Blackout : The Concordia Computer Riots, livre ebook

• The premiere production in 2019 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the protest.
• First produced by Tableau D’hôte in collaboration with Playwrights' Workshop Montréal at D.B. Clarke Theatre, Montréal, in February 2019

STUDENT 2

At the beginning the plan was we would... you see, usually we would never enter the rooms at all, we were not allowed in. But if the police moved in we were... we were to go into the computer room and we thought the police wouldn’t come in after us because they wouldn’t-- the Administration wouldn’t want the computers damaged... by the police coming in. The plan was that we would stick close to the computers... we believed that the computers would not be touched, so... it would be the safest place for us because the machines would protect us... the machines... and if the police came in and they started... slamming us around, it would be clear that it was them who bashed the computers, not us. We felt... safer with the computers.

ENSEMBLE quietly repeats “We felt safe with the computers” until end of scene.

STUDENT 4

We felt we’d be more safe with the computers. As long as they remained unharmed by us, we would be unharmed by the police.

Lawyer turns into JUDGE

Guilty. Guilty of conspiracy to commit mischief by destroying and damaging computers. Guilty of conspiracy to commit mischief by occupying the computer centre of the University. Guilty of conspiracy to commit mischief by causing danger to life through fire. Guilty of conspiracy to commit arson by setting fire to the computer centre.