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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 6 of 689)
76. Whoa this kid was a genius playwright! Its too bad he went pyscho.
e mac at 2:55PM on Apr 17th 2007
77. Stacy is right. He probably went nuts because he realized he was a crappy writer and being a psychopath to boot he probably just took it out on all the innocents he did.
hank at 2:59PM on Apr 17th 2007
78. This boy was very sick. Obviously this play he wrote is just one example of how this kid felt about his environment and what his mentality was. From some of the comments posted by kids in the school, they knew he had a problem. Why didn't anyone help him? That's just one of the world's main problems today...We don't care enough until it's too late...
Elena at 9:59AM on Apr 18th 2007
79. Jessica,
It sounds like you may be the next one to go on a rampage... Yeah, we don't live in the ghetto and don't get to experience stuff like this everyday so its kinda shocking and heartbreaking
Derrick at 3:02PM on Apr 17th 2007
80. You can't 'turn someone in' because they create a piece of art that you think may say something about them. It's a work of imagination (or it's supposed to be). Perhaps he was just getting inside the mind of a young sociopath. Turns out he had issues obviously, but you know how many thousands of plays, stories and poems are submitted to creative writing classes that are way more disturbing than that? You can't just assume that means someone is demented.
Pedro at 2:55PM on Apr 17th 2007
81. I didn't take it from Stacey to be critiquing his work.....I took it more as an overall evaluation of his thinking process.....like, to me, it's written by someone with dillusional thinking and who is also emotionally immature.....yes, a senior in college, but people with this kind of irratic thinking are usually emotional immature and can't even fathom a healthy relationship with anyone.
Cin at 2:54PM on Apr 17th 2007
82. You can tell this kid had some problems. I wish there was something that could have been done to help him. From what I read previously, he seemed to have communications issues too. Autism? Who knows.
willow reed at 3:03PM on Apr 17th 2007
83. *= In response to the ignorant girl!
I thought this story was very touching. I heard about Ryan Clark on the news early this morning and began to cry. Even though I don't know anyone who attends or attended your school, I still feel for all of you. It's scary to think that things like this happen for NO reason.
*As for that Stacey chick, she's the one who needs help if the only thing she's worried about is your grammer!
jessica at 3:02PM on Apr 17th 2007
84. To understand what caused a young man to eventually want to take the lives of people who were his peers, would require an indepth study of his youth at home and school. What happens to children during youth creates what they later become. Treatment of children by adults causes the later acceptance of them by peers. Without the feeling of belongingness, the world of a child can be terrible. These reoccurring tragedies in schools are a symptom of a greater problem. Structuring a child's rearing through dignified approaches and dialogue create critical thinkers. The hard approaches such as what is practiced in homes and through school codes of conduct do not allow for thoughtful growth. The shootings should bring pause to our lives to reevaluate our approaches with each other and children. I hope that we will begin to learn from this isolated change of behavior occurring in our youth that is encroaching on our lives. Circumstances as grave as this should cause everyone who affects the lives of youth to change their behaviors in handling the growth and development opportunities that arise. The self image and fears that each of us has resulted from those who were our models.
Janna Schwimmer at 2:56PM on Apr 17th 2007
85. Have you guys seen the movies these days? Saw I, II, and III? I mean that is sick and yet we eat it up. Because we are able to read this kid's writings knowing he was a mass murderer we can psychoanalyze all we want. The fact is you can't know from their writings whether they're just creative like Quentin Tarantino or the guys that wrote Saw and Hostel, and many other movies with sick twisted plots. I'm not advocating that we stop people from making these movies or writing novels or plays that portray these things. I'm just saying that we cannot know which type of person will one day flip out as this guy did and which type will continue to just write about it.
Jason at 3:20AM on Apr 18th 2007
86. How sad...that poor boy (young man) must have really had some awful things happen in his life to bring out such a dark side. My heart goes out to all the victims as well as him.
Verna at 2:58PM on Apr 17th 2007
87. After reading this I am suprised that someone didn't discuss his issues with staff...maybe they did. It reads like a cry for help...a poorly written one. Tragic.
n at 2:55PM on Apr 17th 2007
88. okay and you decide now to say he could be a shooter, you never told anyone anything, never reported anything? so you did nothing, wow how intresting
chelsie at 2:55PM on Apr 17th 2007
89. What a sad day for all involed. Can't we just leave it at that...There had to be something terribly wrong with Cho to do what he did. What a shame someone couldn't save him and the other poor inocent victims.
Harri at 3:07PM on Apr 17th 2007
90. Stacy, I think it is sad that we can now stereotype people as potential killers, but I hear what you are trying to say. Don't just sit there, do something sooner. This may have been avoided if there had been one more step taken and someone had actually confronted him with thoughts and ideas you have expressed. We can't take responsibility for others actions but we can take responsibility for our own. Thanks for expressing your thoughts.
lcg03 at 3:14PM on Apr 17th 2007