences at Silverado, Green Valley and Basic high schools. Levy hopes the word will spread and they will be invited to perform at all the local high schools.
The play takes place in Limbo. That's where teens go after they kill themselves. Daniel and B.J., two Lenny and Squiggy-type characters, explain: "You have to stay here until your time is up. ... If you off yourself before your expiration date, you have to wait here. And you're waitin' ... waitin'... waitin'."
The newest arrival in Limbo is Stuart, who tried to kill himself by swallowing an entire bottle of Vitamin C. When that didn't do the trick, he swallowed a bottle of Vitamin E. "I guess he needed a vowel," Daniel says.
But Stuart isn't dead yet. He's in a coma. He's in Limbo to decide whether he wants to stay or return to the living. He can see his sister, Steph, begging him to wake up. She can't see him or the other characters in Limbo.
The other characters -- Daniel, B.J., Lisa and Muggy -- want to know what Stuart's story is. "Everybody's got a story here," Daniel says.
Stuart has problems with his father, who is always yelling at him.
Lisa was Miss Popular and a prom queen. She was surrounded by people at school, yet had no real friends. She overdosed on Advil after she found out she was pregnant.
At one point she asks Muggy if she can go back to the living -- like Stuart is considering.
"You can't," Muggy tells her. "Your mother had you cremated."
Daniel and B.J. tease her: "Prom queen in a can. Just stir."
There are some poignant scenes, especially between Stuart and Lisa. They discover they were in the same English class, but didn't know each other. Popular Lisa didn't give shy Stuart the time of day.
Muggy, dressed in Army fatigues, has been in Limbo the longest. He can't even remember why he killed himself. "It seemed important at the time," he says.
Muggy tells Stuart what his parents are going through. Stuart's mother is very distraught. His father, who thinks Stuart is "gum on the sidewalk," won't go to the hospital to see him. If Stuart stays in Limbo, he'll only prove that his godawful father is right.
Suicide is a selfish act, Muggy says. It affects families and friends. And it's not painless.
"Sometimes it hurts to think," one character says.
"Sometimes it hurts not to," another counters.
"Pizza With Shrimp on Top" is warm, funny and makes you think. And that's what Aaron Levy wanted to accomplish when he wrote the play nine years ago when he was a college student.
If you want to know whether Stuart returns to the living, you'll have to see the play. Be prepared to bring a tissue.
At last week's performance Levy played Daniel. Other cast members were Silverado students Linda Mercado, Will Coleman and Amy Fischman and former Silverado students Josh Pereira and Chris Hart.
All gave fine performances. Fischman, who played Lisa the prom queen, and Levy were particularly good. Josh Pereira, who played the "dumb" B.J., drew a lot of laughs.
Fischman's character grew throughout the play. Stuart gradually strips away her stuck-up mask and finds a vulnerable, caring girl who has regrets -- albeit too late -- about killing herself.
Lisa says she was by the phone when she took a fatal dose of pills. She didn't call anyone before swallowing the pills because she was "embarrassed."
"What a choice," Daniel says, holding out his hands. "Embarrassed or dead."
In a way, Lisa, Daniel and B.J. envy Stuart because he has a choice since he's not dead yet.
In Limbo, you're always tired and you can't sleep. You can't love or be loved. You'll always be hungry because you can't eat.
And that brings us back to the title of the play. Levy says pizza with shrimp topping is "a tasty combination of saucy, fishy, doughy delight, well worth the cardio-burn." His character, Daniel, fondly recalls the only New York pizza parlor that served "Pizza with Shrimp On Top."
What he wouldn't give to taste another slice.
Levy's play is well-written and well-acted. It's sometimes humorous and sometimes profound.
"Pizza with Shrimp on Top" should be performed in every high school in Clark County. It's not preachy, but it does deliver an important message in a language teens can understand: Suicide is forever. You can't change your mind.
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