It was December 21, 1988. A regularly scheduled Pan Am flight had taken off and was on its way from Europe to North America.  

With 243 passengers and 16 crew members on board, Pan Am Flight 103 was tragically bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all passengers of the ill-fated flight and 11 civilians on the ground.

The Lockerbie bombing thus became the first deadliest act of terrorism against the US during its time, leaving those who lost loved ones in crushing grief.

However, some families searched for answers.

In FUHS Theatre’s second fall production The Women of Lockerbie, a mourning couple from New Jersey scours the high grounds of Lockerbie for their son’s remains that were missing from the crash. They stumble upon the women of Lockerbie, who confide in the couple about their grappling with the U.S. government to retrieve items from the crash — clothes, trinkets, and belongings — and return them to the families of victims.

Senior Arcadia Eckmayer plays the role of mother Madeline Livingston who loses her mind searching for a memory of her son to hang onto.

“[Madeline] is struggling to comprehend what happened, and she’s just trying to deal with her grief in any way that she feels fitting,” Eckmayer said.

Senior Alex Gotch plays Bill Livingston, husband to Madeline, who masks his own grief to comfort his own wife’s emotional turmoil.

“[Bill] never really deals with the grief that comes with losing a child,” said Gotch. “He often says that he’s shut off the emotion he is feeling because he felt he was being strong.”

Lockerbie sheds light on numerous themes of sadness and suffering like the effects of terrorism on the civilian life as well as the different stages of grief.

“When [Alex] and I first read the script together, we were in tears,” said Eckmayer.  

The play recognizes that though something as tragic as this can happen, people will just keep living, and will eventually forget.

Structured similarly to a Greek tragedy, Lockerbie focuses more on the emotional effect of words and vocal inflections to strike the heartstrings of its audience.

“The way it’s written is just poetic, but you’re not supposed to over-emote,” said Eckmayer. “It was difficult for me, because I’m not used to using just my voice to convey an overall emotion.”

The Lockerbie bombing provides valuable insight for the struggles victims experience after a tragedy.

“This play really touches on the way people handle certain emotions, and the different ways people grieve,” said Gotch. “It points out how the way you lament can affect those around you.”

The play showcases this variance starkly as Madeline madly searches for a piece of her son while her husband Bill remains outwardly reserved and solitary in his anguish.  

“It’s very sad, and what these characters have gone through is heartbreaking,” said Eckmayer. “But in the end, it’s uplifting because they find peace in what happened and are able to air out their grievances.”

The Women of Lockerbie opened this Thursday and will run through Nov. 17-20. Tickets will be sold in the Activities Office for $8, $10 online at showtixforu.com, and $12 at the door.