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. 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. 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.