Healing is a fluid process, and one that has taken myriad forms in the days, months and years following the July 20, 2012, shooting at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora.
For some, it’s solitude.
After dozens of impromptu memorials popped up around the city and the country in the days following the massacre that killed 12 and injured over 70 others, the city will officially and permanently commemorate the victims with a xeriscape garden outside of city hall set to be completed later this year. The garden will provide citizens a space to personally ruminate.
“Through the memorial we will all have a place that is peaceful to reflect and remember,” Tiina Marie Coone, a member of the 7/20 Memorial Committee said in a statement last month.
For others, it’s solidarity.
For the past three years, dozens of local restaurants and brewers have convened for the “A Night to Remember” beer festival on the anniversary of the shooting. The brewfest is held in honor of all of the victims and their families, but organized by Copper Kettle Brewing Company and the parents of Alex Teves, a Denver resident killed in the shooting.
“Things like (the festival) put that layer on it that allow us to smile,” Caren Teves, Alex’s mother said during the event last year. “There’s such a sense of community, and that’s really the essence of Alex.”
But for Tim McGrath, solace has been found in words.
“Being able to write about it, as a writer, was definitely therapy for me,” he said. “It’s been incredibly helpful in finding strength.”
McGrath is the writer and producer of “Aurora,” an original screenplay he penned last year that depicts several true accounts of those affected by the Aurora theater shooting.
“(The script is) set up with multiple perspectives, and that’s what I think is most interesting in that it affected such wide range of people,” McGrath said of his project that started as a documentary, but has morphed into a multi-perspective narrative.
That breadth of scope is something he seeks to expand on with “Aurora,” not only with the audience, but also the overall message.
“It’s more of a movie about gun violence and its place in our society,” he said. “And much more than this one shooting, it’s about this problem in our society at large.”
McGrath was on summer break from law school at the University of Southern California when he attended the July 20 midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” with his cousin and five friends. Also enrolled in film classes at USC and with a background in theater and filmmaking, McGrath said the adaptation of his intimate, first-person account of the shooting could be a first for a feature-length film and a perspective he believes needs to be shared.
“The perspective that we have is very unique as a group of survivors,” he said. “And I think it’s an important story to be told.”
Gaining different perspectives of the tragedy is something McGrath has done a lot of over the past year, principally through speaking with survivors and others affected by the shooting at the Aurora Strong Resilience Center on Peoria Street.
“Tim wanted to do this about the people who were surviving this, which is what we’re all about — building resilience,” said Grace Zolnosky, center manager. “I feel like a lot of times we get people wanting to talk about the murderer and the events themselves, but for him to really want to focus on the healing, the outcomes and how people have overcome that horrific event, is incredible.”
McGrath started volunteering at the center, helping to teach tai chi classes, a little over six months after the center opened in the summer of 2013.
“The services received at the resiliency center are a great step to be able to process an event like this,” he said.
And while the center’s classes, services and time have helped ease the trauma following the shooting, immediately stepping back into law classes was difficult for McGrath. In his introductory torts class at USC that fall, his teacher used the theater attack as a classroom example, something he was neither ready nor prepared for.
“I had to step out and email the teacher later,” he said. “But the school was not very understanding, and they wanted to know how I was going to handle stress in the courtroom if I couldn’t in the classroom.”
McGrath has since put completing his law degree on hold and now lives full-time in Los Angeles as a screenwriter and actor. He said he wants “Aurora” to tell a necessary story, however difficult, and for it to aid in the healing process for others, though he’s cognizant of balancing the gamut of emotions involved.
“There’s definitely a line to walk here,” he said. “It’s important to share with people what went on and to help people with their recovery. What we don’t want to do is to create any trauma — we’re very sensitive to that.”
Zolnosky added that she hopes the film will be able to provide strength for a wider audience of people affected by tragedies like the theater shooting.
“I’m hoping that with this film being distributed people can look at these stories and relate to a character in the film and say, ‘if they can do this, then I can do this,’” she said.
That “we” McGrath referenced is a new and major cog in the project’s creative process. Ted Schipper, a producer known for his recent award-winning films “The Master” with the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman and “Zero Dark Thirty” with Jessica Chastain, recently agreed to help produce McGrath’s film, a move he said has helped give the script legs.
Going forward, McGrath said he aims to begin casting roles from Los Angeles early this spring. He also plans to do some casting in Aurora and around the metro area due to his ties to the local theater scene after several years of performing and filming around the region.
“Casting is such an unpredictable process and it’s hard to pinpoint timelines, but we’re going to figure out who we want to base the schedule around and go from there,” he said. “But being in the theater here, I know there are such great actors around, so I’d really like to some casting from here in Colorado.”
Wait a second. This guy McGrath is not on the list of victims. He wasn’t in Theater 9. And with a little bit of research, you can find him online talking to a radio show less than 24 hours after this horrific massacre that killed 12 people and maimed 70 others actually talking calmly and laughing, saying he was in Theater 8 saying he didn’t really feel like he was in the situation because they were removed from where it was really happening. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF_TnjAdwGU) So he didn’t “survive” anything. The feeling is that he went to the Center for the real purpose of finding people to agree to give up their life rights to him so he could further his own career. It’s easy to research this opportunist online and I’m surprised you guys didn’t before taking him at face value.
Dear “Gimmie a Break”, Did anyone in Theater 8 get shot? Yes, they did. Did people need to escape from the theater without knowing how many gunmen were in the movie theater? Yes, they did. Was it the scariest thing most of the people involved will hopefully ever have to experience? Yes, it was. Do you need to have a bullet in you to be a “survivor” If you attended Columbine, but weren’t shot or in a room with the killers, are you not allowed to be a “survivor” Should I tell all of the people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from witnessing any mass violence that they have no right to their PTSD because they aren’t survivors or that they needed to show signs and symptoms immediately for you to allow them their condition? Clearly this guy McGrath was affected as was everyone else in the movie theater, or did was he a clairvoyant opportunist and knew to go to that theater?
