It's wartime and there's lots of reporting being done about military matters, but not enough that treats military people as complicated, thinking human beings. Here's a well-produced feature about soldier/artists: a touring Army theater company doing theater "by the soldier, for the soldier." And guess what: these actors, performing for their comrades at bases around the world, are putting on an edgy play about Vietnam vets coping with amputations and other battle scars. It's easy to imagine that such a play is not only relevant to its audience but deeply helpful to them--a chance to process questions that soldiers are bound to be carrying around: How will I cope if I'm badly wounded? How will I respond to my family and other civilians when I return from combat?
What might come as a surprise to listeners is that the Army sees the value of its people exploring such questions through art and has created a means for doing so. Producer Adam Allington does a nice job of letting the soldiers talk--those in the theater company and their characters in the play. This is a strong piece that would work well in any arts or news magazine show.
Review of US Army Theater
John Biewen
Posted on May 06, 2006 at 11:49 AM
It's wartime and there's lots of reporting being done about military matters, but not enough that treats military people as complicated, thinking human beings. Here's a well-produced feature about soldier/artists: a touring Army theater company doing theater "by the soldier, for the soldier." And guess what: these actors, performing for their comrades at bases around the world, are putting on an edgy play about Vietnam vets coping with amputations and other battle scars. It's easy to imagine that such a play is not only relevant to its audience but deeply helpful to them--a chance to process questions that soldiers are bound to be carrying around: How will I cope if I'm badly wounded? How will I respond to my family and other civilians when I return from combat?
What might come as a surprise to listeners is that the Army sees the value of its people exploring such questions through art and has created a means for doing so. Producer Adam Allington does a nice job of letting the soldiers talk--those in the theater company and their characters in the play. This is a strong piece that would work well in any arts or news magazine show.