Kent State:A Requiem-History and 30th May 4, 1970 Commemoration Performance

Kendra's Script from 1982 production of Kent State:A Requiem

Born on the 3rd of May

Being born on May 3, 1970, the day before the killing of the four students at Kent State, might not prove significant to most who were born that day. After all, it's not a holiday, and it certainly doesn't take away from the uniqueness and 'youness' of ones birthday like being born on Christmas or Easter or the 4th of July. Except if you happen to be Starr E. McClure from Youngstown, Ohio.

Starr was born on May 3, 1970 and throughout her life she has always felt a connection to the events at Kent State, possibly because of her birth date or maybe because Sandra Scheuer, one of the students gunned down at Kent, was also from Youngstown. Or maybe too, because, like millions of youth today who are too young to remember

Starr McClure with soundman Dan Fronius-Photo by Kendra Pacifico

May 4, 1970, she feels a connection to the ideals and dreams of those 4 at Kent who died too young and sees some part of them in herself. Whatever Starr felt about May 4, 1970 it prompted her to do more than just think about the coincidence. Starr McClure decided to make here directorial debut for the Youngstown Playhouse by directing Kent State:A Requiem, a play written by Dr. J. Gregory Payne of Emerson College in Massachusetts. This eventually led her and her crew to perform it at the 30th annual May 4, 1970 Commemoration in the Kiva a Kent State...on Starr McClure's 30th birthday.

History of Kent State:A Requiem

Prior to May 4, 1970, J Gregory Payne, the author of Kent State: A Requiem, had briefly met with William Schroeder. When the killings occurred and Bill was among those slain, Dr. Payne became more aquatinted with Bill's mother, Florence Schroeder. A correspondence occurred over many months between Dr. Payne and Mrs. Schroeder where she described her relationship with her son Bill.

Kent State: A Requiem grew out of Small Reader's Theater piece co-written by Dr. Payne and a student of his entitled Kent State:A Wake. Kent State:A Wake was first presented at Yale University in 1976 as part of a program announcing the donation of May 4 related archival materials to Yale University. The donations ,which included the May 4 archival materials of author Peter Davies as well as those of Dr. Payne, were given to Yale instead of Kent because it was felt that the state of Ohio, with Governor James Rhodes still at its helm, could not be trusted to care properly for the materials. According to Dr. Payne the individual who orchestrated the archival presentations was Stone Phillips, currently of NBC fame.

Greg took Kent State: A Wake and expanded it using some of the research he was collecting for his graduate thesis and from his correspondence with Mrs. Schroeder. The following is taken from the program produced for the 1980 production of Requiem.

Kent State: A Requiem attempts to accurately present the historical facts surrounding the May 4, 1970 shooting incident, and to convey the emotional impact of the tragedy from the perspective of Mrs. Louis Schroeder whose son was killed at Kent. The production culminates ten years of research and personal contact with families and friends of those killed and injured, eyewitnesses to the shooting, National Guardsmen, and countless others. My interest in the incident began with the peaceful protests at Illinois. My doctoral dissertation allowed me to further my understanding of this event, noted by many historians as the beginning of the end to America's involvement in

From 1980 production-photo by Bob Johnson
From 1980 production
photo by Bob Johnson

From 1980 production-Photo by Bob Johnson
From 1980 production
photo by Bob Johnson

Vietnam. The announcement of the Cambodian invasion and the killings at Kent State numbed thousands of students to the harsh realities of a war that had come home. America experienced its first national student strike; over two hundred colleges and universities stopped business as usual to reflect on the tragedy. Watergate ethics caused many Americans to ponder on the many unanswered questions surrounding the tragedy and to openly question why justice was not pursued. In 1976, a gifted student expressed interest in presenting the moot issues surrounding the incident in a Reader's Theatre production. Kent State: A Wake, a twenty minute presentation co-written by Mary Woods and myself was performed at Yale, Illinois, and Occidental

