About ten years ago, two students roamed through the halls, library and cafeteria of Columbine High School, killing twelve students and a teacher and injuring twenty-three students. It was after the rampage that the killers both committed suicide. This tragedy inspired the play “columbinus,” which delves deeply into the psychological and mental distress that the duo shared. The play accurately depicts the events leading up to this bloody tipping point and demands the audience rethink the way they treat others. It gives a critical examination of youth and culture, offers a wide range of emotions and begs society to never forget the day that high school was changed forever.

At the outset of the play, the actors explain that the play is no ordinary stage performance. “columbinus” is based on true events. The actors explain that the play’s goal is to show that the two students were more than villains with baggy, “trench coat mafia” clothes and guns in their hands, that the blame could not be placed on one person, that each character had a secret and was hurting inside and that this tragedy could have been prevented through simple acts of kindness.

The players then stripped off their own clothing, put on the clothes of their characters and became Columbine students. This small, simple aside was a powerful symbol, setting the tone to be dark, suggestive and misguided.

Remarkably, the plot stayed factual throughout the play. Most of the events that took place on stage took place in real life, although the playwrights did take some creative license to imagine moments in characters’ minds. Excerpts from real 911 calls were boomed overhead. Scenes were based upon the Columbine survivors’ recollections. Even the conversations between the two lost souls were taken directly from the recordings of their video diaries. There were indeed some places where the play went off on a tangent, but these scenes either provided much-needed comic relief or more background on the characters. Overall, the script was carefully written and examined.

The costumes were intricate and accurate, which chillingly added more realism to the already believable atmosphere. The actors did a remarkable job portraying each character well. Each one knew their lines and gave their characters flair of their own style.

The dark, eerie tone was maintained through the work by the use of minimal lighting and fantastic stage props (huge pillars of rectangular blocks). The sound and music choices were astounding as well. Each song matched the feelings of the set and offered great transitions to each scene. The production staff outdid themselves in this piece and did a fantastic job of rotating props and the background set. The feeling that another Columbine massacre could occur any other day seemed to linger even after the curtains closed because of the magnificent effort and production value.

The only flaw that could really be said is that the play gave relatively stereotypical positions to the supporting characters. The jock is always seen with a baseball cap or sports t-shirt on, doing push-ups and shooting hoops. The nerd wears his belt too high on his waist, with thick glasses and a heavy book in his hand. The preppie dares to wear two collars and dress shoes while the goody-two-shoes gives school tours and prays habitually. These generalizations try to suggest that such an event could occur in any school. However, they could be distracting as these characters reiterate cliché after cliché.

As the play reached its end, muffled sniffles and quiet sobs could be heard in the audience as the list of the victims were written on the versatile background props. The play was certainly no ordinary stage piece. Rather, it served as a memorial to the victims of the school massacre and reminds us that something like this could happen again. Jason Brubaker, Michael Bradshaw Flynn, Sean Patrick Gibbons, Jason Mannion, Anthony Mercado, Samantha Morales, Katie Morrison and Vanessa Relvas took part in what can easily be called one of the most important and thought-provoking plays of the school year. Congratulations to those who performed in such a beautiful theatrical piece.