Warrior Chorus ATX
by Canopy Theatre Company
Jun. 01 - Jun. 09 (2018)
A national initiative that trains veterans to present innovative public programs based on ancient literature
Aquila Theatre - New York University - Columbia University - University of Southern California - University of Texas at Austin - The National Endowment for the Humanities
Aquila Theatre's two new programs, The Warrior Chorus: Our Trojan War and Dialogues: Modern Expressions of War will build upon Aquila Theatre’s extensive experience in implementing innovative and award-winning humanities based public programming to bring the veteran community and the public together in deep discussions inspired by classical texts.
Led by veterans and assisted by scholars and artists both inside and outside of the veteran community, these programs will explore significant themes that investigate the connections between classical literature and contemporary America as they relate to the issues affecting the veteran community and the broader American public.
“All choruses should be performed to make the best warriors”
— Plato, Laws 12.942d
From discussion of the March, 2017 performance of Warrior Chorus ATX:
“The veterans in the Warrior Chorus have worked hard to bring to the surface and then get across the many meaningful stories each of them carries inside. They are bringing to life and learning how to convey vividly what they saw and came to know when they were soldiers,” Palaima says. “It is terrific to watch them create the atmospherics that place me there where they once were and in some ways still are. Their generosity, honesty, sense of humor, ability to laugh at life’s absurdities, and lack of affectation make every meeting feel now like a warm family reunion.”
The veterans expose themselves by recounting memories from war and training, inviting others in to feel or at least become aware of what life is like in their boots. Their raw recollections depict what it’s like to go through training for the U.S. Marines, to be marched into a room filled with gas and then hear the orders barked to remove your mask. “How do you take a breath that will last ten minutes?” Palaima questions.
Or what it’s like to be assigned the mundane task of watching and guarding a road repair work team in Haditha, Iraq, late at night without knowing if you are a target for guerrilla warfare or simply an added stress in the day of an Iraqi mother held up by the roadwork, trying to get her children to school on time.
Or the moral battles army medics face when caring for prisoners who may have been directly responsible for the wounds and deaths of U.S. soldiers. “What is it like for a medic to stand outside their cells preparing to administer medical treatment and then to hear a young prisoner cry out, ‘I want my mother?’” UT Classics scholar Prof. Tom Palaima asks.
These are the stories of today’s warriors, the stories Pitchford and Palaima encourage veterans to share weekly, and soon on a public stage, in a shared group effort to humanize the military and wartime, to eliminate misconceptions about soldiers and veterans, and to provide a window into their lives.
“My central pedagogical focus is on opening up space for memories to resurface and then helping the participants to embody those memories,” Canopy Theatre director Bart Pitchford says. “The goal is neither to be cathartic nor nostalgic, but to approach these individual experiences from honesty.”
Click to visit the national website of the Warrior Chorus.
A cooperative project of the Classics Department, University of Texas at Austin, Aquila Theatre, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
We are a recently formed theatre that focuses on creating work by and with people who have experienced the trauma of war. We are seeking 8 military veterans of any age, gender, or service period to take part in a 10-week workshop that is funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Warrior Chorus ATX uses classical literature on war to guide us as we create performances about our individual military stories. The workshop will begin on June 12 at 7 pm.
Location is TBA. Participants must be willing to commit to 2 meetings/week for 10 weeks. Each meeting lasts 2 hours. a Stipend of $1000 will be paid to all participants upon completion of the workshop.
For information those interested may contact infor@canopytheatre.org or visit canopytheatre.org
