The 55-year May 4 Commemoration this year at Թ highlights the ongoing significance of free speech, activism and education in shaping our collective history. Presented by the May 4 Education Committee, a yearlong program continues to honor “the power of our voices.”
The 2025 commemoration program begins with the powerful play, “Trial by Fire,” presented Feb. 7-9 in partnership with Թ State’s May 4 Education Committee. Set against the backdrop of censorship and the fight for intellectual freedom, the play centers on a Թ State graduate teaching at a school in Ohio who is put “on trial” for allowing her students access to banned books. As the students rise to answer the call for activism, “Trial by Fire” serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of standing up for free expression and confronting injustices.
The play was written by Թ State alumnus and staff member, Eric Mansfield, assistant vice president of content strategy and communications in University Communications and Marketing.
Mansfield, a professional playwright and Dramatist Guild of America member, said that the true story of Summer Boismier loosely inspired the play. As an educator in Oklahoma, Boismier became the target of persecution by a conservative banned book movement for covering newly banned books in her classroom and providing her students with online access to classic “banned” books. Boismier received death threats and was forced to resign her position and flee the state to Brooklyn, New York, where she now works to maintain access to books.
“No teacher should have to go through that level of scrutiny,” Mansfield told Թ State Today. “‘Trial by Fire’ explores how a Թ State graduate teaching banned books could be targeted with TV ads that call her a threat to children and why her students could become inspired to become activists, to stand up for themselves.”
Bringing ‘Trial’ to Թ State
After the play’s 2024 premiere in Akron, Ohio, Mansfield was invited by the May 4 Education Committee to bring “Trial by Fire” to Թ State as part of its year-round programming, as it emphasizes the journey of a (fictional) Թ State graduate named Georgia Grimm, who faces challenges including racism and sexism and whose students are inspired to become activists.
Associate lecturer in Թ State’s School of Communication Studies, Stephanie Danes Smith is a member of the May 4 Education Committee. She said, “Under Dr. Neil Cooper’s direction, the May 4 Education Committee is focused on finding ways to help students understand that May 4 at Թ State was not a single day, nor is it a relic of history; it continues to offer relevant and essential lessons today. Our committee also wants to strengthen year-round educational events related to May 4.
“The horrific events of May 4 had everything to do with students exercising their First Amendment rights,” she continued. “The work of protecting and preserving First Amendment rights continues in every generation. ‘Trial by Fire’ powerfully demonstrates that the threat of censorship is quite real, and our right to choose what we read is under fire across the nation. The play contemporizes this struggle in meaningful and relatable ways. It’s precisely the kind of contemporary educational event the May 4 Education Committee wants to bring to students and the Թ State community.”
Courtney Brown, an associate professor of voice and acting in Թ State’s School of Theatre and Dance, is the director for this production of “Trial by Fire.”
She said she keenly feels the play’s connection to this place and time.
“I think present in the play are the undercurrents of what these young people perceive as things that are repressing their freedom – to fully express their freedom, to fully know and gain more depth of knowledge,” Brown said. “I think for me, that’s one of the biggest things I can point out right now. It seems to have themes with what the young people, not just at Թ State of course, but the colleges across the country were really experiencing was that sense of not having their voices fully heard.”
She said, “I think for me, one of the most important things, the most exciting things being on faculty at Թ State and getting to work with this wonderful group of young people is that they get to tell a story about a group of young people who are not that much younger than they are, and this group of young students comes together and stands up and fights back, uses their voices against what they perceive is an injustice.”
The role of Georgia Grimm is being played by senior theater performance major Iyona Nicole, from Columbus, Ohio. This is her first time in a lead role and she’s feeling both excitement and stress.
"It’s a lot more [dialogue] than I'm used to. The subject matter is interesting, especially because it reflects what could happen in the future,” Nicole said. “It brings a bit of anxiety and everything, especially because it’s set in a school in Ohio. It makes me nervous for the future, but it also makes me reflect on just what people have done to sacrifice to we where we are today.”
Asked if she is “feeling Georgia,” Nicole said, “Yes. I’ve been studying a lot just to get into her mindset. She’s a super smart girl, and I’m learning so much just about what she’s done, everything she knows, I’ve been reading the books that she’s been mentioning and it’s just, it’s fun.”
Sophomore Isabella Fitzpatrick is a theater studies major and digital media production minor from Akron. She is a “swing actor” in this production, which means she is the understudy for all the roles in the play and has to know everyone’s lines in case someone in the cast is absent or unable to perform. Fitzpatrick feels the connection between May 4 and the themes in “Trial by Fire.”
“I learned about it [May 4] for the first time my freshman year, and it was truly heartbreaking that it happened here,” she said. “When you consume media or information about stuff [that] is tragic because usually, it’s not near you, but when you’re standing in the spots where memorials are having to take place, it’s just completely different, and how it relates to the play – May 4 is sometimes hard to think about and it’s relation to this play makes you think of [the] whole thing.
“But there is a relation between May 4 and this play and some aspects of it connect. I wonder if some of the audience members are going to as well,” Fitzpatrick said.
A Yearlong Schedule of Events
The May 4 Education Committee has been working year-round to bring meaningful educational programming that not only reflects on the past but also inspires present and future generations.
Through these programs, the committee and the university continue to “amplify the voices that challenge and shape the world around us.”
Performances of “Trial by Fire” will take place Feb. 7-9 in Wright-Curtis Theatre, Center for the Performing Arts, 1325 Theatre Drive, on the Թ Campus. Tickets for “Trial by Fire” are free to students, faculty and staff and can be found by following .
The annual May 4 commemoration will take place on May 4 at noon. Additional programs include the Jerry Lewis Lecture Series Luncheon on May 2, and the Candlelight Walk and Vigil on May 3. These events and the yearlong educational initiatives help preserve the memory of May 4 while continuing the vital conversation about the power of activism and free speech. Additional programming and tickets will be announced in mid-spring.
Top photo caption: Pictured Iyona Nicole, Ashelyn Sweet, Sarah Mickens, Rylie Hornung, Nicole Berrios-Parga, Kristen Davis and Courtney Brown