Goodbye Herman

“How far can someone go for their 15 minutes of fame?” This is the question that is left with the viewers of the theater production, Hello Herman. This play was presented by Richard Stockton’s theater program from November 13-17, 2013. This was not a funny play or a happy one. It was a play that left it’s viewers speechless, thinking, and a little disgusted. Hello Herman was play a circling around a Pulitzer Prize winner journalist Lax Morales interviewing 16 year old Herman. Herman had just committed one of the greatest crimes of his time. He brought a gun to school and shot 43 students, 2 teachers, and 1 police officer. For this production, I came in expecting a drama filled story investigating the past and the reasons of how a kid could do such a hideous crime. I did not get what I was expecting. The answer and plain and simple; Herman did it, believing it was the right thing to do. He was the stereotypical nerd in school who got bullied and loved violent video games. He was psychologically affected when he was a young boy, from his father’s betrayal, his workaholic mother, and the early death of his little sister. Herman had his own twisted sense of justice. He believed that his deed would lead to a better future: a future where people were just a little nicer, and could learn to respect others. Herman was defiantly insane and most likely suffered from some sort of psychological disease but he was a character I could not bring myself to hate. There were parts of Herman that embodied every young adult who struggled through hardships. It’s no reason for what he did, but I could not help but relate to him, and leave the play wanting to be a little nicer to people.