Friday, March 20, 2009 By Yelena Akopyan - Yelena Akopyan Advertising AP History students learn about Lewis and Clark (January 27, 2006) -- Thirteen Clark AP U.S. history students, along with history teacher Ira West and his wife, trooped into the Mark Taper Forum in Downtown Los Angeles to see the new play Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates, written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Robert Schenkkan. The trip was originally organized for the junior AP U.S. history class, but attendance was not only limited to AP students. Although having a darkly comedic tone, the message of the play is in fact very serious. The plot follows Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition through the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century. Somewhere along the way, they go forward in time to the battlefields of Cuba, the Philippines and modern-day Iraq. “The play in itself had some flaws, but it made some very trenchant criticisms of current foreign policy based on what had happened in the past,” said West. Most of the students seemed to thoroughly enjoy the play, despite the unfounded accusations from an unknown source that the group was being too disruptive. “Ignoring the material that was in the play, the play itself was very well done,” said junior Nick Lee. “The stage and lighting was very impressive, and the actors were also very good; they breathed life into each character. It was a very funny and witty play that criticized the American government and its expansion.” Lee agress that the opinions expressed in the play also complement the material written by Howard Zinn’s The People’s History of the United States, which is heavily used as a textbook companion in the AP class. “Right after coming out of the play, I remember asking my friend ‘I wonder what Howard Zinn would have thought of this.’” Because of the success of the trip, the class is already planning another trip to the Mark Taper Forum to see The Cherry Orchard by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Anton Chekhov. “I think we’ll probably continue doing this in the next few months because it’s a real deal to get $44 seats for $12,” West said.

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