The
Project
Project
Statement
Project Summary
Project History
Conclusion
The
Production
USTP Members
columbinus Company
Director's Notes
Acknowledgments
Reviews
Writings
Study Guide (Word document)
columbinus: Just the Facts
columbinus: Timeline
"Questions That are Answers" (by
PJ Paparelli)
Project
Statement
The
first project, columbinus, is the meeting of fact and
fiction, illuminating the realities of adolescent culture
and behavior while exploring the events surrounding the
shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, the worst
school shooting in American history.
Project
Summary
In
a modern tribal ritual, the actors transition into eight
teenagers from any high school in America. The first
act journeys through a proverbial high school day. Each
section of the day uses a unique point of view and style
to illuminate the world underneath each “typical” adolescent,
as their interactions and problems advance two outsiders
toward a violent destiny. Victims of harassment, isolation,
and rejection, the two outsiders’ personal issues
and violent tendencies escalate as they search for a
means of expression and help. By the end of the first
act, as each “typical teenager” has shared
their atypical inner life, the outsiders have now found
each other as a way to express their hatred of their
world around them and begin to merge their fantasy life
into a violent reality. The first act combines fact and
fiction using actual dialogue surrounding the Columbine
shootings as well as interviews with hundreds of adolescents
from across the country.
The
second act examines the two actual shooters, Eric Harris
and Dylan Klebold, with a fictionalization of the days
before the shootings. They wrangle with issues of suicide,
the afterlife, personal motivations, fears, and longings.
As the shooters face the reality of their decision, the
dialogue moves into fact, documenting the entire shooting
from the perspectives of the survivors. Using police
transcripts, media coverage, and interviews, as well
as an actual seven minute 911 call, the audience experiences
the survivors’ stories. As they grieve and ask
questions, the shooters are present, post mortem, trapped
in an everlasting purgatory, forced to examine their
actions and witness the consequences. The piece closes
with an actual graduation speech written by a Columbine
student days before the shootings asking for tolerance,
respect and understanding among her fellow students,
and most of all, hope for the future. The piece ends
with an audience discussion, a chance for both actor
and audience to process the ideas expressed.
Conclusion
Nothing
is more important to our growth and development as a
nation than our children. School shootings have fallen
off the radar screen of the nation as larger concerns
of terrorism and war dominate our attention. The culture
that spawned this phenomenon in the nineties has not
been fully addressed, and most certainly the next school
shooting is bubbling beneath the surface of the typical
American high school. columbinus is a way to affect change
by both its process and product. The project relies on
adolescents themselves– both as actors and consultants– to
express themselves and further their understanding of
each other through sharing. Spending time in Littleton
allows us to glean insights into the nature of the crime
and its aftermath. The project builds on these untapped
sources of wisdom. The project is not afraid to illuminate
how this particular tragedy happened, and how communication
and consideration among adolescents and between the generations
may, in the end, be more effective than all the violence
prevention programs and plans that are now routine in
the nation’s schools. This dramatic work brings
audiences inside the experience with all the immediacy
that theater allows, leaving them deeply moved with fresh
perspectives.
