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: