The Columbine Project

The massacre at Columbine High School may have taken place over ten years ago but hardly anyone in America needs a refresher course. The horrifying events of that fateful in day in April of 1999 have been so widely reported and analyzed that many individual moments of Paul Storiale's play The Columbine Project should be intimately familiar even to those who have only casually followed the case. Much of the script is culled straight from journals and official transcripts, and many scenes are punctuated with actual audio from the 911 tapes. All of this lends a certain verisimilitude, but it's the space between these cold hard facts that make the most impression, the deft blending of fact and fiction that is the stuff of any good docudrama.�

The setting jumps back and forth in time, focusing on individual moments in students' lives before, during and after the shooting. The killers, Eric Harris (Ryan O' Callaghan) and Dylan Klebold (Morgan Roberts), are major players in the story but not necessarily the focal point; nearly equal time is given to Columbine victims and survivors. This allows the writer/director to explore the reasons behind the tragedy without over-analyzing or bidding for easy answers. There are none, after all.�

Still, material of this magnitude is often hampered by melodrama and histrionics, and The Columbine Project is no exception. The script relies too heavily on extended monologues, which blunt the emotional resonance of the smaller, dialogue-driven scenes. And when Storiale moves away from the students' interpersonal relationships and tries to take on larger issues like racism, homophobia and the social hierarchy of high school, his play begins to feel trite and over-earnest. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes, devout Christian student Rachel Scott (Rya Meyers) tries to bond with an isolated gay kid named Chris (Bradley Michaels). At first he rebuffs her, but she finally extends an olive branch - in the form of a gummi fish. The authenticity of this moment is later undercut, however, when a teacher (Bree Pavey) takes Eric and Dylan's friend Brooks (Evan Enslow) to task for starting a fight with two kids who are obviously bullying him, and then scolds him for not taking enough interest in sports.�

The Columbine Project is currently running in the Off-Broadway venue The Actor's Temple, a tiny theater in a converted synagogue, with the most minimal of scenery. But Storiale uses his limited resources to great effect, through short, cinematic scenes, quick-cutting, transitional lighting, and extended blackouts. He also explores the killers' state of mind by treating the audience to some of their favorite music: snippets of sinister metal and industrial by the likes of Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot and Megadeth. But, in keeping with the overall tone, the play is bookended with more reflective selections. Chris opens the show with an acoustic cover of The Who's classic ballad "Behind Blue Eyes" and closes with a plaintive, albeit tuneless, rendition of "Over the Rainbow", which runs through the final ovation.�

During the curtain call, the actors playing Eric and Dylan do not take a bow.

The Columbine Project continues through September 22 at the Actors Temple Theater at Congregation Ezrath Israel, 339 W. 47th St., New York, NY. For more information visit the play's website.