"WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ"
Don't miss this very special play. I give it my highest rating!
The last two performances will be this Friday & Saturday night, January
27th & 28th at 8:00 PM
The Fountain Theatre (Located between Vermont and Western)
5060 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles CA 90029
<http://www.fountaintheatre.com/> www.fountaintheatre.com
Call (323-663-1525) for ticket information
Dear Friends of the Fountain,
As long as the war continues in Iraq and the world debates the validity
of our actions there, the Fountain Theatre feels it important to
continue to cry out.
What we had thought was going to be a limited 4-week run has turned into
a phenomena beyond anything we had imagined. There are now planned
productions/readings all over the world, including a worldwide reading
in association with the Internationales LiteraturFestival Berlin
scheduled for Monday, March 20th, to commemorate the 3rd year
anniversary of the invasion.
The play is constantly updated as events unfold.
We would love to get the truth about this war out to as many high school
and college students as possible before the 2006 elections. If there's
anything we can do on this end to facilitate special shows here, or if
you would like the script to disseminate to schools, theatres or
organizations, please contact Simon Levy at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
As always, we really appreciate your support.
>From all of us at the Fountain, here's hoping for real peace in 2006 and
a time when WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ will become obsolete.
FOUNTAIN THEATRE IGNITES INTERNATIONAL EVENT
WITH WORLD PREMIERE OF
"WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ"
(A CRY FOR 5 VOICES)
ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION EXTENDING AGAIN
THROUGH JANUARY 28, 2006
I heard an American soldier say: "We liberated Iraq.
Now the people here don't want us here. So why are
we still here? Why don't they bring us home?"
As the war in Iraq rages on and the death toll rises daily, the Fountain
Theatre is presenting WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ
(A Cry For 5 Voices), the World Premiere stage version of Eliot
Weinberger's provocative article, "What I Heard About Iraq." Adapted
for the stage and directed by Simon Levy, the new play opened Sunday,
September 11, marking the 4th anniversary of the World Trade Center
tragedy. It has now been extended again, playing Fridays and Saturdays
at 8pm, through January 28.
Like the Weinberger article -- which first appeared in
Fellowship Magazine in the U.S. and the London Review of Books in the
U.K. - and was published in September by New Directions, WHAT I HEARD
ABOUT IRAQ utilizes actual direct quotes from politicians, military
chiefs, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens to explore the unfolding human
story behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. By revealing what was said and
what is being said about our involvement in the war, both the truth and
the lies are unmasked.
Quotes are updated daily, and material from Weinberger's newest piece,
What I Heard About Iraq in 2005, is being inserted into the extended
production. The Fountain Theatre, along with the Berlin Literature
Festival will also be coordinating a worldwide reading of the play on
March 20, 2006, to commemorate the 3rd year of the invasion.
Says director/adaptor Simon Levy: "The play is neither fiction nor
speculation; it takes us into the war and confronts us with the human
drama, the human toll. This is not about history or about something
going on 'over there.' This is about what's going on here, in America,
now."
Featuring a multi-ethnic cast of five actors portraying multiple roles,
the fully-staged production also interweaves multi media sounds and
images from real news footage. Levy has written three additional
renditions of the piece - including a version for Voices only - which
the Fountain Theatre has made available to theatres, schools, advocacy
groups and human rights organizations worldwide. "It can be done as a
reading, a fund-raiser or as a full-blown production," says Levy.
Produced by the Fountain's co-artistic director Stephen
Sachs, the cast features Marc Casabani, Yaphet Enge, Darcy Halsey, Tony
Pasqualini, Bernadette Speakes, Riley Steiner and Ryun Yu. The design
team includes Scott Siedman (sets), Kathi O'Donohue (lighting), Dave
Marling (sound) and Daniel Seidner (multi-media).
Simon Levy most recently produced the Fountain Theatre's
multi-award winning production of Athol Fugard's Exits and Entrances.
He has directed many of the Fountain's award-winning, critically
acclaimed productions, including Master Class, Daisy In The Dreamtime
(at Inside The Ford), Going To St. Ives, Orpheus Descending, The Night
of the Iguana and Summer and Smoke. He wrote the stage adaptation of F.
Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night (PEN USA award for Drama) and
also adapted and directed Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. He has recently
adapted The Great Gatsby, the first official stage adaptation allowed by
the Fitzgerald Estate in 80 years.
After a holiday hiatus (Dec. 23, 24, 30, 31), the extended
schedule is Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm beginning January 6th.
