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AOL News has obtained two plays a classmate says were written by Cho Seung-Hui. Ian MacFarlane, the former classmate and current AOL employee, provided us with the plays. A note from Mr. MacFarlane and links to the works appear below.What happened yesterday:
When I first heard about the multiple shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday, my first thought was about my friends, and my second thought was "I bet it was Seung Cho."
Cho was in my playwriting class last fall, and nobody seemed to think much of him at first. He would sit by himself whenever possible, and didn't like talking to anyone. I don't think I've ever actually heard his voice before. He was just so quiet and kept to himself. Looking back, he fit the exact stereotype of what one would typically think of as a "school shooter" – a loner, obsessed with violence, and serious personal problems. Some of us in class tried to talk to him to be nice and get him out of his shell, but he refused talking to anyone. It was like he didn't want to be friends with anybody. One friend of mine tried to offer him some Halloween candy that she still had, but he slowly shook his head, refusing it. He just came to class every day and submitted his work on time, as I understand it.
A major part of the playwriting class was peer reviews. We would write one-act plays and submit them to an online repository called Blackboard for everyone in the class to read and comment about in class the next day. Typically, the students give their opinions about the plays and suggest ways to make it better, the professor gives his insights, then asks the author to comment about the play in class.
When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare. The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of. Before Cho got to class that day, we students were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter. I was even thinking of scenarios of what I would do in case he did come in with a gun, I was that freaked out about him. When the students gave reviews of his play in class, we were very careful with our words in case he decided to snap. Even the professor didn't pressure him to give closing comments.
After hearing about the mass shootings, I sent one of my friends a Facebook message asking him if he knew anything about Seung Cho and if he could have been involved. He replied: "dude that's EXACTLY what I was thinking! No, I haven't heard anything, but seriously, that was the first thing I thought when I heard he was Asian."
While I "knew" Cho, I always wished there was something I could do for him, but I couldn't think of anything. As far as notifying authorities, there isn't (to my knowledge) any system set up that lets people say "Hey! This guy has some issues! Maybe you should look into this guy!" If there were, I definitely would have tried to get the kid some help. I think that could have had a good chance of averting yesterday's tragedy more than anything.
While I was hesitant at first to release these plays (because I didn't know if there are laws against it), I had to put myself in the shoes of the average person researching this situation. I'd want to know everything I could about the killer to figure out what could drive a person to do something like this and hopefully prevent it in the future. Also, I hope this might help people start caring about others more no matter how weird they might seem, because if this was some kind of cry for attention, then he should have gotten it a long time ago.
As far as the victims go, as I was heading to bed last night, I heard that my good friend Stack (Ryan Clark) was one of the first confirmed dead. I didn't want to believe that I'd never get to talk to him again, and all I could think about was how much I could tell him how much his friendship meant to me. During my junior year, Ryan, another friend and I used to get breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Shultz Dining Hall, one of the cafeterias on campus, and it was always the highlight of my day. He could talk forever it seemed and always made us laugh. He was a good friend, not just to me, but to a lot of people, and I'll miss him a lot.
Click on the links below the read the plays. WARNING: the plays contain profanity and scenes with disturbing content.
- Read Play #1: 'Richard McBeef'
- Read Play #2: 'Mr. Brownstone'
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 689)
61. Wow......after the events that occurred yesterday you would think we as a nation would begin to focus on the more important things in life......but no i see we still have idiots like Stacey who refuse to focus on this tragedic happening and the purpose of posting these writings....My prayers go out to all the families and everyone directly affected by yesterday's events....may god be with you.
Avrey at 2:52PM on Apr 17th 2007
62. It's a sad day when a teacher can read his students play like this and not report it. It screams HELP!!!!
Debbie at 3:00PM on Apr 17th 2007
63. This is sad on so many fronts. I can't believe this is what anyone wrote for a class. The writer is grasping media bytes -- maybe he seees how well they usually work and doesn't realize that most of the US views the media hype and stories (Lennon, catholic priests, etc.)as distorted news anyway. In any event, whether borrowing fomr his own life or the news, he is clearly boiling under the surface.
Very sad.
a mom at 3:42PM on Apr 17th 2007
64. Hindsight's 20/20...if anyone would have censored his work, there would be freedom of speech issues.
No one saw this coming, you can make rules, but there is still that small percent that throw life in to chaos. I have friends at VT, thankfully they weren't harmed, but you could ask him or anyone else, no one saw this coming. It seems easy after the fact, but before, no one would have seen this coming.
CowboyonPatrol at 2:52PM on Apr 17th 2007
65. Too much MSG in Cho's shop suey..........gotta watch that.
duane at 2:55PM on Apr 17th 2007
66. Didn't they think that maybe this may have been part of his life? Maybe he was molested as a child. It was obviously a cry out for help. I know if someone wrote something this disturbing in my sons school we'd have been called right away to seek help for him!
Gina at 2:53PM on Apr 17th 2007
67. This is just such a horrible tradegy that happened and my prayers are for all of the families, students and faculty affected by this. As far as this play, it seems this boy was really troubled.
kelly at 2:54PM on Apr 17th 2007
68. I would think that some serious action should have been taken after reading this. Then again, it's always easy to see these things after the fact. My heart goes out to the families touched by this.
Angela at 4:38PM on Apr 17th 2007
69. I couldn't go past page 4 of this "play", it is so disturbing. The student who turned this in has my deepest sympathy for the grief he is feeling and the obvious frustration he expresses over the inability to have been able to act on his intuitive fears about Sueng Cho.
Rhea at 2:56PM on Apr 17th 2007
70. Very sad. Too bad the people at thw university didn't suggest therapy. Maybe they did..... very very sad. Toosad for words. What he did was so horrific and now maybe we know that some horrific thing may have happened to him too. As a society we need to strive to offer support to people who need help. Internationally we all must strive for collaboration. But violence is not the answer.
Our TV shows, video games and the wars we have actually started, never justify personnal violence. As an international society everyone must understand their responsibility for goodness to prevail.
I feel so sad about the Virginia Tech incident.
Joy at 3:48PM on Apr 17th 2007
71. Hey guys, in light of the terrible events of yesterday, even if someone says something rather rude, maybe we could curb the harsh replies? It seems like the last thing that would have helped this situation, or potentially others, would be to gang up on someone and make them feel like crap. Let's teach through standards of respect rather than finger-pointing.
Jess at 3:10PM on Apr 17th 2007
72. sounds like jessica needs help too
Mary at 3:19PM on Apr 17th 2007
73. I did not have the knowledge that would come with a face-to-face encounter with this writer, and I have not yet read the second play. However, the writing is immature in both style and content. My university degree was English with a creative writing specialization. Very often students of this age use their writing for experimentation and as a catharsis for frustration, so this did not seem particularly shocking to me. But again, without meeting its author, it is only part of the picture. My point is that not everyone who writes this sort of thing is dangerous.
Jayne at 3:01PM on Apr 17th 2007
74. I agree this definitely isn't an A paper. Are we sure he wrote this. I mean the ending is like it was a last minute tack on he goes into all this detail and then page nine is so short and sort of dull in a way.I think that this isnt from a college paper maybe high school . I would have to read more of the writings to get a feeling he would be dangerous to anybody this just seems childish but angry
Tara at 3:13PM on Apr 17th 2007
75. Why didn't his instructor see that something was very seriously wrong with this young man at the time of this writing. He did need help - VERY MUCH - and how many people let this behavior carry on when they were around him? All of those lives taken - - - - Oh My!
Judi at 2:59PM on Apr 17th 2007