Colleges to Stage Play Based on Oct. 7 Survivor Testimonies Amid Campus Tensions
Northwestern and Cornell universities will host 'October 7,' a production featuring firsthand accounts of the Hamas attacks, as they navigate ongoing debates about the conflict.
Northwestern University and Cornell University are slated to host a play titled "October 7," which features verbatim survivor testimonies from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks. The production, presented by the Unreported Story Society and directed by Jeff Gurner, is scheduled for an Oct. 6 staged reading at Northwestern's Cahn Auditorium and a Dec. 8 performance at Cornell.
The play is based on interviews conducted in Israel by Irish journalists Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney following the attacks. Students involved in organizing the event believe the play offers an essential educational opportunity to understand the human impact of the events.
"Hearing survivors’ testimony performed word-for-word turns Oct. 7 from an abstraction into human beings, and that’s something every student needs to encounter," Noah Oxfeld, a senior at Northwestern, told JNS. "This is education at its most honest and its most necessary."
Northwestern previously settled with the Trump administration in November 2025 for $75 million over allegations of antisemitism, agreeing to end a deal it had negotiated with anti-Israel protesters. The university admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.
Yali Koch, a student at Northwestern, stated that the play serves as "a great medium for helping people understand the human impact of the atrocities committed on Oct. 7, presenting a more complete picture of the conflict and hopefully fostering more productive conversations." Koch added that anti-Israel sentiment has become normalized among students, who may lack the context to form informed opinions.
At Cornell, the play's staging comes amid concerns raised by Jewish students about antisemitism on campus. Recent events at Cornell have included student chants of "from the river to the sea" at a rally featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), which Jewish organizations have stated calls for Israel's elimination and incites antisemitic violence. Similarly, the phrase "student intifada" has been praised at campus events.
Sofia Eliasi, a Cornell sophomore, expressed that the play "allows eyewitness experiences to circumvent editorializing and illuminate what really occurred that day." Davian Gekman, a senior at Cornell, echoed this sentiment, calling it "vital that my peers are exposed to the truth" and that "never again can only hold true if people are educated."