This broadcast production of May 4th Voices presents David Hassler’s verbatim theater play with an all-Kent State University student cast directed by Katherine Burke. The play is composed of first-person narratives about the May 4, 1970, tragedy, taken from the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project. Narrator Maj Ragain’s prose poem, “May 4, 1970 / A Memory” provides structure to the drama. These authentic personal stories capture the trauma, confusion and fear experienced by people who witnessed or were involved with the shootings.

Free preview screening: Thursday, May 2, at 7:00 p.m. at The Kent Stage, 175 East Main Street, Kent, Ohio

Broadcast premiere: Friday, May 3, at 10:00 p.m. on Western Reserve PBS (WNEO and WEAO)

The 90-minute production was funded by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council and by Kent State University’s College of Arts & Sciences, History Department, Wick Poetry Center, and School of Theatre and Dance.