College in 1976. Thus sprang the roots for Kent State: A Requiem, performed at numerous colleges and universities and the Coast Guard Academy during the three subsequent national tours. In 1977 Peter Marston and Nathan Hasse's rock-epic, "All We Want" complemented the performance in Los Angeles. The 1980 tour includes selections from Marston and Hasse's production. Kent State: A Requiem offers insights into specific and universal themes confronting man. it is the hope of all involved that Kent State: A Requiem will serve as a prod. As Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

From 1980 production-Photo by Bob Johnson
From 1980 production
photo by Bob Johnson

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Since its inception, Kent State:A Requiem and Kent State:A Wake have been performed at 80 different colleges and universities. Requiem has been featured on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and NBC's On Campus in 1978, subject of an ABC special in 1979 and detailed on ABC national news and CBS's Entertainment Tonight in 1995. Kent State:A Requiem and Kent State:A Wake toured nationally in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. *Kent State:A Wake* was performed at Kent for the first time in 1977 and *Requiem* was performed for the first time at Kent state on May 3, 1978. At this time, in 1978, students at Kent State were protesting the construction of a gymnasium on the site where the May 4, 1970 shootings occurred . Political activity dealing with the gym issue and the continuing investigation into the 1970 shootings as well as the pending court cases and calls for a federal grand jury on the subject presented new material for inclusion into Kent State:A Requiem. Part of Requiem's dialog divulges material that was presented in a "report, subsequently released by NBC News that John Erlichman [Nixon Chief of Staff] had sent an 'eyes only' memo to Attorney General John Mitchell in 1970, stating that there would be no [Mike's emphasis] federal investigation in the incident at Kent State." [From MayDay:Kent State, J. Gregory Payne, 1981, p.61] And this was at a time when the Justice Department was publicly stating that they had not yet come to a decision on that issue, thus giving credence to the claims that the Nixon was attempting to cover up the truth about the shootings. Throughout its history, the script of Kent State:A Requiem has changed to reflect the ever-changing history of discovery and commemoration surrounding the events on May 4, 1970 and subsequent related issue. According to Kendra Hicks Pacifico , "This is the beauty of Requiem." And Kendra should know. Kendra played Allison in a 1982 production of Requiem at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro (UNC-G) where she was working on her BFA degree and traveled with the group to Kent State in May of 1983 to perform as part of the 13th annual commemoration of the Kent State state shootings. This production marked the first performance of Requiem by a theatre group not connected to Dr. Payne. It all began when Milo Hunter, then a student at George Washington University, visited Kent in 1980 and saw a production of Requiem. Thus began a correspondence between Dr. Payne and Milo which culminated in the Requiem being performed at UNC-G where Milo had transferred. Well, not exactly 'the' *Requiem.* The script mailed by Dr. Payne, which was the most up to date version at that time, never reached the hands of Milo Hunter and was apparently misplaced or stolen at the post office. Another copy was mailed to Milo but this version was the original version without the historical updates from subsequent rewrites. This spurred Milo to engage in his own research and he produced yet another version of the Requiem. Instead of music by Verdi, which had characterized the previous version, he incorporated more contemporary pieces such as Holly Near's "It Could Have Been Me" (written by Holly about the Kent State shootings) and he produced an expanded slide show. Script changes and the multimedia additions expanded the production time to over an hour. This version of Requiem was performed 3 times in Greensboro and after a 6 month hiatus, yet, another version, produced by Milo, entitled Kent State:The Cost of Freedom, was performed at Kent State on May 3, 1983.

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Kendra Lee Hicks performs Allison in the 1982 production of Kent State:A Requiem at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Kendra Lee Hicks (standing) performs Allison in the 1982 production of Kent State:A Requiem at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. (Kendra has subsequently costumed 5 different productions of A Requiem.)

Some of the material for this article on Kent State:A Requiem was gathered from interviews with Dr. J.Gregory Payne and Kendra Lee Hicks Pacifico and Kendra's Requiem archives. Text is by Mike. Photos are by Mike except where noted (an exception is the only B&W photo in the article.). The header graphic above is taken from Kendra's script of the 1982-83 production.

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