Entertainment : Vinton theatre student playing the role of Sara Jane Moore in \'Assassins\'

'Assassins:' Erin Horst (standing to the right of the man with rifle) plays the role of Sara Moore.

'Best Partner:' Vinton native Erin Horst was chosen to perform at the Kennedy Center.

Erin Horst will perform 'Gun Song' at her college and the Kennedy Center.

For her latest theatrical projects, Vinton native Erin Horst spent some time at a shooting range and the 20th Century American History section of the Minnesota State University, Mankato library.

Horst, the daughter of Gerald and Marcy Horst, will play the role of Sara Jane Moore, the woman who tried to shoot President Gerald Ford, in a production of the musical entitled “Assassins,” which opens next week at the college’s Andreas Theatre of the Earley Center for Performing Arts.

In a separate theatrical event, Horst and her partner, Adam Yankowy, were chosen as one of the 16 finalists in the Region 5 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The event awards are known as the Irene Ryans, from the name of one of its major sponsors, the Irene Ryan Foundation.

The Festival takes place nationwide, in regional competitions in a variety of categories. The top acts chosen from each region will have the opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., later this year.

“We were one of 16 couples chosen in our region,” says Horst. “It started with 314 acts. We had preliminaries on Monday, Semi-finals on Wednesday and Finals on Friday. From there they pick one finalist to perform at the Kennedy Center in DC.”

After performing on Friday, Horst and her partners were indeed chosen to advance to D.C., to perform "Gun Song" from "Assassins." Horst also received the "Best Partner Award."

"Our group was chosen to sing the 'Gun Song' at the Kennedy Center in DC in April," she said. "I don't know many more details. I also won Best Partner in the Irene Ryan's with Adam and he won two musical theatre awards. Our college walked away with a total of 18 awards last night. Two of the groups are performing in DC."

"I'm incredibly fortunate to be taking part in KCACTF this year,” says Horst, a first year MFA Musical Theatre candidate at the college in southern Minnesota. “There is so much talent at this festival and everyone is so supportive of everyone else. It's been a long week of rehearsals and performances and more rehearsals and more performances but getting selected to sing on the Guthrie stage is an incredible honor and totally worth it."

The MFA program is three years long; Horst has acted and sung in three shows already, and is teaching undergraduate acting classes.

"I am hoping to perform and eventually teach a college theatre program when I finish," she says.

In both the musical, which opens Jan. 29, and today’s performance, Horst puts a comic spin on the tragedy of American presidential assassination attempts. The musical, which includes both dark drama and laugh-out-loud humor, relies on the quirkiness of Moore’s life for comic relief.

Moore – a mother of four who testified at her sentencing hearing that trying to shoot President Ford “seemed at that time, a correct expression of my anger,” – had been divorced five times before becoming obsessed with Patricia Hearst and immersed in revolutionary politics. The Secret Service had investigated her a few months before the shooting, and ruled her to be not a threat; she was even arrested for illegal possession of a handgun the day before she tried to shoot the President.

"Playing Sara Jane Moore has been such a wonderful experience,” Horst says. “Out of all the assassins, she's the most ‘sane.’ She's not stable by any means but it's been fun to try to find the absurd honesty in her.”

Horst says she finds Moore’s story “incredibly fascinating.”

“The musical makes her the comic relief so my portrayal obviously isn't entirely accurate, but I've incorporated some of her more interesting character traits from interviews I've watched and articles I've read. It's been a wonderful challenge," she explains.

Part of the comedy in “Assassins” includes an imaginary argument between Moore and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who had tried to kill Ford 17 days before Moore took a shot at him.

See the Minnesota State University, Mankato’s “Assassins” Facebook page HERE. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29-31 & Feb. 4-7, and 2 p.m. Feb. 1, 7 & 8. This production includes mature language and themes.

The musical also mocks the assassins for failing to impact society the way they thought their crimes would, and explores what they might have to say to each other, and to their country, now.

Horst said the language and the fact that cast members point guns toward the audience are among the things that make the musical offensive to some. In the number called "Gun Song," Moore has to step out of the line of assassins because she missed her target. The cast members spent some time on a snowy day at a shooting range, becoming familiar with the weapons they will use as props.