Signed,
Apparently I am not a Survivor of anything either.
Sorry for the extra did in the last sentence.
Yes, I know that a bullet and shrapenel hit a boy football player and a girl and another boy got hurt by tripping but listen. I know all about PTSD, pal. Listen to the radio show where he says he didn’t feel like he was really in it. Of course he didn’t, that’s why he could laugh after 12 people were slaughtered and 70 injured. Now all of a sudden this guy who is an actor (and a pretty bad one at that if you look at the stuff posted online) is playing the role of “a survivor” trying to get his film career off the ground. He’ll fit in well with Hollywood where they spin tales and make up all sorts of drama for themselves. He’s playing it up for all it’s worth to benefit himself personally. This guy ain’t foolin’ anyone.
For the record, this guy isn’t “all the sudden” an actor. He was actor 10+ years prior to… first, let’s get that straight. What a horrible thing… to judge ANYONE who who was in that theater or ANYONE who had a loved one in that theater. Shame on you. Do you study PTSD? I mean, beyond Wiki? I am speaking as a person who professionally studies it. Can you judge how someone acts or behaves after the horrific event? If you can, which is exactly what are you doing, then please educate me on the new definition. So what, he laughs. The behavior honestly sounds to me like a nervous and an uncomfortable reaction to my ears. No, he’s not fooling anyone. He happens to be in the film industry and has this medium to share his story. So what? All of these horrible events happening in our world sickens me; who are you to judge someone who experienced one of these on-the-book events. Horrible. Just horrible.
For him to exploit the victims suffering from PTSD, injury and loss of life to further his own film career says it all. It’s an exploitation of the entire horrible event, and if you can’t see that you must be McGrath himself — which quite frankly, given that YOU WERE FIRST AND FOREMOST OFFENDED BY AN ERROR IN HIS ACTING BIO, is most likely the case.
Did you even read the post? Your reply is quite comical and is unclear. No, no relation. Just speaking from an unbiased, educated and therapeutic view. Too bad you are unable to only see your side.
RE: your ALL CAPS statement… this has absolutely nothing to do with his bio. However, I find it comical that it is your main rebuttal, hence ALL CAPS. When you imply he became an actor after this horrible event to purposefully exploit I will correct you. Do your homework first before you make an accusation and judgement on someone.
Isn’t this Ms. Sullivan at the Reslience Center? If so, she is not an objective party given that her story is being told in this film so she has a vested interest in seeing this going to the screen.
Nope. Just a nobody from middle-town America reading these offensive comments and judgments made on innocent people who experienced a horrific event.
Not all wounds affect the flesh. Many victims survived that night without a scratch. Names never on a victim list. I cannot fathom the fear of being in the theater that night. Trying to get out, not knowing where the next bullet might come from.
I remember that morning. My daughter frantically texting and calling her friend because she knew he and a bunch of others went to the theater that night. She finally was able to reach him. He was ok. Throughout the months after my daughter learns of the struggle he went through trying to get out of the theater. My daughter’s friend is Tim McGrath. I can tell you that he was in the theater that night. I know Tim. He has a heart of gold. If anyone can tell this story with honesty and compassion, it’s Tim. For gosh sakes, the man is volunteering his time at the center teaching Tai-Chi!
Everyone grieves in their own way. I believe this will be healing not only for Tim but for anyone who participates in this project. Oh, and I’ve seen the man act. He’s awesome!
He was NOT in the theatre. He was in the adjoining theatre, and Gimme A Break is EXACTLY accurate with his response.
Tim never said he was in THEATER 9 but he that was in THEATER 8 overall Century 16 THEATERS!!
After knowing the family for many years, and talking in depth with McGrath personally AND his family members about the shooting, this article makes me really upset, because “Gimme A Break”s response is EXACTLY ACCURATE. McGrath is trying to turn this opportunistic, and it is a bunch of bull! And it has NOTHING to do with PTSD, as I have heard from his own mouth. Its about getting attention and self -grandized publicity. Shame on you Tim. People who know your real story are disappointed and you should not have done this and claimed you were a “victim.” Shame on you.
Since you know him “personally” have you told him this to his face or are you such a coward that you have to post here and use no name?
Dear Laurie whatever your last name is,
Why would you call the above person a coward for not posting their entire name and then not post yours?
Now, I also have spoken to Mr. McGrath directly and also came away with the same impression that ‘Shame On You Tim’ did. I also believe that he went to the Center mining for life rights as he saw an opportunity to seize for himself. All supporters who are involved in this and who have given over life rights need to understand what that means, and I hope you all got lawyers to look over anything you signed.
If this is really an altruistic endeavor, ask yourselves who is going to benefit in the end financially and career wise?
I’m not the one stabbing the guy in the back! If I think someone is doing something wrong I would certainly not put it in a public forum without telling it to him directly. Besides, do you think that the studio & people didn’t profit from Schindler’s List?!
How dare you. Never tell a victim of any violence how to feel. You are a bitter ignorant person who clearly has never been a 1st hand victim of any crime. It cripples you to the core, leaves you in delirium & ABSOLUTELY WORST PART IS IT NEVER LEAVE YOU!!!!! I have been a victim of violence for over 15 years & it still repeatedly rears its ugly, at times embarrassing head, because when you are truly out thru an awful trams unpredictable triggers can happen @ any time I pity your lack of empathy & consideration for an experienced that isn’t your to universally judge. I suspect if you don’t find an outlet for such sophomoric aggression, you might as well save the bail $. B/