STORIES from BEFORE, BETWEEN, AND BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD

Feast of Crispian’s storytelling performance is just about to open!

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot (Get it? Be aware that your casual usage of military acronyms might be a little more salty than you know!)

Feast of Crispian’s mission is focused on offering military veterans an opportunity to explore emotions, relationships, and post traumatic growth in the safer space of imagination and scripted dialogue. That’s the main thing; expression, being seen and heard, and connecting with, and telling your trauma stories to a caring, non-judgmental community.

Those of you who are fans of Feast rather than participants, however, probably know us for our public performances. We bring you Shakespeare with a military theme, or Shakespeare-laced plays about the life and challenges of being a veteran to Wisconsin audiences. Serious stuff. Through the eleven years of this inspiring work, Feast veterans have shared stories about some of the hardest times and experiences of their lives. They have also shared stories of a more light-hearted nature, surprising stories of military culture and adjusting after service, and stories that make us wonder at the strategies of the “brass” (WTF?!) These stories didn’t fit in the larger themes of Feast’s usual productions but needed to be shared!

Nothing we do is without an understanding of the therapeutic value of the work. If it isn’t worthwhile for the veterans participating, it won’t be a part of our process. Our highly skilled and informed faculty have a robust understanding of what elements of our process do the most good – that make life better for our veterans. The preparation for WTF brought a new element into focus and one we hope to incorporate more regularly and more widely.

Over nearly a year of formal story collecting, a group of over 20 veterans became reliable members of the circle. Bill, Jim, and I expect variations in attendance numbers and instability of members, but now we found ourselves adding chairs and welcoming a predictable group week after week. Starting with simple prompts to encourage the free flow of stories, we not only got wonderful stories, but listened to the domino effect of certain stories drawing out more stories from others, the often raucous cross-talk, and the belly-laughs. While many of the stories were ones that had been previously shared, other never-before-told stories and new-to-us stories held the room in rapt silence. At the end of these sessions, the energy was high and joyous. The project team began to look at ways we could break up performances to include these numbers without asking the audiences to sit for hours. Then it was time to begin to pick stories, shape the performance, and practice storytelling technique to more fully engage audiences. The circle fell to numbers we usually anticipate with a public show. For the others, it was camaraderie and the chance to remember that had brought them back week after week.

Audiences will hear some truly wonderful stories and the men who have workshopped, rehearsed, and practiced their stories have learned and grown as performers. They will enjoy the spontaneous feedback from listeners and the applause.

Behind the scenes, we at feast will plan to make more regular storytelling circles a part of our core work.

Veterans are not a monolith. They have many differences of opinion in all the usual human experiences. Many veterans are grateful for and proud of their military service. Others feel confused and betrayed by what was asked of them in the name of service. All veterans dearly miss the close unit camaraderie they had while training and carrying out their duties in the military. When they return to civilian life, many veterans struggle to find that sense of belonging and security. It’s not that the faculty of Feast has discounted reestablishing camaraderie in our process – building community is a powerful part of our mission, and stories outside of the scripted ones have always been welcomed. I still believe that, first and foremost, emotional expression must be normalized for healthy and successful relationships with family and community. But this project has illuminated a next step for getting closer to the ideal of community. What once was our people, sitting around a fire, everyone’s voice equally welcomed, and the pleasure of stories shared has turned into texts and screens. That’s a broad generalization but what it illustrates is the complexity of gathering when we live so far apart and have so many distractions. This is a growing problem in every level of our American society and can be seen in the epidemic of loneliness and despair. We all need to sit on a circle and tell and listen to stories.

Next week, come and hear a handful of funny, heartful, and surprising stories from these wonderful veterans. If you are a veteran, bring your stories too. We will be hosting more gathering opportunities for veterans.

Dear readers, a missing part of this article is an important part of the circle camaraderie, storytelling itself. The next FoC blog will go into a discussion of what are stories, why are they so important, and maybe some of the things we learned about affective storytelling from our expert friend, Robin Mello, storyteller and storytelling teacher.

