Who: New Circle Theatre Company
What: Live Zoom performance of Days of Possibilities
Where: Facebook Live
When: Monday, May 4, free, 7:00
Why: On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four unarmed college students at Kent State University during a protest against the US bombing of Cambodia. New Circle Theatre Company in New York City will commemorate that tragic event, which shook America to its core, with a live performance of Rich Orloff’s Days of Possibilities, an online adaptation of his 1989 documentary theater piece Vietnam 101: The War on Campus, for which he interviewed more than one hundred alumni of Oberlin College. Created specifically for Zoom, the new play will feature twenty actors performing from their homes; it is directed by David Kronick. In a statement, Orloff, whose other plays include Advanced Chemistry, Someone’s Knocking, Big Boys, and Chatting with the Tea Party, said in a statement, “I think the events of that era need to be remembered, not just for their historical importance, but for lessons we can use today. Days of Possibilities offers stories of hope and courage during a time of great uncertainty. To fight for what they believed in, students risked being expelled, jailed, tear-gassed, and even shot. I think we can be inspired by the idealism of that time, especially if we don’t want to accept today’s social and political problems as inevitable and instead choose to find ways to fight for a better world. The technological tools we can use today were undreamed of fifty years ago, but I like to think that dreaming and working for a better future is timeless.” On Monday night at the same time, the play will also be performed by theater companies in Tennessee, Massachusetts, Maryland, and California as well as a high school in Arizona. (If you miss the livestream, you can catch the recorded show later.)