A story of courage and patriotism will be told in Iola on Tuesday night. The Grifffin Theatre Company will perform “Letters Home” at 7 p.m. on the Bowlus Fine Arts Center stage. The free play is in conjunction with the Iola Reads book, “The Things They Carried.”
The play is inspired by the New York Times op-ed article, “The Things They Wrote” and the subsequent HBO documentary, “Last Letters Home” and additionally uses letters and correspondences from Frank Schaeffer’s books, “Voices From the Front,” “Letters Home From America’s Military Family,” “Faith of Our Sons, and Keeping Faith.”
The story touches on the struggles of a soldier in training, deployment, separation from loved ones, combat and occupation duties in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The letters used are not just from soldiers. There are pieces that include correspondences from parents as well. These letters were written under difficult circumstances.
The play helps define patriotism for the audience and what it means to serve the United State today, through acts of bravery, compassion and social responsibility. The production gives a voice to a generation that went to war against terror in Afghanistan and to war in Iraq. The production uses minimal props and set pieces to dramatize the letters.
Patriotic play comes to Bowlus auditorium
