Literary Corner: We Were There by David Lawson

This post was written by Allison Hirschlag, staff member of The Civilians, who went to see We Were There by David Lawson, as part of an ongoing series of writings about artists working with the investigative method to create theater. Many thanks to Ally, and to David Lawson for so generously sharing this piece with us.

We Were There by David Lawson quite adeptly captures the fundamental tone of today’s veterans, and part of the reason why is because Lawson implemented investigatory theatre methods akin to those used by The Civilians to develop it.  He interviewed three veterans of the Iraq war with whom he happened to go to high school and wove their stories together to create this innovative theatrical piece.  Chris Croghan, Sameer Khan, and Ryan Groat had vastly different experiences in the army due to where they were stationed, what their jobs were, and why they joined up in the first place, hence their stories varied significantly from man to man.  However, one thing that resonated through each man’s account was how civil everything seemed to be for the most part in a technical wartime environment.  This is not how I ever envisioned a soldier’s life, especially during actual conflict, so it was an incredibly eye-opening experience for me.  I also really appreciated the actors’ portrayals of these men.  They kept their performances simple and matter-of-fact which in turn helped me see the veterans and not the actors.

The way in which Lawson put this piece together was particularly interesting.  He interviewed the veterans separately putting each one on tape, and then interlaced their stories to create a three person dialogue on stage.  Each man has moments where he breaks off and tells a personal story, but there is a palpable comradery among the characters that was created entirely by the playwright, and unless I had stayed for the talk back I would have thought the three men had been interviewed together.  This element really worked to enhance the concept of the piece.  You could almost see these men as they were with their unit; laid back, jokey, and totally on the level.  They had an undeniable connection between them that could only have come from a shared state of mind.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the evening was sticking around for the talkback and listening to actual veterans declare how accurate the play was in depicting what actually goes on in the lives of soldiers, both during active duty and after they’ve returned home.  It seems no matter when you served there is a great amount of routine drilled into you that is hard to let go even after you’ve been home for years.  The veterans commiserated over feeling the need to check for bombs in trash cans and roadways even though they realize they’re no longer in a war-torn country.  And while many people consider this an aspect of PTSD, the veterans both in the play and in the audience claim that it’s just part of what sticks from serving in the army.  Most declared they wouldn’t trade their experiences as soldiers for anything.

There are, however, a few things to consider when looking at this investigative play versus any other play about veterans.  Lawson interviewed men who enlisted voluntarily, and while they varied, they each had strong reasons for wanting to be soldiers.  They also joined up during a less active war time when infantry soldiers were mainly dealing with civilians and keeping an eye out for suspicious activity that might lead to IEDs.  So we are getting a somewhat skewed view in this play, but it’s a window into the lives of the soldiers of today which is an angle that absolutely should be explored.

We Were There is an incredibly topical, poignant piece about the current state of military service in Iraq.  It is a rare thing to hear such personal accounts of what it’s really like to serve in the army today, and this piece captures the mood so well that you can’t help getting engrossed.  I hope David continues developing it because the world is full of preconceived notions on this front, and his play delivers a large dose of clarity.  

LITERARY CORNER: SAME RIVER by Strike Anywhere Ensemble

Literary Corner is a series on the blog by Civilians' Literary Associate EllaRose Chary that focuses on investigative theater projects going on around the city, the country, and the world. As the institute for investigative theater, The Civilians is excited to connect with other groups working in this genre. If you're doing an investigative theater project, feel free to keep us in the loop by emailing: literary@thecivilians.org. 

SAME RIVER is an "improvised inter-disciplinary performance based on interviews" that is about the controversy over and reality of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking". (Don't know much about fracking? Watch this awesome video!)  Created by the Strike Anywhere ensemble, SAME RIVER was playing February 23rd - March 3rd at the Irondale Center (home of The Civilians' production of IN THE FOOTPRINT in 2010) just down the street from The Civilians main office. Investigative theater in our own backyard? Obviously, I had to check it out. And, I wasn't the only one - several members of The Civilians family made up a strong contingent of the audience the night I went.

Something really cool about this performance was that it intentionally merged theatrical performance and visual art. Before one entered the part of the theater where the performance took place, there was an art installation created by participants in Strike Anywhere's residency at Brooklyn High School for the Arts, as well as art developed in a community art-making day that happened on February 11. In addition to the visual art component before the performance, there was also a striking visual element in the performance which featured a beautiful waterfall backdrop. SAME RIVER mixes dance, music, and improv to tell a story about characters based on people the ensemble interviewed.

Strike Anywhere used the investigative method to create this piece, having spent 10 days in residence in the Catskills interviewing local community members about drinking water and fracking. However, there is a sense of continued investigation associated with their particular method, as they intend to incorporate interviews from local community members into performances at different venues in areas where fracking is taking place or being considered. It's really interesting to think about the investigative method being applied in this way when the subject of investigation is an ongoing event. This is a way in which investigative theater might distinguish itself from documentary theater, as the investigation continues even after a certain moment has been documented.

As always, it's exciting to see the many different ways that theater artists find to incorporate investigation into their work, and SAME RIVER is a great example of how interviews can be the basis for a piece that still incorporates many levels of more abstract artistry.Visit Strike Anywhere's site to learn more about SAME RIVER.

LITERARY CORNER: Mission Drift by the TEAM

Literary Corner is a series on the blog by Civilians' Literary Associate EllaRose Chary that focuses on investigative theater projects going on around the city, the country, and the world. As the institute for investigative theater, The Civilians is excited to connect with other groups working in this genre. If you're doing an investigative theater project, feel free to keep us in the loop by emailing: literary@thecivilians.org. 