Stay tuned!

Peace – Nancy Smith-Watson

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot – Before, Between, and Beyond the Battlefield would not be possible without generous support from Wisconsin Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Schoen Family Charitable Trust.

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot - Feast of Crispian vets tell stories... by Rebecca Plourd

I had the great pleasure and honor to sit in on a meeting for the Storytelling Project in late June. The project is quite different from our normal workshops that we do at the VA Hospital. Instead of working off of existing Shakespeare texts, this project revolves entirely around the life stories of our participants. We spent most of the evening exchanging stories with one another and trying to figure out how everything would fit together in a performance. One major revelation of the night was the role of the “translator,” or one of the participants who will explain military lingo to the civilians in the audience. This led to a long exploration of the hundreds of official and unofficial acronyms used in the military; inspiring our own Jim Tasse to come up with the project’s official title: Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot.

Since I joined Feast’s staff last year, I’ve been asked a lot why I work with a veteran focused organization despite being a civilian. Beyond the fact that Feast does incredible work in our community, I often reply that I joined the organization because of the participants and their ability to not only impact one another, but their impact on me.

Despite growing up with both of my grandfathers being veterans, we did not really talk about the military much in my family. I remember as a small child seeing a shelf in my grandparents’ home with my grandpa’s uniform hat and a picture of him in his dress blues, but I was never allowed to touch the shelf or look at any other photographs from his time as a Marine. It was something that was completely out of my reach. Now that my grandpa is in the late stages of his battle with Alzheimer's, it’s hard to know exactly how many stories we’ll never hear about his service days; stories that will live and die with him.

So to sit in a room with veterans who are so willing to share their stories and experiences is something that I treasure more than I can quantify into words. It has allowed me a glimpse into what both of my grandfathers experienced during their time in the military. It has inspired me to see the community of men and women we have involved in this project that span all branches and decades of service. Despite all their differences, they have come together to tell their stories; the good, the bad and the ugly. Even when talking about the hard moments, there was so much joy and comradery in the room. The ability of these complete strangers to create a safe space for one another is something that will stick with me for a long time.

I think sometimes as civilians we feel uncomfortable being in veteran occupied spaces. And I have heard from several Feast participants that one reason they love working on the project is because they feel more at home in a room full of other veterans than they do with civilians. However, the beautiful thing about the Storytelling Project is that it is about bridging that divide through the immense power of the human experience. These stories that our participants will tell onstage are about the military, yes, but they are also about what it means to be a human being. They’re about hope, connection, disappointment, confusion, fear, and everything in between. Whoever you are and whatever your connection with the military is, there is something in this piece that you will relate to, something that will touch you in one way or another. For me, it has

inspired me to connect more with my grandfathers and start asking them about their experiences in the military. I am so thankful to the participants of the Storytelling Project for their bravery to be vulnerable and to share their service stories. Beyond creating an amazing piece of theatre, it has had a real impact on me and our Feast community.

-Rebecca Plourd, FoC’s Development Director

Feast of Crispian’s Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot: Before, Between and Beyond the Battlefields opens at The Brickhouse on August 23

This project is proudly sponsored by:

Veteran’s Stories Through Shakespeare: Class in the Domicilliary

In 2021, Feast of Crispian started our class in the resident domiciliary at Zablocki VA Hospital as part of the required curriculum! This is a shift from the last two years where the class was an elective. This is a wonderful recognition of the affective power of the work we do for veterans in residential programming. (Residential programs are intensive and focused programs for veterans whose challenges have become too disruptive for their day to day lives). 

Veteran’s Stories Through Shakespeare meets weekly, currently virtually, and uses scenes and monologues from many plays to explore emotions. The class gives veterans a chance to pay attention to what emotions feel like in the body and express them in a healthy way without the exposure of their own words and stories. We look at a range of “themes” that help them connect their own experiences through the poetry and stories of Shakespeare. Sometimes they write their own poetry and build a personal vocabulary for how to think about, talk about, and grow capacity for a meaningful and satisfying life.

