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A pertinent charge runs through "Wounded" in its American premiere. This impressive Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble project, drawn from interviews with Iraq war veterans and their families, depicts the personal toll of war with visceral intensity and graphic honesty. The urgent timeliness of "Wounded" is unmistakable and recommends this harrowing, thought-provoking drama.
- David C. Nichols
Wounded cuts much deeper than I expected. It's not a pity-the-poor-cripples, curse-the-Bushie-bureaucrats play. It looks unsparingly at the choices that face the soldiers in Iraq, the wounded who return, their families and friends - and, by extension, the American public and their elected representatives. Conceived by the ensemble, it has been shaped by writer-director Tom Burmester into a gripping edge-of-the-seat experience. -Don Shirley
Subtitled "The War Cycle, Part One," this powerful play cuts through the rhetoric that surrounds the continuing conflicts in the Middle East...a collaborative, superbly conceived effort...under the direction of Tom Burmester. This is reality theatre, a document that doesn't presume to offer easy answers to the difficult questions it poses.
- Madeleine Shaner
“GO! Displays unusual skill at articulating a family's shaky façade of icy normalcy, as it gives way to rage and despair.” -LA Weekly
Collaboratively conceived by the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble, written by Artistic Director Tom Burmester, and directed by Tom Burmester and Danika Sudik Nation of Two is inspired by true accounts of the families of soldiers fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Nation of Two follows the lives of the Harper family as they prepare to scatter the ashes of 24 year old Lt. Michael Harper on the anniversary of his combat-related death in the Iraq War. A surprise visit from a soldier who served with Michael at the time of his death ignites a powder keg of emotion and throws the family into crisis as they strive to preserve their memories of Michael while learning to let go.
“Recently the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken a back seat to the economic crisis on the home-front. The Ensemble is committed to developing new installments of The War Cycle so that we can continue to tell the stories of those Americans impacted by those wars. After all, these families will still be experiencing the impact of these wars long beyond the point when the 24 hour news cycle has ceased to report on them,” explains Artistic Director Tom Burmester. “With Nation of Two, we examine a hero’s journey interrupted and the personal quest for meaning and redemption that accompanies tragic loss.”
GO! THE WAR CYCLE: [Nation of Two] -Playwright Tom Burmester's powerful drama, the second installment of his "war cycle" about the Iraqi War, mostly reigns in any implied disapproval for America's Misbegotten 21st Century Foreign Adventure to focus on more universal themes of family grief... Burmester's drama, co-directed with Danika Sudik, displays unusual skill at articulating a family's shaky façade of icy normalcy, as it gives way to rage and despair... Collins' Sophia, bewildered by sadness even as she makes tentative gestures at moving on, is particularly compelling - as is Redding, offering a complex, disturbing turn as the war buddy. - Paul Birchall
"[Nation of Two] at the Powerhouse Theatre is not so much a play as it is an immersion...as urgent and immediate as a telegram from the war department. The taut and nicely rendered first act introduces us to the Harper family some months after their soldier son, Michael, has been killed in the line of duty...the core message of [Nation of Two] cannot be overemphasized."
- Kathleen Foley
[Nation of Two] beautifully captures the unrelenting grief and transformation that the families of fallen soldiers in the “War on Terror” endure daily. Each family member is unrelentingly battered by the tragic changes in their lives when death takes a soldier, forever destined to be new people, living with new burdens. Plans now broken, the blueprints of their lives fragmented and unfinished. Survived is not the first or last theatrical artwork to document the losses U.S. families experienced in the Middle East, but it is one of the best and strongest I’ve seen to date.
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"The urgent timeliness of Wounded is unmistakable… Recommended!" - LA Times
"GO! Quickly finds its target…the entire ensemble delivers strong performances.” - LA Weekly
"Wounded cuts much deeper than I expected…It’s the most wrenching play I’ve seen about our Iraqi misadventures – and there are only two weekends left in its announced run. Let me be a town crier."
- Don Shirely, LA City Beat
"A deeply troubling play, delivered with intensity by a cast of involved, passionate actors, this is reality theatre, a document that doesn't presume to offer easy answers to the difficult questions it poses. But this production takes no prisoners. Strong language, deeply emotional situations, and visceral performances combine to make this a thinking and a feeling person's play." - Backstage
Collaboratively conceived and written by Tom Burmester with actors from the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble and directed by Tom Burmester, Wounded is inspired by true accounts of soldiers and Marines returning from the War in Iraq. Set in the Fisher House rehabilitation home at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC, the main point of re-entry for wounded soldiers, sailors, and Marines, Wounded follows four young veterans and their families on their quest to readjust to life back home and get on with lives newly transformed by their injuries. With their time in the war behind them, these men and women discover that their real battle is about to begin.
Wounded, the first in Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble's "War Cycle" had its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, 2005, and premiered for an American audience in 2006 at The Powerhouse Theatre with special preview performances at UCLA as part of the UCLA Live series.
Countless hours of research, interviews, improvisation, transcriptions, revelations, and conversations went into developing the Wounded script. After months of negotiating a maze of military bureaucracy, Tom Burmester managed to arrange a trip to Fisher House to interview returning veterans and their family members. There, he was privileged to spend time with three outstanding individuals whose experiences and stories provided the inspiration for the fictional characters in the play: Navy Corpsman Joe Dan "Doc" Worley, who ran into open fire to save an injured Marine and is listed as a Founder of the conservative group Veterans for Freedom: Sgt. Jason Pepper, who lost his eyes to a roadside bomb, and was featured as a character in the comic strip Doonesbury: and Major Tammy Duckworth, a Blackhawk pilot who wants to fly again after losing both her legs and who went on to become a keynote speaker at the 2008 Democratic Convention and a member of the Obama administration.
“Judging by the overflow crowd on opening night at the Powerhouse Theater in Santa Monica, Wounded should enjoy another successful run.” Splash LA
“Have you ever gone to a play and felt like your whole life could change? Wounded, which opened this past weekend for the second year in a row at the Powerhouse Theater is Santa Monica is just such a production.” - LAist
“Wounded” by the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble has to be the best thing we have seen this year at the main or fringe Festival in Edinburgh, and is perhaps the best I have seen in many years.” - Current Viewpoint
On the brink of civilization in Eastern Afghanistan, deep in the deadly Korengal Valley, First Squad walks the tightrope between boredom and terror everyday. In a valley lit by firestorms of chaos, courage can be proved by a casual walk to the shitter. As First Squad navigates the human terrain, winning hearts and minds from the Taliban, a new addition to their team threatens their mission, the populace, and their dreams of home.
Gospel According to First Squad will take you on a tour of duty--as Americans--that will shine a light on our mission, our morals, and what we do--or don't do--to keep our freedom.
Best Play
Best Ensemble
Best Directing
Best Playwright
Best Actor - Michael Pappas
FIVE OVATION NOMINATIONS
A2P