Posted Mar 9, 2010, 9:44 am
Wednesday night, the UA's Gallagher Theater will host a free performance of "Coming in Hot," a play adapted from women soldiers' memoirs and poems.
The play was adapted from Kore Press' 2009 book release, "Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq." These compelling, harrowing narratives of the female veterans' experiences become a series of monologues, performed by actor and activist Jeanmarie Simpson.
The adaptation, by Kore Press' founder and director Lisa Bowden, Kore fiction editor Shannon Cain and Simpson, has been staged in Tucson several times in previous months. This performance was arranged in partnership with various UA organizations in celebration of Women's History Month.
"Powder" is the first anthology of its kind, and has received international attention and accolades. Sara Corbett of the New York Times Magazine said of the volume: "Here is American military history as it hasn’t been glimpsed before – through the eyes of creative women who have served. Powder introduces a 360-degree view of war and the soldier’s society, and what it means to be female inside them."
"Coming in Hot" is performed with live music accompaniment by local musician Vicki Brown on viola. The play is directed by Bowden.
The monologues derived from the powerful poems and memoirs in "Powder" present the seldom-mentioned stories of women serving in the ranks of the U.S. military, in current and past conflicts.
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Since the Gallagher theater is designed for film and not staged theater productions, tomorrow night’s show will be a hybrid performance with video/slide projections, live music and Jeanmarie doing a dramatic reading of the play. Joanna Frueh, former UA Art Prof and performance artist, will lead a discussion afterwards. The collaborative team’s work (which originally included Shannon Cain, Beth Weinstein, Kaylene Torregrossa, and myself) remain part of the show in its various iterations, staged or not. Brown’s music/sound (composed specifically for the play) is a significant element creating mood, presence and dimension. The play was adapted for the stage from a first ever collection to amass writing by women who have served in the US Military. This is activist theater (and for some, it IS very much, at its root, anti-war theater—-the literature of war is an argument for peace.) Part of that activism is to create critical rather than polarizing dialog around the very complicated (and very human, and socially-politically charged) subject matter. The play presents the true stories of women who are soldiers as well as writers—a rare combination. These are perspectives we are just beginning to hear more and more of at this moment in our history. The point of view is personal, the narratives often horrific, as is the discrimination and opposition women often face while “serving” their country. Outrage, indignation, compassion, disgust, confusion, sorrow, pride, intrigue, sadness—-these are the emotions you’d likely experience all at once while watching this production. As director Jeremy Cole says, it is your duty to run out and see this.—Lisa Bowden, Director