In a recent class, we “played” with a scene where the vet “actors” got to declare their strength and honesty. The conversation afterwards was about the feelings of anger and of confidence that the words elicited. 

It’s serious work but we also have fun and find a lot to laugh at!

Stay turned for more reports…

English Playwrights + Modern Warriors

Those of us lucky enough to stand on a stage and speak the beautiful poetry of William Shakespeare have a deeply rooted faith that it makes us better people. His words plunge us into our deepest emotional selves, make sense of pain, and float us on waves of ecstatic love. They enlighten us to the complexity of our human-ness and forge deep connection with, and compassion for, our human family.

So strong is our faith, that we are called to share this love (a word appearing 2,191 times in the canon) with others who might not yet have experienced it. In my case, along with my two partners, Bill Watson and Jim Tasse, I find myself in the company of combat veterans.

What has an English playwright from 1616 to offer the modern warrior of 2016? There are the words about PTSD, depression, the struggle with alcohol, the alienation of husband and wife, and the contemplation of suicide. His plays tell stories of families, battles, journeys and honor. The metaphors describe the experiences of love, of loss, of hurt and anger in terms that teach the body to feel again. And provide a mask:

“Shakespeare is an opportunity to be open without exposure, or the vulnerability that comes with sharing a deep and hidden part of my past. Being able to connect with a character psychologically and act it out physically[…] is amazing.”

(Omar Kebir, Army Veteran)

These are big stories that use big words that can carry big emotions. In everyday language, we minimize our experiences or run the risk of losing our human support network. Shakespeare’s rich, poetic language gives the veterans a safe place to tell the stories they carry with them. These are not their words or their stories but these are their emotions, too big to keep inside.

…O, I could weep my spirit from mine eyes.

Warriors go into places full of danger and terror to defend the freedom and safety of their country and it’s citizens. Shakespeare allows them, once again, to be warriors, going to the interior places of danger and terror to fight for the freedom and safety of their human spirit.

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, these wounds I had on Crispin’s day.

400 years after the death of William Shakespeare, we still come to him to help us understand ourselves, to reconnect us with those we might lose and to find the words, words, words!

To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still!

The Soldier's Art Form

Bill and Nancy work with participants.

Last weekend, Oct. 4, 5 and 6, we completed our third Shakespeare intensive at the Milwaukee VA. I had every intention of sitting down Monday morning and writing about what a profound and transformational experience it was for all involved. It was. But I would sit at the computer and stare at the blank page, go to my Complete Works and try and find a quote that would spark something and then find something around the house that needed to be done instead.

In part, it felt a little like breaking a confidentiality. How could I talk about the journey of the weekend without speaking to some of the individual stories, vulnerabilities and milestones? In order to illustrate the spectacular courage of our participants, I would need to speak to the fragility as well.

In another part, there is little to say to anyone who wasn’t there other than that it was transformational, healing and a pleasure.

Today, with Tomra (see Vets Voices), I spoke to the PR people at the VA, trying to explain who we are, what we do and why we do it, and how it works. Except for who we are, these are all questions we have been wrestling with from the start, and as we continue to talk out loud to people about it, we begin to find some understanding of it for ourselves. So as this, our third Milwaukee intensive, has allowed the picture to begin to form, that is what I will write about now.

The structure of the work has changed little from our initial concept of what would allow us to get these men and women up on their feet, speaking the words of Shakespeare. We spend some time getting to know each other, there is an exercise that helps them to begin to connect on a deeper level with every other person in the room and introduces the special technique we use to get them working on a scene. Then Bill and Jim and I put our heads together and cast scenes.

The special technique is a modified version of a process that was invented at Shakespeare and Co. in Lenox, MA more than 30 years ago. The founders there were so dedicated to the words and the intensely personal process of acting that they came up with the idea of “feeding” the lines to each other so no one would have to carry and read out of a script. What this technique allows us to do is take the stress of having to read difficult language out of the picture. It allows us to literally have their back, giving them the words to say, offering them definitions of words and phrases and asking some questions as to what the emotions of these moments might be for them.

