BRUNSWICK — A raw performance brought raw emotion to a Bowdoin College theater on Thursday night as attendees, some fighting back tears or failing to do so, soaked in the firsthand accounts of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.

“October 7” shines the spotlight on the harrowing stories of the people who fought back, saved lives or survived the attack on Oct. 7, 2023 — in their words.

The play, co-written and produced by Irish husband and wife journalists Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, was performed at Pickard Theater at Bowdoin College in stage-reading form.

The performance was planned by the same conservative student group that recently postponed a planned memorial event for slain right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk because of threats.

It also came as the war between Israel and Hamas continues to grip the Middle East and draw protest globally over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Earlier this year, the group Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine organized an encampment inside the student center, where protesters remained for several days while calling on the school to take a stand against the Israeli government.

The script of “October 7” consists of the transcripts from interviews McAleer and McElhinney conducted with survivors of the attacks, compiled to provide a narrative of the day.

The stage reading Thursday was followed by a discussion featuring Abby Polin, the aunt of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a high-profile hostage of Hamas.

After losing his hand defending himself and others from grenades before being taken, Goldberg-Polin was shown alive in a Hamas propaganda video but was eventually found dead, along with five other hostages, nearly 11 months after his capture.

Since her nephew was taken, Polin, of Chicago, has dedicated her time to advocating for the release of the remaining hostages.

“We all need to do everything we can to make sure they’re sent home,” she said during the post-show discussion.

RECENT TENSIONS ON CAMPUSES

The event and subsequent discussion with Polin, the playwrights, the actors and director Jeff Gurner was hosted by the Bowdoin College Conservatives.

The student organization had planned a vigil last weekend for Kirk, the prominent conservative activist killed in Utah, but it was postponed after Maine State Police informed the school of threats related to the event.

There was a noticeable security presence at Thursday’s event. Bowdoin did not allow a Press Herald photographer, who was invited along with a reporter by McAleer, to photograph the performance, citing privacy issues for the audience.

“October 7” has also elicited pushback on some college campuses. The play was performed at UCLA on the one-year anniversary of the attack while a pro-Palestinian rally took place on campus; the venue where the performance was held was “heavily secured,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

On Bowdoin’s campus, eight students were briefly suspended in February for their roles in the five-day pro-Palestinian encampment inside the college’s student center. The students involved said those suspensions were later lifted, but a college spokesperson said on Friday that they “were temporary suspensions that ran their course.”

That protest came in response to Bowdoin’s lack of action in response to a student referendum that passed by a wide margin in the spring of 2024. The Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum called on the college to take an institutional stand against the Israeli government and to not invest in arms manufacturers.

Less than a month after the encampment, though, Bowdoin announced that it does not intend to change its investment strategies in response to the protests.

The performance Thursday did not provide commentary on anything that has unfolded in Israel and Hamas’ war after Oct. 7, 2023, such as the allegations that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.

Instead, it is a compilation of eyewitness accounts of that day in Israel that aims to honor and remember those who lost their lives that day, those taken hostage, and the families and friends who love them.

Zak Asplin, the chair of Maine College Republicans and president of the Bowdoin College Conservatives, also took part in the discussion after the show.

“Oct. 7 was one of the worst days in history,” Asplin said. “We have to be able to hold a space for that.”

Bowdoin College is a place for that, Asplin said, and college campuses across the country “need to see this.”

Gurner, the director, said full productions of the play have been put on in New York, but the current format has been a success.

“Now that we’re doing it as a stage reading, it’s almost more impactful in a way, because it’s just about the words,” Gurner said.

McAleer said the play is, at its core, journalism with every word spoken by his and McElhinney’s interviewees. He explained that verbatim theater is popular in England and is often used to remember significant historical events.

“They say journalism is the first rough draft of history,” he said, and that the play resembles that.

He also noted it can be difficult to find theaters willing to host performances of the play.

McElhinney said she is often asked how she handled her emotions while covering the subject.

Her answer: Whatever emotions she feels about it pale in comparison to those of the survivors, and that “if you can’t report on the terrible things that happen to people,” journalism may not be for you.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sept. 19 to reflect information from Bowdoin College about the student suspensions earlier this year.