‘ReEntry’ is a moving tribute to perils, sacrifice of war service
Like so many wars before them, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have rippled through American culture in unpredictable ways and given rise to a lot of TV, film and theater scripts that do an incomplete or dishonest job of capturing what happened over there.
“ReEntry” is an attempt to correct that shortcoming. Written by Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez, both sisters of veterans, the play is a distillation of interviews the two women conducted with returning Marines about their experiences, as well as remarks from members of their families.
‘ReEntry’
Where: Founders Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
When: Jan. 19-20 at 8 p.m.
How much: $20
Tickets: 714-556-2787
Online: scfta.org
The result, seen Wednesday at the Segerstrom Center’s Founders Hall as part of the Off Center Festival, is raw, sometimes painful and often powerful. It hammers home a message we all know but sometimes forget: returning from battle can be just as challenging as preparing for and experiencing it.
“ReEntry” doesn’t display the craft of “Stuff Happens” or “The Laramie Project,” two recent high-water marks of theater based on interviews and transcripts. It contains a few rough spots and unvarnished passages. Characters ramble on a bit; they repeat themselves. Sanchez, who directed, isn’t overly concerned with the niceties of pacing or scene changes.
But somehow the unfinished quality of the work makes its characters and their stories more immediate and real.
We meet two brothers, John and Charlie (Brandon Jones and Ben Rosenblatt), each of whom has served multiple deployments. They take away different experiences from their time in the Middle East.
John, 32, seems more focused, capable and determined to live a normal life. He finds structure and purpose in the Corps. His much younger brother is less disciplined but, at first, seems indifferent to his military adventures.
Jones and Rosenblatt play two other characters as well – men who have been badly injured in battle and have different degrees of success coping with their new, constrained realities.
As the play unfolds, Ackerman and Sanchez dig deeper into the characters’ feelings and more profound pains emerge. They’re articulated with unflinching candor by a middle-aged CO (Larry Roger Mitchell) who represents all the best qualities of the Marine Corps – duty, honor, the value of sacrifice and selflessness – but admits to demons of his own as a result of his combat experience. “We all come back with some form of PTSD,” he confides late in the play.
Jessi Blue Gormezano and Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris portray the women of the play. Luqmaan-Harris is the mother of John and Charlie, Gormezano is their sister; like the men, they play additional characters as well.
Gormezano has some memorable moments, including a chilling and sad tale told by a Marine wife who has to be careful not to surprise her husband because his anxiety makes him jumpy. She seems patient and understanding, but tells us at the end of the scene that they are now divorced. Even a woman with exemplary compassion couldn’t handle her changed spouse.
“ReEntry” doesn’t break any new ground in our understanding of war, and some of its messages seem shopworn. We’ve heard many times that no amount of preparation or exposure to media violence prepares you for the real thing.
But it succeeds admirably in its primary purpose: to convey the challenges returning veterans face. While the military has come a long way in acknowledging the effects of battle and helping those who have endured it, “ReEntry” reminds us that ultimately, coming to terms with it – and wrestling your demons into submission – is a highly personal and often lonely task.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com
