As theatre and dance prepares to debut its first production of the season, with sets being finalized and practices underway, the community gears up to relive one of the most poignant tragedies of our time, the mass shooting at Columbine High School through the documentary drama, columbinus.
Exploring the events and lingering questions that followed
On Tuesday morning, April 20, 1999, senior classmates Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a Denver suburb. Armed with guns and home-made bombs, the pair proceeded to kill 12 fellow students and one teacher before killing themselves.
In the days following this massacre that shocked the world, media coverage was full of the “Who, What, Where, When and How” of this horrific event, but the question “Why?” remains.
The play explores this complex question as it weaves together courtroom testimony by survivors and witnesses; police evidence; interviews with students, parents, teachers and community members; and, most chilling of all, excerpts from the personal journals, emails and home videos of the shooters themselves.
Act One features eight fictionalized, archetypal characters — Perfect, Jock, Rebel, Prep, Faith, AP (Advanced Placement), Loner and Freak — whose interactions reveal the often extreme social pressures and angst of American adolescent culture. In Act Two, Loner and Freak become Klebold and Harris, whose alienation, rage and twisted thinking erupt in violence.
Rather than providing a definitive answer to the “Why” of Columbine, the play leaves us to draw our own conclusions — and ponder what we can do to prevent the next such tragedy.
Dates and ticket information
7:30 PM September 18-19, 21-26 & 28
2:30 PM September 21 & 28
Craig Hall Balcony Theatre
Please note: There is no late seating for performances in the Balcony Theatre.
Cost: $14 Adults; $12 Students/Seniors; $8 in advance with MSU ID