Poetic Theater Productions is proud to present a pay-what-you-can reading of original work marking the culmination of six virtual workshops for veterans and the family members of veterans, all led and facilitated by fellow veterans and military family members.
Warrior cultures of the past such as the Greeks, Romans, and Native Americans welcomed their military home in rituals of storytelling. Following in that tradition, the Veteran Voices program seeks to create a compassionate environment for veterans and the family members of veterans to speak their truths, share their experiences, and bear witness together. Throughout the workshop series, we use writing and storytelling as tools to foster creativity, compassion, and camaraderie both among the participants and among the audience members of our final performance.
All tickets to the final performance are pay-what-you-can. We acknowledge that, now more than ever, many people are struggling financially. We will never turn away an audience member for lack of funds. That being said, please consider donating generously so that we can continue to offer programming like this. We are a non-profit, donation-based company and every little bit helps us maintain and expand our programming.
There will be a panel discussion with the participants after the event. Please consider sticking around on Zoom to participate in that.
This season’s Veteran Voices: Transformation program was developed by Jenny Pacanowski, Mary Jo McConnell, and Karen Alvarado and was curated by Jenny Pacanowski, Omar Columbus, and Dahlia Damoiselle. Workshops will be facilitated by Jenny Pacanowski, Omar Columbus, Mary Jo McConnell, and Karen Alvarado. The program is being produced and stage managed by Kelly Teaford. Our Production Stage Manager is Ran Xia. PTP’s Artistic Director is Jeremy Karafin. Social Media Management and Additional Marketing and Fundraising Support were provided by Daryl Bunyan. The creator-performers who have participated in this season’s Veteran Voices workshop series and will be performing their original work are:
Poetic Theater Productions, under the Artistic Direction of Alex Mallory (2011-2015) and Jeremy Karafin (2010-Current) has been presenting work by military veterans since 2011 in connection to the company’s award-winning production of GOLIATH (2011-2014) by Takeo Rivera and Maurice Decaul’s Dijla Wal Furat: Between the Tigris and the Euphrates (2015). The current Veteran Voices program is a merging of Poetic Theater Productions’ former annual Kicking Down Doors program curated by Jenny Pacanowski and Everett Cox (launched in the 2016 Poetic License Festival) and the Veteran Voices program initiated in the fall of 2017 (in collaboration with Consequence Magazine, Warrior Writers, War Literature & The Arts, and the Veteran Artist Program) presented with the 3-week run of J.A. Moad II’s production of Outside Paducah: The Wars At Home.
Graphic Design by Daryl Bunyan with original artwork by Maria Salazar.
You can find the digital program for the event here.