Written by: PJ Paparelli and Stephen Karam, featuring new material from recent interviews. At: American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron St. Tickets: 773-409-4125. www.atcweb.org; $38-$43. Runs through: March 10
The play columbinus is based predominantly on countless interviews with witnesses to the Columbine High School shooting and its aftermath in Littleton, Colo. On the surface, it sounds like The Laramie Project: Columbine Edition, but columbinus takes on considerably more artistic risk, plunging into the depths of a tragedy thatin light of the recent shooting in Newtown, Conn.still terrorizes our collective consciousness.
American Theater Company's production features a new third act based on recent interviews with parents of victims and witnesses to the shooting. This novelty comes courtesy of ATC Artistic Director P.J. Paparelli, who co-wrote the play with Stephen Karam, and has directed many of its incarnations since its debut in 2005. Individually, this new third act material plays out a lot like The Laramie Project, utilizing a documentary style. The play loses a bit of its creative edge at this point, but the change of pace complements the production as a whole.
The first and longest act of columbinus explores the teenage psyche through its oft-perpetuated stereotypes. Through archetypal teenage characters, the play creates scenarios that surmise what conditions could've bred a massacre of these proportions. These scenes are fictional, though highly realistic and relatable, in large part because they are built upon actual facts that have been unearthed over the years about Columbine murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Despite dealing in stereotypes, this act is especially sharp and insightful, constantly clawing beneath the surface.
In the second act, we are treated to the unbelievably intense buildup to and account of the events that happened April 20, 1999. We get a harrowing glimpse into the troubled minds of Eric (Matthew Bausone) and Dylan (Eric Folks) and an unbelievably intense re-creation of those horrific 49 minutes of shooting, an aggregated account of presumably every eyewitness who lived to tell their version of events.
Playing troubled teens at first, then real victims of the shooting, then finally adults dealing with the aftermath, every member of the ensemblefeaturing Bausone, Folks, Rob Fenton, Aaron Nelson, Kelly O'Sullivan, Leah Raidt, Tyler Ravelson and Sadieh Rifaiis forced to spill everything onto the stage. Each actor rises to the occasion and beautifully communicates how this play has undoubtedly been a transformative experience.
columbinus is, indeed, Paparelli's baby, so you would expect more dedication to the production value; however, ATC truly brings the heat and strikes every imaginable chord with this production. Although the new final act plays out more like straightforward epilogue and lacks the thought-provoking creative energy of what precedes it, columbinus offers insights into every imaginable avenue of discussion relates to the Columbine tragedy.
Keeping Sandy Hook Elementary in mind, it's absolutely dumbfounding how little we've managed to understand in these 13, almost 14 years. Fittingly, columbinus offers few answers or explanations for the recurrence of such abhorrent violence. Instead, it delivers more questions and exposes even more ideas for consideration. It leaves us with the notion that if we truly want to protect the future from these tragedies, we have to remember and revisit them rather than take the easy way out: forcing ourselves to move on.