Abigail Hebert

On Thursday, “October 7 The Play” put on a one-night performance at Pickard Theater co-hosted by the Bowdoin College Conservatives and the Combating Hate and Antisemitism Initiative (CHAI).

The performance was introduced by Director of Student Accessibility Lesley Levy. After the performance, Professor of Africana Studies and English Tess Chakkalakal hosted a panel discussion with the playwrights and organizer Zak Asplin ’27 about how the show came to fruition.

The play featured 12 actors who presented the stories of survivors of Hamas’ October 7 attack in a verbatim format. These recounts included vivid descriptions of the experiences of Israelis who attended the Nova music festival and lived in kibbutzim just outside Gaza, as well as reflections following the attack.

Asplin, leader of the Bowdoin College Conservatives and a key organizer of the event, said he felt that these stories were essential to share to uplift the humanity of Israeli survivors of the attack and raise awareness of the attack’s significance within the Bowdoin community.

“The playwrights, the producers, noticed that people were moving on very quickly from the terrorist attack. And whatever you think of what happened after, I think it’s important to note that this moment lies scarred in the collective consciousness of many, many Jewish people across the world and others. And so the two producers … went to Israel and interviewed 17 survivors of the attack,” Asplin said. “They took their stories and put them into a completely unedited word-for-word play—the stories of which need to be heard.”

Before the performance, Brianna Soukup, a photographer at the Portland Press Herald, was denied access to the event by Senior Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Martin Mbugua.

“No recording at this time,” Mbugua said to Soukup.

Playwright Phelim McAleer disagreed with this decision and said that he thought the photographers should be allowed to document the actors on stage.

According to an email from Ann McElhinney obtained by the Orient, the play likely cost around $80,000 dollars to bring to campus. McElhinney is the president of the nonprofit Unreported Story Society, which produced the play.

After the event, McElhinney, who wrote the play with her husband McAleer, commented further on the cost.

“Most speakers charge about $25,000 to $30,000,” McElhinney said. “That’s how much a speaker costs, so try and work that out with 12.”

Asplin noted that the funding came from a Bowdoin alumnus who wishes to remain anonymous.

“A Bowdoin alumnus, who is really passionate about these things, wanted to try and bring this piece to Bowdoin,” Asplin said. “He thought it’d be a good place to bring it, especially with the encampment and things like that that happened. And he reached out to me, and then we got in the process of dealing with the producers, of seeing clubs that sponsor it, and then the fundraising aspect, which took a lot of time.”

According to the group’s website, the Unreported Story Society’s mission is to “tell the stories that the mainstream media ignores through art and modern media.” McElhinney has appeared numerous times at Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conferences.

According to Asplin, the play ran for six weeks in New York City before being staged at  Princeton University, then the University of California, Los Angeles and finally at Bowdoin. Asplin noted the importance of bringing this type of dialogue to Bowdoin’s campus, especially with the two-year anniversary of the attack approaching.

“This isn’t a talking event, where you just bring somebody who’s pro-Israel [that] just causes controversy and just talks and annoys people,” Asplin said. “I don’t think that’s the way of getting through; I think what is very clear is both sides of this disagreement on this campus are immensely emotional about it, and … they feel like they’re doing the right thing on the [Students for Justice in Palestine] side. And for me, then that’s important, because these are real life stories, and I think it’s in theater, which is certainly a different way of bringing about a conversation.”

One of the actors described the experience of Hamas members breaking into his home.

“Around 10, 10:30, I heard terrorists entering my house. They were breaking things, vandalizing, shouting, shooting. I wasn’t frightened. I was probably in shock. After they left the first time, I came out from the shelter, and I saw the mess in my house. I took pictures. I mean, come on, it’s Israel. I don’t trust the insurance company,” the actor said during the performance.

At the end, actors monologued reflections from those living in Israel during the attack. The group included a Muslim hospital worker, portrayed by Salma Qarnain, who noted her horror at the attack.

“I’m Muslim, but I’m not going to talk about this slum,” Qarnain said during the performance. “This wasn’t a religious thing at all. Evil has no religion. They are not fellow Arabs. They are terrorists. There is nothing that connects me to … those people.”

The website promoting the event initially called on Bowdoin alumnus Zohran Mamdani ’14 to come to the event, but Alessandro Carelli ’26, president of CHAI, says that he and Asplin had the production remove this invitation.

“We were very clear with the production that this is an event about October 7, and that [line] was immediately removed,” Carelli said. “Obviously every production, every artist, wants to have their say about how the play is done and how it is promoted.… I have no intention, again, of turning this into a political issue where people will scream at each other from partisan lines.”

Saul Greenfield ’73 said he felt the performance countered what he views as antisemitic activity on campus.

“I thought it was effective in changing people’s minds or maybe confirming what they thought to begin with. But Bowdoin needs a lot more than that,” Greenfield said. “Bowdoin’s faculty and curriculum are set up in such a way that it augments antisemitism. It teaches it, overtly and nonovertly to its students. This is a nice effort, but it’s only the beginning.”

Attendee Asher Feiles ’27 noted that many students may have been unwilling to see the show because its advertising.

“I think that the advertisement of this show was atrocious. It called for Zohran Mamdani to be here,… and I think that that’s disgusting and a mockery of the horrors that happened,” Feiles said. “I think that it’s difficult for a lot of people to engage, and that’s fair. And I think that those of us who can engage should because we know that what we’re fighting for is important.”

According to Carelli, the event fits into the College’s goal of embracing different perspectives.

“If we don’t do that, I guess we’re failing in this liberal education that we’re trying to give our students … If you don’t like this play, I encourage you to come anyway,” Carelli said. “I encourage you to come, to be respectful, but to come and to see and maybe learn something. We want to have as diverse of an audience as possible, and I encourage every member of the community to join.”