Tickets are $25. Reservations: (323) 663-1525. The Fountain Theatre is
located at 5060 Fountain Avenue, Hollywood. Secure, low-priced parking
is adjacent to the theatre. Website: www.fountaintheatre.com
<http://www.fountaintheatre.com/>
Review of
"WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ"
by Frank Dorrel
"WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ" is the most IMPORTANT & MOVING play I have
ever seen! Go see it as soon as you can at The Fountain Theatre in
Hollywood (323-663-1525). This amazing play is very timely as it exposes
many of the LIES about this "so called war in Iraq" that our government
has been waging. I saw it last night and was affected more then I could
have imagined. This play puts together the chronology of U.S.
involvement in the war while, at the same time, allows the audience to
understand and feel the tremendous suffering the Iraqi people have been
subjected to. I believe this very well written and superbly preformed
presentation has the ability to reach into people's hearts and minds and
will motivate many to take action. The five actors in this play were
brilliant and went beyond themselves in bringing the message to the
audience. All of the quotes were real, whether they were coming from
George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Colin Powell, Condoleeza
Rice, Tony Blair or from Iraqi citizens who have experienced the death
of their loved ones and the devastation of their country.
When the play ended, director Simon Levy invited the audience to
participate in sharing their feelings and thoughts with the actors about
what they had just experienced and about the war itself. I give my
highest praise to Simon Levy, to the actors, Marc Casabani, Darcy
Halsey, Tony Pasqualini, Bernadette Speakes and Ryun Yu and to Eliot
Weinberger, who wrote the article "What I Heard About Iraq" from which
this play was based.
I would like to see "WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ" playing in theatres all
over the country. The Fountain Theatre is very unique and intimate, but
has less then 100 seats. In the future, I would like to see this
production playing at a much larger theatre here in Los Angeles or have
this run at The Fountain extended until this war is over.
The Fountain Theatre (Located between Vermont and Western)
5060 Fountain Ave
Los Angeles CA 90029
<http://www.fountaintheatre.com/> www.fountaintheatre.com
Other questions, email director Simon Levy at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
or assistant director Riley Steiner at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Others Reviews of "WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ"
LOS ANGELES TIMES -
"SUPERB! STUNNING! COMPELLING! ... FIERCE IN ITS ANTIWAR BLOW... Levy's
razor-sharp staging features superb production elements [with a] KEENLY
CALIBRATED ENSEMBLE... Levy is clearly a man on a mission, and his
passionately antiwar play is unapologetically biased. But, then, the
sheer aggregate of disaster in Iraq, recapitulated here, makes a
compelling case against a mounting misadventure that President Bush
labeled, with no conscious irony, a 'catastrophic success.'... AN OFTEN
STUNNING DISTILLATION OF AMERICAN HUBRIS AND DENIAL, 'WHAT I HEARD ABOUT
IRAQ' SHOULD BE VIEWED WITH AN OPEN MIND, REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL
AFFILIATION." - F. Kathleen Foley
L.A. WEEKLY -
RECOMMENDED! - GO!
"Director Simon Levy smoothly orchestrates his adaptation [with] five
VERSATILE ACTORS... THE WORK TAKES ON AN URGENT LIFE ALL ITS OWN AS WE
RE-EXPERIENCE THE ADMINISTRATION'S LUNATIC HUBRIS.- Steven Mikulan
VARIETY -
"EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMERS! SPINE-CHILLING!... Their fluidly directed
interplay encompasses overlapping dialogue as they pitch lines to each
other with the precision of baseball stars... A CRY OF OUTRAGE delivered
by five actors, exposing the deceptive strategies and heartless acts of
violence perpetrated by the Bush administration." - Joel Hirschhorn
AMERICAN RADIO NETWORK (KCLA, KLAS, KPRO-AM, KMAX-AM)
CRITIC'S PICK!
"A MUST SEE EVENT!... Simon Levy has adapted this brilliantly and
directs as well... SENSATIONAL five member ensemble... performing
various roles they vividly bring to life... IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR
POLITICAL POINT OF VIEW IS, THE PLAY IS CONTEMPLATIVE, PROVOKING, SMART,
CLEVER, WITTY, AND FASCINATING." - Gerri Garner
BACK STAGE WEST -
"EMOTIONAL!... An effective survey of the tragic bumbling,
self-delusion, and dishonesty around the American invasion of Iraq...
Levy uses music, still photographs, and video to add dramatic texture to
the cascade of quotes, which are drawn from government and military
officials, as well as from rank-and-file American soldiers and Iraqi
civilians... A RALLYING CRY to end the war quickly, but few of our
responsible leaders seem willing to adopt that position anytime soon.
Instead we are forced to look back in sadness at a tragedy for which,
unfortunately, we all bear some responsibility and look ahead with
trepidation to the final acts of this epic drama." - Hoyt Hilsman
The Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave
Los Angeles CA 90029
323-663-1525
www.fountaintheatre.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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