Nightwalking

by Sandra Perlman

Nightwalking: Voices from Kent State is a two-act memory play that deals with the events and times surrounding the tragic shootings on the Kent State University campus on May 4, 1970. Those times are seen in both 1970 and 1995 through the nonlinear stories of four women and five men, including the narrator, a woman cafeteria worker from the town, a Guardsman, an African-American student, a teenager from a nearby community, one man whose brother died in Vietnam, and one whose family comes alive again as he remembers the effects those anti-war protests had on them.

Award winning playwright Sandra Perlman joins real events, memories, and oral histories into a play the Chicago Tribune described at its premiere as "potent."

Historical Material in this edition includes a transcription of Governor Rhodes' remarks in Kent on May 3rd, the letter signed that same day by 23 concerned faculty asking for the Guard's withdrawal from campus and KSU President Robert White's May 6th letter to parents following the closing of the University.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nightwalking" as a conceptual terms involves the practice of losing your fear of the dark while strengthening your peripheral vision. During nightwalking exercises, walkers say their awareness of the world around them is broadened. It fosters a trust and training in our senses, one that does not rely just on what we see in front of us. It is about experiencing the familiar in a new light. Playwright Sandra Perlman combines this concept with the Vietnam protests of the late 60s/early 70s in this, her memory and memorial play about the shooting of students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.

I read this years ago while living in Kent, Ohio, in the mid-to-late 90s. I had just directed a different play by Sandra Perlman, who I had the pleasure of meeting during that process. I still had a copy of this play in my stack of books all these years later and was prompted to read it again with the current events concerning student protests of the colonial settlements the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the administration (and media's) response to it being what it always is and probably always will be.

Some of it feels dated - although it is a memory play about a specific historical event, so I suppose it should feel that way. What I mean by 'dated' is that after years of students being routinely shot at school (among other places) it almost seems quaint that 4 being killed in 1970 inspired an entire memorial movement. The timeline moves between 1970 and 1995 and I some of the 90s references feel particularly from another lifetime (a VCR is mentioned more than once) - even more than those from the 70s. But it converges to be a sort of Gen-X 'Our Town'. It's about a time and a war that we continue to talk about, but from which we seem to learn very little. So the conversation continues. Shocking to me to realize more time has passed since this play was written than the time between the actual shootings and the original production of this play.

Where I think this play remains timeless is its portrayal of generational gaps and how parents and children must learn to communicate when their dreams not only diverge, but are fundamentally opposed to one another.

[Brittany Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy Perlman's plays. This captures a moment in history and the present reflections on that moment that treat the reader to a whole other side of the Kent State shootings. I highly recommend her plays!