Last week I had the opportunity to see MISSION DRIFT, a non-traditional musical developed by The TEAM and presented as part of  P.S.122's COIL Festival. MISSION DRIFT is the story of American capitalism starting on a dock in Amsterdam in the 17th Century  and leading to Las Vegas in 2008. The score is a contemporary fusion of styles. The piece has received a lot of acclaim for its comic, yet poignant sensibility and engaging energy. What interests me, however, in relation to investigative theater is the way elements of fantasy and reality intermingle to create something that conveys down-to-Earth themes in a theatrical way.

According to press for the show, The TEAM spent a month in Las Vegas conducting interviews and doing research to help with the creation of this project. In some ways it's obvious how their research informed the work that ended up on stage. As revealed in this Culturebot interview with MISSION DRIFT's director, Rachel Chavkin, some of the sites the company visited in Las Vegas included The Neon Boneyard and The Atomic Testing Museum. One of the play's main characters volunteers at the Neon Boneyard and the details and sadness associated with this powerful image is one of the more successful elements of the play; especially when that character, Joan, lashes out one of the characters representing capitalism, saying that now victims of home foreclosure sleep in those remains. Similarly, one of the most satisfying parts of the show is the implosion sequence, which is connected imagistically to the atomic testing sequences - and the narrator character's name is Miss Atomic. In other ways, the direct correlation between investigation and text is less clear. For example, there isn't a single moment in the play that is clearly taken from an interview. Unlike in documentary theater, or other kinds of investigative theater that I've written about on the blog, or that we ourselves have done at The Civilians, all of the material taken from interviews as been woven into the play so that it is indistinguishable from the fictitious details about characters. As a result, you have two immortal characters who represent capitalism interacting with characters who have realistic stories, and it's possible that all of those characters are informed by interviews The TEAM did with people in Las Vegas, including everyone from Union Workers to tourists.

What I think is unique about MISSION DRIFT from an investigative perspective is that you don't know that it's investigative, but you can feel that it is. Obviously, that's a subjective response, but when watching it it was clear to me that themes, though conveyed through many layers of the fantastic, were grounded in a harsh reality. In some ways, that sensibility is one of the goals of investigative theater, and what distinguishes it from documentary film or news reporting.

You can still catch MISSION DRIFT as part of COIL, it's running through February 4th at The Connelly Theater, click here for more info.

Literary Corner: SOUTHERN COMFORT

As Literary Associate at The Civilians one of the fun things I get to do is check out shows going on that are connected to investigative theater. Because The Civilians is an institute for investigative theater, we like to support shows that fall on the spectrum of investigative by highlighting them here on the blog. Whether a show is directly investigative or the idea for it came from investigative source material, we’re interested!

Last month, I had the chance to see SOUTHERN COMFORT, with book by Dan Collins, music by Julianne Wick Davis, and directed by Tom Caruso, which played at CAP 21 October 5th through November 6th. This musical is based on a documentary of the same name, which tells the story of a “chosen family” of transgender individuals living in rural Georgia. The story is touching and the folk-bluegrass score is upbeat and moving. You can visit the website here.

What’s interesting about this piece from an investigative theater standpoint is that it’s based on a documentary, without actually being a piece of documentary theater. There aren’t that many musicals based on documentaries to begin with, but in the few I can think of – for example, GREY GARDENS – the theatrical version does not maintain a sense of interviewer/interviewee. In SOUTHERN COMFORT, however, characters respond to imagined interview questions as a function of storytelling. This element in particular contributes to the feeling that this musical is a hybrid of traditional musical theater and something more investigative. It’s always cool to see elements of investigative theater working their way into more mainstream forms, especially in a piece as unique and exciting as SOUTHERN COMFORT.

Though the show is no longer running at CAP 21, keep an eye out for future incarnations. And, stay tuned to The Civilians blog for more spotlights from the Literary Corner on shows related to investigative theater!

Post by EllaRose Chary

Current Investigative Theater: BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND by The Artful Conspirators

Hi, I’m EllaRose Chary, and I’ll be with The Civilians this year as the Literary Associate. One of my jobs is going out and seeing shows put on by other companies that are in the same genre as what we’re doing. It’s always exciting for us here at The Civilians to see the ways that other groups find to make theater with an investigative approach. When I see things of note, I’ll be reporting back here on the blog, so stay tuned for future updates! 

This past weekend I got the chance to see BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND: THEATRICAL STORIES FROM GREENWOOD CEMETERY. This site-specific piece was created by the Artful Conspirators, a Brooklyn-based theatrical collective, from a mixture of sources including historical events, community interviews, and the rules and regulations from the cemetery itself. BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND weaves fictional and factual material together to bring audiences a new perspective on Brooklyn’s historic Greenwood Cemetery.One of the most exciting elements of the piece was not only learning about the people who are buried in the cemetery, but also discovering events that occurred on the grounds. Who would have guessed that a cemetery is a common place for people to commit suicide?

A wonderful component of the show was the fact that I had to walk through the cemetery at night to get to and from the chapel where the show was being performed. The spookiness of wandering past mausoleums in the moonlight on an October night definitely contributed to the impact of the information I received during the play. One of my favorite things about investigative theater is the way that research and interviews help you contextualize the world in a way you weren’t previously. This contextualizing is one of the biggest successes of BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND. Audience members will never look at Greenwood Cemetery the same.

Though the show’s no longer running, you can still check it out online at the Artful Conspirators BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND website.