Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Cal Lutheran Students Want Their Play About Columbine Massacre To Go On Despite The Mass Shooting Nearby
www.buzzfeednews.com: They had just wrapped their last dress rehearsal when their phones all started buzzing at once. Still in costume, dressed as teens from the Columbine school massacre 20 years earlier, the students from California Lutheran University’s small theater department watched stunned as alerts and texts poured in about a shooting at their college’s main neighborhood bar.
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When I first saw the production of "Columbinus", I too had little to relate it to. Much like the actors described in the article, I felt empathetic towards the story, but could not draw a direct connection to my life. It deeply saddens me to say that just five years later I can connect in many ways. I was in my AP government class learning about the prominent role of interest groups like the NRA in our nation’s political decisions, when my teacher decided to end lecture and turn on the news. We saw video footage of students running out of the high school just a few miles away. Individuals in my class started calling friends and family they knew that attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas in the county nearby. Emotion filled the classroom as we came together to comfort one another. Students began organizing fundraisers, open mic nights, marches, and more to both grieve and contribute to the cause. I love that the performers of Cal Lutheran chose to channel their pain into a production with a monumental message. It’s terrible to think that today, so many Americans would find a way to personally relate to the effects of gun violence. Its representation in art forms can help us heal and motivate us to fight for change.
Throughout my objectively short life, I have noticed a trend: almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by gun violence. If you do not already, you will at some point. I have grown up in the generation that cannot escape newscasts, videos, and history books about people being murdered at gunpoint. This article is the reality of the human experience in a world controlled by weapons, hate, and ineffective government. The quotes from the students in CLU’s theatre troupe make me feel sick. I feel horrible that they had to experience that event, and even more horrible knowing the personal nature of it given the bar’s proximity to their campus. What is awe-inspiring about these artists is that they courageously refuse to ignore the sorrow, fear, and anger they feel. Though their production of Columbinus has been postponed, they wish to gather their pain into this production and continue to remind the world that it has to change. Throughout my life, I have noticed that almost everyone knows someone who has been torn down by gun violence, but I have noticed equally as much that those who have been torn down continue choosing to rise up against hatred and violence. This is the kind of strength this hurting country needs. It is the kind of strength I have seen spreading like wildfire from Parkland, Florida; from my neighborhood here in Pittsburgh, from Connecticut, Virginia Tech, Borderline, Las Vegas, Baltimore, from Pulse Nightclub, my high school theatre where my department spent 20 minutes thinking everyone we knew was going to be murdered (and then being lucky to learn it was a false alarm) and every other place in the US affected by this terror. I commend the students of CLU for speaking out, sharing the story of Columbine, and the sentiment of every event like it.
I greatly appreciate the students response to school shootings through a play in general. The choice to approach difficult subject through theatre resonates with me. I related to the students discussing the fate of their show in the wake of these tragic events and I'm proud of their persistence in the wake of tragedy, including their recognition of something more important than theatre. Showing up and being there for your community. The croup could have continued on their show focusing their grief into their art, but instead they were able to take a step back and look at the tragedy before them and how to most help and honor their community. Even going as far as coordinating rides to the vigil. All this in mind the articles title is greatly misleading. The title implies the students are insisting their show will go on using words such as “must” to emphasise the students urgency in the matter but the article portrays a much more thoughtful and caring class willing to consider the grief and the needs of their community.
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