columbinus

Description
As media accounts had it, the two teenage guys who killed 13 people at Columbine High School were alienated outsiders. This interview-based docuplay attempts to elucidate the tragedy as the high schoolers begin a typical day and put on identity-signaling props. Unfortunately, the teens' identities aren't suggested by those items; they're reduced to them. As this and other well-meaning docuplays attest, it's harder to imagine internal lives than it is to document them. The most effective moment is an actual 911 call a teacher made during the shootings; by comparison, despite Greg Kolack's decent, committed cast, this “real-life” play feels like it's pretending.—NP