Student Actors Look at Issues Facing Teenagers
A member of the Des Moines Young Artists’ Theatre during a dress rehearsal for Columbinus.
Last spring DMPS Superintendent Tom Ahart was approached by the Des Moines Young Artists’ Theatre in connection with the planned production of Columbinus. The community troupe that’s based right up the street from Central Campus and Central Academy at the Des Moines Onstage building was looking for a high school library to stage the play that uses the 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School in Colorado as the basis for an exploration of issues faced by teenagers everywhere, every year.
The cast consists of eight teen archetypes. Anna Neal (Roosevelt/Central Academy sophomore) will play the role of Faith. Roan Withers (Roosevelt sophomore) is Loner/Dylan Klebold. Isaac Anderson (Roosevelt/CA sophomore) is AP. Angel Falkstrom (Roosevelt sophomore) plays Rebel and is also working on costume design. Roosevelt/CA senior Glori Dei Filippone is the assistant director and Hoover junior Emma Burriola is the stage manager.
Most current high school sophomores were born the same year that 12 students and one teacher were slain by two deranged seniors at Columbine, a fact not lost on the DMPS contingent who took a break from rehearsal Tuesday night at East to reflect on the production and the issues it addresses.
There is a consensus among them that topics like school shootings and mental illness and gun control need more airing and discussion. Heightened public awareness is worth the risk of frightened communities. Last week’s tragedy at an Oregon community college is just the latest case in point.
“I’ve been surprised that we haven’t talked about what happened there at all this week in classes,” said Neal. The others nodded. “It doesn’t help anything to ignore these events and pretend they can only happen someplace else.”
Indeed, Columbinus suggests that Columbine could have happened anywhere. Act I depicts typical teens going through typical routines and facing typical concerns. Act II segues into the actual shootings and their aftermath. The subject matter is not suitable for young children but the staging deliberately downplays graphic imagery to keep the focus on underlying factors.
This is a production for kids with social consciences because it falls smack in the middle of the regular DMPS fall musical season. Hoover (13), North (Peter Pan), and Roosevelt (Shrek: The Musical) are all staging shows between November 5-8 and East’s production of Beauty & the Beast will run from November 12-14 (we’ll preview each of them as opening nights draw near). Burriola, Neal and Filippone all have roles to play in their home school shows at the same time they are immersed in this important examination of a recurring American phenomenon.
Each cast member had some level of prior awareness about what happened at Columbine but they dove into research after auditions. Neal and Falkstrom were surprised to discover that the Columbine shooters are revered in some quarters.
“They have fan pages on social media,” Falkstrom said. “There are kids who idolize them. I was shocked by that.”
Withers and Anderson agreed that Columbine became a kind of template for disturbed attention-seekers. They feel the conversation that all of them are advocating should be about issues, not personalities.
“They become celebrities,” Withers said, even if the sought notoriety is posthumous, “and that should stop.”
There has understandably been much fallout in American schools since Columbine happened, seemingly out of nowhere, when these young actors were babies. A lot of it has involved heightened security and lockdown drills. Now those babies are suggesting that maybe the missing element in our collective response has been frank conversation.
There will be eight performances of Columbinus from October 9-18. For ticket information click here.
