The families of those lost in war never stop thinking about who is missing from the dinner table and holiday gatherings.
The rest of us pause twice a year to honor those who served in the fight for freedom from oppression.
Along with the observance of Veterans Day this week, the Twin City Theatre Company offers a 90-minute performance of letters sent from (and to) the front lines of battles great and small. Andrew Carroll adapted his published collections of wartime correspondence into “If All the Sky Were Paper,” now being presented at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center in downtown Urbana.
As drama, Carroll’s play has very little in the way of conflict. Who among us cannot agree that war is hell and its burden is too often carried by marginalized members of society? The text likely would be best served by a Readers’ Theater format in which the performers are able to focus on the text of the letters instead of trying act the narratives.
Carroll and his original director, however, intend actors to hold the letters — essentially as props— and act them as if embodying the individuals who wrote them. Carroll traveled the globe looking for correspondence between people from various cultures, which results in a variety of accents that some audience members might find difficult to understand.
During one of Carroll’s trips, he traveled to a hot war zone where he encountered dangers that are described in some detail. To the ears of some veterans, these scenes highlighting the narrator’s personal bravery might seem self-aggrandizing. The playwright would have been better advised to focus on the narratives that unfold from the letters and allow those voices to speak for themselves, without accents or props.
In Marshawn Bingham’s directorial debut, he makes effective use of the tiny stage in the Independent Media Center, though the final dress rehearsal seen by The News-Gazette was marred a few times by loud conversations from other areas in the building. The design elements by Nathan Bohannon (scenic), Avery Adomaitis (lighting), Trent Sherman (sound) and Nolan J. Rice (costumes) mesh to support Bingham’s vision of the play. Bohannon’s creation of a small study area for the narrator, which is away from the main action, keeps the sight lines clean and the focus on the performers.
Reese Armstrong is suitably amiable as the narrator, and the acting ensemble of Aarti Arun, Eli Ballowe, Huey Bivens, Lincoln Machula, Tanner Moore, Zoie Peters, Kortney Wilcher and Dev Wilder represent a wide range performance expertise.
The sound generated by certain lighting instruments tended to overwhelm the texts performed by some of the cast members, which was even more challenging when actors employed international accents.
For those who know their histories of war, there are not many surprises in the stories told. But the lessons of history — and the toll of war on humanity — bear repeating.
If you go What: Twin City Theatre Co. presents ‘If All the Sky Were Paper,’ by Andrew Carroll; directed by Marshawn Bingham. When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $18; students, $15; children/veterans with ID, $10. Where: Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, 202 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana Box office: twincitytheatreco.ludus.com.
Jeffrey Eric Jenkins is professor and chair of theater studies at the University of Illinois, faculty affiliate of the Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago and president of the International Association of Theatre Critics. He can be reached at jej@illinois.edu.
