The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College will present Letters Home on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at 8:00 PM in Milliken Auditorium. Tickets are $25 in advance, $28 at the door, $22 for Museum Members plus a $2 processing fee. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Museum Box office at 231-995-1553 or on line at www.dennosmuseum.org, also at 1-800-836-0717 or www.MyNorthTickets.com .
Letters Home is being presented collaboratively between the Dennos Museum Center and NMC Outreach Services’ program for Military and Veteran students. It is a production of the Griffin Theater Company of Chicago. Proceeds from the presentation of this play in Traverse City will benefit scholarships for military and veteran students at NMC. For more information on Military and Veteran Services at NMC contact Scott Herzberg, Assistant Director of Outreach Services (231)-995-2526 sherzberg@nmc.edu.
Letters Home puts the current wars in Afghanistan & Iraq front and center by bringing to life actual letters written by soldiers serving in the Middle East. The production is inspired by the New York Times Op-Ed Article “The Things They Wrote” and the subsequent HBO documentary Last Letters Home, and additionally uses letters and correspondences from Frank Schaeffer’s books, Voices from the Front, Letters Home from America’s Military Family, Faith of Our Sons, and Keeping Faith. The play without politicizing gives audiences a powerful portrait of the soldier experience in the ongoing war. The initial production was critically acclaimed and was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for “Outstanding New Play.”
Although the title of the play implies that all the letters are from soldiers, the piece includes a small number of correspondences from parents – their words, being no less important. These letters were written under the most difficult of circumstances; the disorientation of training, deployment, separation from family and loved ones and combat, and occupation duties in Afghanistan and Iraq. One theme seems to unite their diverse voices; the belief that the person standing beside you is more important than you are; they also help define for the audience —patriotism and what it means to serve our country today, through acts of bravery, compassion, social responsibility, sense of community and brotherhood. Collectively the production gives a voice to a generation that went to war against terror in Afghanistan and to war in Iraq, for reasons that are still being debated and who are still fighting and dying in those wars today. More importantly, the play reveals the humanity that lies within the war as seen through the eyes of the men and women fighting it.
The production uses minimal props and set pieces to dramatize the letters. It employs the use of images and video projected behind the actors as they perform the letters as dramatic monologues. The photos and video used in the production are taken directly from actual soldiers’ blogs and websites such as MYSPACE and FACEBOOK. To enhance the theatrical experience of the play all performances are followed by a post-play discussion.
The Traverse City Elks Club has provided support for this project.
The 2013-2014 performance season at the Dennos Museum Center is made possible with support from the Robert T and Ruth Haidt Trust, and the Osterlin Performance Endowment with media support from WNMC 90.7, WCMU Public Broadcasting and TV 29&8. Housing for our performers is provided by the Cambria Suites and Country Inn.
The Dennos Museum Center is open daily 10 AM to 5 PM, Thursday’s until 8 PM and Sundays 1-5 PM. For more information on the Museum and its programs, go to www.dennosmuseum.org or call 231-995-1055. The Dennos Museum Center is located at 1410 College Dr., Traverse City, MI 49686, at the entrance to the campus of Northwestern Michigan College.