'Three-Five-Zero-Zero,' Meet Two-Zero-Zero-Four

Yet another production of the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, you ask? Haven't we been there, done that? Yup, but this time it's different. It has to be. Now, just like in the Sixties, we're actually at war. And not just any war, but like the one we fought in Southeast Asia, lo these many years ago, a war widely protested as unjustified, unnecessary, and imperialistic – which gives this 35-year-old work a new immediacy. So we asked some students at Austin Community College, which is producing this genre-defining piece, if it really is easy to be hard in the Age of Aquarius.

Zach Pettichord (Tribe Member): "The story is sort of a personalized version of the generic hippie tale. Claude, the white-collar kid, gets drafted and has to deal with it. Claude is a semioutsider; he comes from a different background than the rest of the hippies. Berger is his comrade, and Claude wishes he could give himself up like Berger does to the hippie protest movement, but he just can't quite let himself go. It's the story of a generation, and I think that attitude of 'Make love, not war' is on the rise again. That era laid the foundation for something that wasn't finished, a sort of universal acceptance and universal peace. If it had been finished, I don't think we'd have Bush, we wouldn't have had Reagan, we wouldn't have the kinds of issues we're faced with. Relating the past to the future and making the message resonate in the present is important. What can we learn from what they did, what they accomplished, and what they lost."

Victoria Phillips (Sheila): "It's a message of peace and tolerance. With all of the turbulence that's going on, with the war and the election looming, any influence we can have, any resonance we can get out there for people couldn't be more necessary than it is now. People are becoming so consumed with their own lives and the chaos that exists within them, they forget the importance of helping other people, of being compassionate and forgiving. I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 and found it to be so terrifying, so frightening. There's a solider talking about the music he listens to. 'We don't need no water, let the motherfuckers burn.' People become so wrapped up in what they're doing, they're not thinking about the impact they have on other people. Violence and destruction run rampant. Doing Hair is a way for me to answer that. Going in a positive direction rather than just grieving. It's not just a Sixties nostalgia piece by any means."

Killian Ivy (Jeanie): "People are starting to distrust their government and wanting it to change. There's a feeling of revolt. People don't want the war; they don't want people dying. I don't want to be controlled by the government. I don't like knowing that my friends and my family could be sent to war and they could die. That's a scary thing, and while the war isn't a yes or no thing for me, I haven't been convinced that this one is necessary. There will always be terrorists. They're not going to disappear, so this war isn't winnable. And I don't think Bush is so naive that he thinks he's going to win it. So what is the goal? What is it we're trying to accomplish?"