itself helped the two commit a
crime they were almost incapable of doing on their own. They
were called thrill seekers. They
wanted to experience what it was
like to take someone’s life away.
“Their story took place in the
20s when organized crime was
running rampant,” said Katz.
“The moral fiber that had been
thought to hold society together was crumbling and people
were giving into their hedonistic tendencies. I think any time
that happens in our country,
there’s always a backlash — a pull
against the drive towards hedonism. This was like the perfect
storm, a moment in time for the
country and the culture to react
to a crime that was void of any
moral sensibility.”
As Katz notes, random acts of
violence happen far too often in
today’s world. A crime like Leopold and Loeb’s might only have
lasted until the next murder
came across the news cycle. But
maybe it would have rose above
the fray. The crime had everything — highly intelligent teenagers from wealthy families, thrill
seeking, a homosexual love affair, and the idea that the perfect
crime was possible. The more
you learn about the pair, the
more you wonder if they didn’t
succeed. Perhaps a part of them
wanted to be caught after all. To
show that the perfect crime does
not go unnoticed. Maybe they
were smarter than we think.
Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story
December 3-20
Luna Stage (555 Valley Road, West Orange, NJ)
NewJerseyStage.com
2015 - ISSUE 11
ARTICLES
78