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The seats will soon fill up for Columbus State’s first theater production of the season. Four decades after the event unfolded, “Kent
State: A Requiem” examines one aspect of the tragedy. Four students were killed on
May 4th, 1970 when Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam
War on campus. Columbus State theater students are the featured actors.
Megan Jones, who portrays witness Megan Jones. says“I feel I have not even begun my life
yet so I can’t imagine for the students how that feels because there is so much of
ahead for them (and I can’t imagine) how it feels for their family and friends to know
it was stopped at that time.” Written by by J. Gregory Payne, the play remembers
the lives of the four lost students. Director and faculty member Frank Barnhart says, “Many
of us took a trip to Kent State to walk on the ground where the shootings actually happened
which also gave us new insight to actually walk in the shoes of the people lives who
we are portraying on stage.” Student actor Vince Reese, who portrays victim
Jeff Miller, was among the cast who made the treck, “It was, I don’t know how to put
this, resonating I guess, to be where they were shot because this is one of my favorite
pictures from history. So to be in the place where it happened was very breathtaking to
be honest,” he says. Performances are all in the Nestor Hall Auditorium
at 8 o’clock nightly this Wednesday through Saturday – with a 3 p.m. matinee on Thursday.
Admission is free.