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Play hopes to invoke student awareness, involvement |
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Thursday, 20 September 2007 |
 “The Tragedy at Kent State” cast members participate in a mock protest against the Vietnam War Monday. Lindsay Diedrich
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by KATIE EASTER
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
A controversial war, dead and wounded students, and fear across college campuses everywhere.
Are any of these visuals sounding familiar?
To author and director Ray Miller, the similarities are impossible to miss.
The
staged reading of Miller’s play, “The Tragedy at Kent State,” will take
place Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the I.G. Greer Studio Theatre.
Admission is free, and seating will begin at 7:30 p.m.
The play is an all student cast and all members have speaking parts.
On
May 4, 1970 at noon, on the campus of Kent State University, students
were shocked by 67 shots in 13 seconds that left four students dead,
one paralyzed, and eight wounded.
Miller was in his last year as a student at Kent State when this event took place.
Miller
said he was on his way from an acting class to a dance class whenever
the shooting occurred; he added that his normal route would have taken
him directly through the protest.
“[At this time of day] most students were on their way to classes or to lunch,” said Miller.
Miller
said before the events of May 4, Kent State reminded him of Appalachian
State University in that most students were aware, but not politically
involved.
President
Richard Nixon’s announcement concerning United States and South Vietnam
troups invading Cambodia is what Miller believes “riled up” the
students.
According
to www.may4.org, on April 30, 1970, President Nixon told the nation
that the United States and South Vietnam would be entering Cambodia.
Nixon
said, “We take these actions, not for the purpose of expanding the war
into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam, and
winning the just peace we all desire.”
Miller
said that Nixon’s announcement changed the student’s perspective; they
no longer saw the war as winding down, but as escalating and they began
to seek ways to protest.
The
play covers the four days leading up to and including the shooting -
from Nixon’s announcement to the National Guard’s gunfire, said Miller.
Three
groups of characters are represented in the play - five students, six
adult narrators, reporters, and cameramen, said Miller.
Miller
said he chose to depict the media because the Vietnam War was the first
war in which Americans received photographs and footage of the war
constantly.
Many of the students performing did not have extensive knowledge of the event.
John T. Carr, a freshman political science major, reads the role of the student, Kurt.
Carr said he knew that the National Guard had shot students, but that was the extent of his knowledge about the event.
He added that the reading taught him about what happened and is similar to our current situation.
Cady S. Childs, a sophomore journalism major ialso plays a student in the play.
Childs
said she hopes students will see how the events in the reading relate
to our current situation with the war and the Virginia Tech tragedy.
On
that note, Miller said he hopes the feedback afterward will give
students the opportunity to discuss the similarities and find
productive ways to address situations that face them today.
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