*The Geffen Playhouse welcomed an evening of veteran cultural identity monologues in the form of the production “Beyond the Barracks.” The Geffen Playhouse’s educational and community engagement division recently hosted a spirited event for a packed house of veterans and their families. The evening was wrought with one textured story after another.
Beyond the Barracks purposefully pays homage to the great sense of respect and duty for the mission of our Armed services. However, each monologue is a living testimony of the cultures and conflicts that gird those in service behind the uniform and off the battlefield.
While patriotic, Beyond the Barracks also gave voice to controversial and once-prohibited topics of sexuality, sexual misconduct, racial discrimination, and gender bias. Each performer served in the U. S. Marine Corps, U. S. Navy, U. S. Army, and the U. S. Air Force.
The presentations were dramatic, comedic, heartwarming, and poignant. One has a sense of who the person is before they are uniformed and act as one. Memories of home-cooked food, neighborhood brawls, family ties, and a sense of duty permeated the candid confessions.
Salutations are for the whole ensemble: Maxine Reyes, Paul Alan Dixon, Juliette Myers, Christine Clayburg, Tyrone J. Small, Stephanie Maura Sanchez, Steve Suh, Dave Lara and Paula Andra Cajiao. Brian Allman is Director of Education and Community Engagement and Co-Director along with Sean Michael Boozer, Aja Houston and BJ Lange.
The Veterans Writing and Performance Workshop is funded in part by The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation. The Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director is Tarrell Alvin McCraney, Executive Director & CEO is Gil Cates, Jr. and the Board Chair is Adi Greenberg.
For more information on the Geffen Playhouse Community Engagement division visit: Theater in Education: Community Engagement Programs | Geffen Playhouse – Geffen Playhouse
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