Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts "The Day They Shot
John Lennon," examines the reactions of nine people to the death of
the Beatles singer.
By Jinjue Pak
Daily Bruin Contributor
On Dec. 8, 1980, the death of song artist and idealist John
Lennon shocked the world and left people in a state of despair and
loss.
Following the night of John Lennon’s death, a worldwide
vigil took place to commemorate the Beatles member and his ideals
for love, peace and hope. Â Americans gathered on the corner of
72nd Street and Central Park in New York City near John
Lennon’s house to mourn the lost life of the artist.
“The Day They Shot John Lennon,” written by James
McLure, is a play produced at the Sanford Meisner Center that takes
the audience back to the early morning of that vigil. Nine
characters inhabit the same space and time on stage, but without
relation to each other, except for three high school friends and
the two Vietnam veterans. Only at the end of the play do the
characters come together.
“The nine characters represent the nine different types of
people of New York at the time,” said actor Jimmy Carvel, who
plays the character of an elderly Jewish
immigrant. “They came together to heal. All the
people became of one mind and one heart because of someone like
John Lennon.”
“Violent death brings different people together in one
space. John Lennon’s death acts as a catalyst for
bringing all these people together,” said producer Mona
Nash.
As a lonely, old man, Carvel wanders into the streets of the
vigil, not even knowing who John Lennon is, and wondering the cause
for the crowds. There, Carvel runs into a young African American
male who Carvel discovers is the son of his doorman. A
relationship arises between the two as they converse.
Independent of the story between Carvel and his new
acquaintance, three high school teens also inhabit the
scenes. An ex-girlfriend and boyfriend come to the vigil with
a mutual friend and disclose the affects of the death in their
lives.
A middle-aged man comes to the vigil alone but meets the seventh
character, a middle-aged woman. They discover that they come from
the same area of New York, one of the many personal and social
information that is exchanged between the two.
While the pairs and teens engage in their own conversations, two
Vietnam veterans watch the other characters. Â The scheming
veteran of the two watches for an opportunity to steal money from
the crowds.
The characters represent the different voices and the different
impacts of the death of Lennon. Their dialogue tells of what they
were doing when they learned of the event and their reactions,
which according to Nash is very common of tragic events.
“People remember where they were and how they
felt. John Lennon was a symbol of youth and in one second he
was dead. The whole world changed in one minute.”
Nash took a step further to draw parallels between the
experience of Lennon’s death to the experience of the tragic
events of Sept. 11.
“While the death of one man doesn’t amount to
thousands of deaths, the feelings are same. It’s very
sad that Sept. 10 was fine, and in one second everything has
changed.”
“I think these things happen, continue to happen,”
said director and UCLA alumnus Martin Barter. “The tragedy
was horrible and awful, but people did awake from those events.
People need to talk and speak with each other.”
The play’s messages and themes apply to the events and
people of the world today, according to all three interviewees.
“It’s turned out to be timely and a healing
process. Even if it’s in a small way, I hope the
audience will take that from us,” said Nash. “I hope
that they will take some of those parallels of when John died and
can relate to how they’re feeling now.”
As a result of the strong parallelism that bridges the two
events together, according to Barter, some people “stay
away” from the play, while others experience catharsis, and
still others applaud its production with different reactions.
“The audience reaction to the play was phenomenal because
of the message,” said Carvel, who also added that they
received standing ovation during its previews.
According to Carvel, the quest for peace, which is reiterated in
the play as one of the characters recites Lennon’s motto,
“Give peace a chance,” thrives even today.
“The difficulty that John Lennon sensed in the 1980s is
what we are facing today of how we get along in a peaceful
world. There’s that desire that John had then, and that
lives today in a lot of people.”
“The Day They Shot John Lennon” will run through
Nov. 18 at The Sanford Meisner Center, at 5124 Lankershim Blvd. in
North Hollywood. Tickets are $15. For more information, call (818)
509-9651.