L to R:
Sean Nelson, Amy Butchko, Marin Hinkle,
Charlie Finn, and Jonathan Brandis

The Year That Trembled is a 1970 coming-of-age drama, war chronicle, and unconventional love story set in the shadow of the turbulent events at Kent State. Three teenagers, fresh out of high school and fearful of the impending draft lottery, experience a year that transforms their lives.

On May 2nd the teens find themselves caught up in the anti-Nixon upheaval at Kent State. Following a guerilla theater action, they meet a young activist who takes refuge at their summer farmhouse, hoping to sidestep an FBI investigation triggered by the Kent shootings.

Next door, a young couple also struggle over war-related complications -she loses her high school teaching job. He launches a civil suit on behalf of the Kent victims and struggles to decide about military service, if called, as he tries to follow in the footsteps of Bobby Kennedy.

Confronted by the hypocrisy of the war and the complexitites of the counter-culture, no one emerges unscathed. Choices are made; emotional boundaries are transgressed, and innocence is lost.

"Personal and powerful -- it never gives up hope" -- Times Argus (Vermont)

"***1/2! A heartfelt album of relationships... well-honed and non-formulaic... like Robert Altman with an extra dose of gentle humanism." -- Cleveland Free Times