Fellow participants and guests at the “witnessing”

The second day we check in with people; we do one of a handful of acting exercises that are designed to illicit something – whatever we intuit might be best for each group dynamic – and then we spend the day working, two at a time, on scenes from plays by Shakespeare.

The third day, again we check in, and then we give them a set of instructions about how to turn the story of the scene they are working on into a series of gestures and movements. We ask them to “physicalize” the scene. And then we invite people in to “witness” the ongoing work.

That form has changed very little from the first weekend, nearly a year ago, where we – the facilitators of this event – came into the room, quivering jello on the inside, not knowing what was going to happen or even if anyone would show up. But show up they did and we did our stuff and, with tears and laughter and William Shakespeare’s words, we created our first little community.

And they keep showing up. I mean SHOWING UP. It isn’t just that they attend our weekend intensive, but they, by the end of the first evening, make a commitment to us and to each other to bring all of themselves to this event.

So I guess that is a big part of WHY we do what we do.

How it works? I can, and will eventually, talk about the science of the brain function of emotions and what is emerging in the work to heal trauma but we knew little of that when we entered into this and although it’s important to us and endlessly fascinating, we are artists, not scientists or psychologists. We tell the participants at our first interaction that what brought any artist to any art form was a desire to express what was inside them. For most artists that thing inside is pain that they seek to alleviate. In the case of actors, there is also, not unlike many of those entering the military, a longing for family, community, belonging to something that gives meaning. That brings us to the subject of “how it works”.

Stories give meaning to the unexplainable. Actors tell stories. Shakespeare tells, in beautiful, metaphorical language, our most compelling stories. For many of our veteran participants, they have untold stories. We give them an opportunity to tell their deepest, darkest stories out loud with the veil of someone else’s words and the mask of character.

Sometimes big emotions come out of that telling and instead of being shamed or told to “man up” or being ignored, actors not only tolerate – we celebrate! A comfortable facility with one’s emotions, a range of emotions, is one of the most important things in a satisfying life and in healthy relationships. Through working on scenes, these men and women get to experiment with what that looks and feels like, in a safe and supportive environment.

That’s my best explanation of how this is working. Our vets have told us it’s working better than therapy and they come back, sometimes having waited months, to work with us again.

Our next intensive is set for December. Check out our events calendar.

I know that when I began this blog I promised next (actually, I promise to get to it “tomorrow”!) to talk about why Shakespeare? I have turned that assignment over to Bill and given him a deadline so stay tuned! And take care of each other.

All of this began because of the enormous amount of inquiry and dialogue going on about how to best help veterans after they return to their communities. As actors and educators we, the founders of Feast of Crispian, had been deeply aware as to what the skills required to be an actor could offer people in emotional pain. Many of us came to the theater to deal with our own trauma or developmental struggles, and through the particular tools for educating and training that it takes a person to stand on a stage and fully communicate important human stories, we also found healing.

Now, I am biased, but I find acting, above all other art forms, to be uniquely suited to this. There is gorgeous, healing and powerful work going on in the veterans community right now, with visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers, that has and will continue to change lives. No one understands how to give expression to the inexpressible and voice to the unspeakable like artists of all kinds. However, the combination of voice and physicality further coupled with the search for meaning that acting offers activates multiple parts of the brain. Putting that face to face with a “unit” of scene partners strengthens human connections. Bring all of that in front of an audience to be witnessed and witnesses are changed too.

Theater is the soldiers art form. Theater, as we know it today, was begun to allow the warriors’ community to gather and hear the stories of battle. And they did. The entire populations of towns would come together to share in the excitement, the horror, the fear, the great deeds of bravery and strength. Together a community would honor and care for their defenders.

Little community sharing of any kind goes on these days and we would like to find some small remedy to that.

Yes, we do that with Shakespeare. Why Shakespeare, you ask? I’ll get to that on some tomorrow.