CLU staging original musical on Kent State
Professor wrote
(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – April 17, 2008) The Theatre Arts Department at California Lutheran University will present a professor’s original musical about the Kent State shooting from May 1 through 4.
Mainstage 3 will present “Ohio” at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 1, Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 4, in Preus-Brandt Forum.
Director Ken Gardner, who teaches theatre arts at CLU, wrote the script for “Ohio” based upon the shooting of four students at Kent State in May 1970. The incident became the rallying cry and unifying element of the protest movement against the Vietnam War. Beginning with President Richard Nixon’s announcement of the invasion of Cambodia, the play examines the elements leading up to the tragic killings.
Gardner, who earned a master’s in fine arts from Ohio University, wrote the original version of the play 20 years ago. It grew out of his improvisational work with CLU students facing issues of mortality after a fellow student died in a car crash.
Three years ago, Gardner began rewriting “Ohio” as a musical. In January, he began working with a new group of CLU students to develop it as a workshop production. Michael McCambridge, a professor in the School of Education who was at Kent State on the day of the shootings, and Michael Arndt, a theatre arts professor who served in the army in Cambodia during the invasion, have shared their experiences with the drama students during the process.
Gardner has written and directed several original pieces with CLU students through the years, including “Mark Twain and the Ghost at the Stagecoach Inn,” a children's musical that was a semi-finalist in a national playwriting contest.
Sandy Shanin composed the music and Sara B. Ware wrote the lyrics for the musical.
CLU’s Theatre Arts Department is presenting “Ohio” in conjunction with the Academy for New Musical Theatre. Founded more than 30 years ago, the academy’s primary purpose is developing new musicals.
Admission is $10 and free with CLU I.D. The theater is located near the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, call (805) 493-3415.