THE WAR PLAYS PROJECT
by EM Lewis

Jean-Paul Sartre once said, “There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.” I keep this quote above my desk. I can’t tell you what he meant by it—the ways of philosophers are a bit above the likes of me—but it resonated with me when I read it. To me, it means that we are responsible for engaging the world and time into which we’ve been so rudely thrust. It belongs to us. It’s all that belongs to us. What are we going to do with it?

This has been a challenging philosophy to hold over the last few years. Personal losses—paired with challenges to my hope and belief in my country and world in the wake of terrorism and a lying, war-making government—pushed me into feelings of helplessness. What can I do? What can I possibly do to change the direction of the world I’m in?

I wrote plays. Not expecting them to change the world—it’s just what I do when I’m lost.

I wrote about the war. Reveille, a short play that was produced in Moving Arts’ Car Plays event, is about a boy who signs up for the military after 9/11, and his father, a veteran himself, who can’t bear to see his son go. Heads is a full-length, produced last year at the Blank—my own No Exit—about four civilians who are held hostage in Iraq.

Writing helped clarify my thoughts. But I began to understand how impossible it was for one person to get their head around something as vast and challenging as this war, and how much we need more perspective (and more perspectives) on the subject. I decided to do something to make that happen. And the War Plays Project began.

Genesis

At first I envisioned the War Plays Project as a single event, where many groups and individuals in Los Angeles would bring together their plays and productions about the war in a weekend festival of performances and panel discussions. This proved difficult to coordinate. My home theater company, Moving Arts, expressed a willingness to help produce the War Plays Project, but the only space we have at the moment is a 35-seat black box. My budget was closer to $0 than it was to anything that would allow me to rent a larger space, and getting one donated wasn’t happening, no matter how much I called around. So I reassessed.

Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays was a tremendously successful grassroots event; I looked at her model. She had proposed many small events over the course of a year, not one big event. Aha! Steve Lozier, Moving Arts’ new managing director, said the WPP could use our little 35-seat theater space. Company members volunteered to help me set up and take pictures and attend. I sent an e-mail out into the Los Angeles Theater community via our “Big Cheap Theater” yahoogroup list. And before I knew it, we were on. It was happening.

The First Event

In March 2008, five years after the War in Iraq began, we had our first War Plays Project event: a panel discussion on Writing About the War at Moving Arts’ Hyperion space in Silver Lake.

Dan Berkowitz, the Los Angeles Regional Rep of The Dramatists Guild and co-chair of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, agreed to moderate the panel for me. I wanted this event to be professional, well-organized, briskly paced and welcoming. Dan was a great help in making all of that happen. He and I talked beforehand to discuss who would be on the panel and what we might want to cover. He was great! Warm and funny, but not afraid to ask strong questions.

Our panellists were:

Cindy Marie Jenkins, writer of Ten—a play that she had been developing with Need Theater – joined by their Artistic Director Matt B. Wells. “In the relationship between individual and country, how much of one must be sacrificed for the other?”

Colin McKay, writer of Fallujah—Ovation Award nominated play, produced at Theater East in 2007. “A journalist and a Defense Department contractor investigate the deaths of two American soldiers killed by friendly fire.”

EM Lewis, writer of Heads—award-winning drama produced at the Blank Theater, on the “Best of 2007” list in the LA Times. “Four civilian hostages. Two cells. As death draws close, each must decide what he’ll do to survive.”

Yes—I was on my own panel. I don’t know if that was a good idea or not— I’m certainly not going to be in all of the events—but I definitely had things I needed to say. Maybe I needed to get them off my chest before I could take this thing forward.

Everybody was there on time. Colin and his wife drove all the way down from Morrow Bay to attend. Cindy had a workshop production of her play going up the very next night. But they were both ready to talk. The first half hour I encouraged coffee drinking and donut eating. (Why did I think I needed to start at 10am??? We’re theater people! I drank a LOT of coffee.) My little brother helped with donut money. My mom sent tablecloths and stick-on name badges. A Moving Arts company member made sure everyone signed the guest list (and provided their e-mail addresses, so I could keep them posted on future events). People came. Not a lot— but enough to make the little theater feel full and busy.

We discussed why and how you write about the war in Iraq, what the challenges are, and response that our work has received from the audiences. We talked about how passionate we are about our world, and what we’re trying to do about it with our theater work. People in the audience asked questions. Then we adjourned for more coffee and donuts and conversation. People stayed and talked and talked and talked.

I wasn’t the only one who needed this.

Moving Forward

Our second event, in April 2008, put War Plays on Stage with a presentation of work by three local playwrights, followed by a brief discussion about their plays and what prompted them.

1. The Miraculous Day Quartet—Four people were late to where they needed to be on a significant day in history in this short play by Mary Steelsmith, which has been produced in Los Angeles and NY.
   
   
2. The Need to Know—or other work from Air Force Veteran April Fitzsimmons, whose award-winning one-woman show about her time as an Intelligence Analyst in the Air Force was called “...a masterwork of humor and dread” by the LA Weekly.
   
   
3. Sunni Triangle—A short triptych that examines the lives, lies, and delusions of three family members touched by the war in Iraq as they struggle with crisis and transformation. A new play by Moving Arts’ company member Trey Nichols.

More events are in the planning stages—at least one per month, all year long. I’m working on a “War Music and Musicals” night, something about the actors who embody war stories, and a discussion with a playwright who wrote about the Vietnam War and its legacy. I’ve been in touch with playwrights who are working to put Iraqi voices on stage, with a group called Vet Stage that encourages veterans to write about their experiences and helps them to get their plays produced, and with people near and far who are interested in participating – actors, directors, producers and playwrights.

It remains to be seen if people are interested in listening to each other, or just finding a new audience for their own voices. But these humble beginnings give me great hope. There is exciting work being done about our struggling, less-than-beautiful world – plays that are provocative, intellectually engaging, and heart-wrenching in turn. Theater that’s important. The kind of theater that helps me own the world in which I live.

I’m grateful for it.

EM Lewis
Playwright
emlewis@usc.edu and www.dramatistsguildweb.com/members/emlewis/

THE WAR PLAYS PROJECT is a year-long exploration of the ways in which Los Angeles theatre artists are talking about the Iraq War in their work. It is presented by playwright EM Lewis, in conjunction with Moving Arts Theater Company. Presentations will include play readings, panel discussions and writing workshops. For more information, contact: warplaysproject@gmail.com or visit our website at www.warplaysproject.com.