PORTAGE | In creating a positive learning environment, students can prevent acts of violence.

That's the message a group of college-age actors told Portage High School freshmen and sophomores Tuesday during a set of performances intended to encourage students to stand up against bullying.

Cpl. Troy Williams, the school's resource officer, said he first saw the "No More Victims" performance at a school safety conference and thought the message and method, combining a live band, hip-hop dancing and a stage play, would better resonate with students. Williams, who serves at all the Portage Township Schools, said bullying is an issue that transcends grade levels.

"I think it's a problem in all schools," Williams said. "We want to address it."

The play, by nonprofit New York-based All Access Productions, revolves around cliques and the struggles a lot of students face in fitting into certain groups.

Tour manager Kelsey Smith, 24, said the performance shows the interactions those groups have daily in high schools across the country, whether positive or negative. Smith said the actors, representing 10 different countries, encourage students to break through the cliques and reach out to others that might not be just like them.

"We know we're not telling kids anything they don't know already," Smith said.

The group performed for freshmen Tuesday morning and ate lunch with students afterward. In the past two months, about 40,000 students across the state have seen the group perform, Smith said. In some of the smaller schools they visit, they do small group workshops after the play and classes do cross-curricular activities on preventing bullying and creating a more positive educational environment.

Williams said he's considering inviting the nonprofit troupe to perform at the district's two middle schools next year, to stop bullying at an earlier age.