For Drew Piatek and Gordon Tashjian, it's not the what, but the why. The "what" is the more frequently occurring school shooting, while the "why" remains an unanswered question.
These two theatre majors have written a play called LIT 401, which is a depiction of an English class, in which two students re-enact a school shooting.
The play, which takes place on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in Alumni Arena Room 88, took a great deal of effort and persistence to be allowed to be performed on campus. Both men had to speak with the chief of police at UB, as well as Dennis Black, the Vice President of Student Affairs to get approval.
The first time the idea of LIT 401 was proposed, it was immediately rejected. The reason they were given was that the cast was too big. However, after a persistent second and determined third meeting with the authorities, the students were given the approval.
When asked what his strongest motivator for creating the play was, Piatek said, "We're writing it to stop school shootings and bring awareness to them."
As many people know, UB implemented the text-messaging alert in case of a school shooting, and both men felt very strongly that it is an inadequate deterrence and simply for some na??ve peace of mind.
The origin of the idea stemmed from the Virginia Tech shooting in April. Piatek has a friend at UB who was close with a student at Virginia Tech.
"It opened my mind not only to high school problems, but college, too," said Piatek.
After watching scrambled videos of school shootings on YouTube.com, he went over to Tashjian's house and the two immediately began writing.
One shooting in Finland had a gunman put a video on YouTube.com and bluntly state what he planned to do the next day. It was ignored by most, and when he did, in fact, fire on his school, the video was removed immediately the day after from the Web site.
"It's right there on YouTube; why isn't law enforcement looking deeper into that?" Piatek asked.
It's these kind of questions the professor hopes to bring to the surface with LIT 401.
The two writers decided to set up the play with 12 cast members, made up of one teacher, nine students and two shooters. The shooters are, not surprisingly, the most important aspect of the play, representing all of the major misconceptions that society associates with the students who bring violence into schools.
When asked what some of these misconceptions were, Piatek said, "These kids are normal and come from normal families. You can't profile a school shooter, because so many come from different places, not just inner cities."
Piatek continued, pointing out that these killers come from every walk of life. In the Virginia Tech shooting, the shooter was, in fact, mentally ill. However, in both the Columbine shooting and the St. John's University shooting, the students who proposed and enacted their plan of action had no foreseeable mental disabilities.
Both writers, with very liberal opinions, were asked how exactly they intend to get their message across through the play, answering with more questions.
"We want to show the violence, but how do we have a message within the violence?" Tashjian said. How do we put a message to the people saying we treat these people wrong?"
This message will be depicted as strongly as possible, as Piatek and Rashjian, who will also be directing the play, intend to incorporate the audience with the events in the plot. The setup of the stage allows the audience to be up front and center, as if the audience is being taken hostage, as well.
These artists hope, despite the intense subject matter, that viewers start thinking about what they see and how it relates to our society today, forming their own opinions.
"I hope they question school shootings and our response to the issue. I hope they feel the responses we're being given by society have not been adequate," Piatek said. "This has been emotionally exhaustive for us and the cast members."
"We know what is going to happen, yet we still get shivers at rehearsal. Cast members are in hysterics and scared, and I hope it draws an unforgettable experience out of the audience."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
