{"id":680,"date":"2013-09-03T18:19:27","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T18:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamp1.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/?p=680"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:22:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:22:15","slug":"an-american-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/2013\/09\/03\/an-american-story\/","title":{"rendered":"An American Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>About 15 years ago, Missouri Western\u2019s president, Dr. Robert Vartabedian, and his wife, Laurel, stopped at a visitors center in Trinidad, Colo., where a display caught their attention. It told the story of a 1913-14 immigrant coal miners\u2019 strike in the area that
\nculminated in what has become known as the Ludlow Massacre. Intrigued by that
\nstory, Dr. Laurel Vartabedian wrote the book and lyrics for the folk opera
\n\u201cAmerican Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her work, which had previously been staged in Colorado, Texas and New York, was performed by Missouri Western students on campus in April and in Trinidad in May. The cast of 10 adults included students in Dr. Susan Carter\u2019s opera class.<\/p>\n

Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western\u2019s president, was the director, and it was the first time he had directed at Missouri Western. \u201cThe students were delightful and very talented,\u201d Dr. Robert Vartabedian said. \u201cThey rose to the occasion and I was very happy with the outcome. I have missed working with students on projects like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican Story\u201d is about an Irish immigrant, Mary Thomas, and her life-altering experience of the Ludlow Massacre on April 20, 1914. Twenty people, including two women and 11 children, were killed during a Colorado militia raid on a tent colony of coal miners and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very, very moving, especially in Trinidad, where the history was well known
\nand real to the audience,\u201d said Sarah Waters, who played labor activist Mother
\nJones. \u201cPeople were crying a lot.\u201d She said audience members spoke to the cast
\nfor almost an hour after their Colorado performance, and they met a lot of
\nrelatives of the miners and those who were killed. \u201cMost said, \u2018We\u2019re so glad
\nyou brought this to life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While in Colorado, the students visited the Denver Center for Performing Arts and the site of the Ludlow Massacre in Ludlow, Colo. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009. \u201cIt meant a lot to the students because they had met some of the descendants,\u201d Dr. Laurel Vartabedian said. \u201cIt was very touching.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group that is planning events to commemorate the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of the massacre in Ludlow in 2014 recently contacted Dr. Laurel Vartabedian about returning to perform \u201cAmerican Story\u201d in three cities as part of the commemoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students said they felt like they were a part of history, part of something bigger than themselves,\u201d Dr. Laurel Vartabedian said of the Colorado performance and trip. \u201cIt was a wonderful experience. I couldn\u2019t have been prouder of the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

-end-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 About 15 years ago, Missouri Western\u2019s president, Dr. Robert Vartabedian, and his wife, Laurel, stopped at a visitors center in Trinidad, Colo., where a display caught their attention. It told the story of a 1913-14 immigrant coal miners\u2019 strike in the area that culminated in what has become known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4145,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/4145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}