Sunday, July 10, 2016
When Theatre Meets Reality
OnStage: Last December I had the opportunity to stage manage a staged reading of Columbinus, a play written by Stephen Karam and PJ Paperelli. Columbinus revolves around the dark periods of every high schooler’s life, facing social pressures, and growing up. The name “Columbinus” was inspired by the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School and the play sets the scene of the dark periods of adolescence, giving stereotypical “names” to characters: Jock, Prep, AP, Rebel, Faith, Perfect, and Loner and Freak, who later become Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the second half of the play. The play uses excerpts from diaries, documents, interviews, and videos showcasing vital examples of what lead to Columbine and its after effect. It’s raw, it’s heart racing, and most of all- it’s real.
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2 comments:
This article is fascinating yet disturbing at the same time. The theatre aspect of it is minimal, and it focuses primarily on school shootings. Yes, the play is about school shootings, but there’s an underlying freakish aspect to it. There was once a shooting threat at my school, and it sent everyone into a panic, so I know what it’s like to experience that. It didn’t happen on a play day, though, so I imagine there was much more thought put into whether to postpone things. The play is interesting because it labels kids instead of giving them names. It’s like putting labels on stage instead of actual scenery and props, just in this case, it’s the characters. I think the fact that the play is so real, and people can relate to it is an amazing quality to have as a performance. There are so many shootings going on right now, it’s hard to get away from the topic. By putting a shooting scenario in play form, it deepens the meaning, and forces people to acknowledge that this is real, and it it happening.
I absolutely love this article. This article pegs the purpose of theater on the head. In my opinion, theater is an amazing outlet to express and discuss controversial issues and topics. It’s meant to make people feel something. It can make someone feel happy or it can make someone feel disturbed. Sometimes the best pieces of theater are the ones that provoke raw emotions and create a platform for recognizing and discussing issues. Sometimes people say that they don’t like theater because it can make them disturbed or uncomfortable, but in a way I think that is a portion of theaters job. These controversial issues need to be addressed and theater is a good way to do it. The audience gets to see real people in these situations and it gives the audience the opportunity to have an emotional connection to the characters on stage and thus forth have an emotions response to the issue. This article reaches to the heart of why I do theater. To make people feel something even thought it might be challenging and emotionally and physically draining the goal is to make someone feel something and make an impact.
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