Publication: Scene; Date:2005 Nov 11; Section:Scene; Page Number: 1
ON STAGE

How the war was spun


NEW THEATER PIECE OUTLINES RUN-UP TO IRAQ CONFLICT

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER



   
Simon Levy bristles

a bit when it is suggested that, in staging an anti-Iraq war theater piece, he is preaching to the choir.
   “I see it as crying out to the congregation,” he countered.
   Levy eagerly endorses the metaphor of the theater as a church. But he notes that few people go to religious services to have their minds changed. Rather, they go to be reminded of their beliefs — and, perhaps, prodded into acting on them.
   That is precisely the response evoked by “What I Heard About Iraq,” which opened Sept. 11 at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. A stage adaptation of a widely circulated anti-war essay, it will be performed Nov. 18 through 20 in Victoria Hall.
   “I think the reason we go to theater, for the most part, is for affirmation,” said Levy, who conceived and directed the production. “Whether we see a Greek tragedy or ‘Angels in America,’ we want the higher ideals in us to be reaffirmed.
   “There’s no question that the majority of people who come to this show are already against the war. The question is their commitment to taking some sort of action. At every talkback, I

WHAT I HEARD ABOUT IRAQ

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 18 and 19 and 2 p.m. Nov. 20 Where: Victoria Hall, 33 W. Victoria St. Cost: $11.50 to $26.50
Information:
963-0761
hear the same thing: The play makes them feel they’ve got to do more than they have been doing.”
   “What I Heard About Iraq” began life as a lengthy essay by Eliot Weinberger, a New York-based poet known for his translations of the work of Octavio Paz. It traces the history of the war, beginning with the Bush administration’s effort to convince the public of its necessity.
   Each paragraph begins with a variation on the phrase “I heard,” followed by a direct quote from either a government official or eyewitness. In this way, the piece becomes a record of who said what and when.
   “(He sticks to) actual, verifiable facts,” Levy noted. “There is no punditry, no supposition, no conspiracy-theory talk.”
   The essay was posted online earlier this year by the London Review of Books. From there, “It spread like wildfire across the Internet,” Levy said. “There are thousands of references if you do a Google search.”
   A friend e-mailed Levy the essay this past spring. He opened it, saw that it was more than 20 pages long, and closed it, figuring he’d get around to it when he could. He had more pressing concerns on his mind.
   “I’d been searching for an anti-war play,” he recalled. “I really felt the need to make a statement. I think I read just about every anti-war play from ‘The Persians’ to Tony Kushner, but nothing was hitting me.”
   Then his friend e-mailed again, insisting that Levy look at Weinberger’s piece. So, late one night, he began to read — and was mesmerized.
   “I read it in one sitting,” he said. “I was so affected by the article. I knew right there and then it was what I was looking for.
   “I immediately saw it as a play. I don’t know why, but I did. I wrote on the notepad next to my computer, ‘A Cry for Five Voices.’ ”
   Levy tracked down Weinberger and “convinced him I would do honor to the piece.” The director then spent several months verifying every statement in the essay, even as he contemplated how to make it theatrical.
   “Theater, at its best, is able to take huge themes, boil them down and make it an emotional experience for an audience,” Levy said. “Once you have an emotional response to something, then you feel you have to do something about it.”
   With that premise in mind, “I started looking for ways to pull out the emotional life of the piece,” he said. “I felt the best way to do that was to augment it.”
   So Levy added music, photographic images and video footage. He also divided up the text among five actors, giving the work a variety of voices.
   “I also looked for places where we could provide comic relief,” he said. “Oddly enough, there’s a lot of humor in the show. (Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld gets a lot of laughs. What he says is so ridiculous, you laugh!”
   “What I Heard About Iraq” opened Nov. 11 at the Fountain Theatre to positive reviews. At the end of the scheduled four-week run, it moved to Thursday nights, where it continues to attract passionate audiences.
   “We do talkbacks after every show, and they’ve been lasting longer than the (70-minute) play,” Levy said. “Eighty to 90 percent of the audience stays for them.
   “People want to express themselves, but there aren’t a lot of outlets. The theater becomes a place where we can have a communal response to this issue, as well as a town hall.”
   And how are most audience members responding?
   “At every talkback, I hear the same thing: The play makes them feel outraged and ashamed,” Levy said. “When they witness the hypocrisy that is going on, they feel that, somehow, they’re a part of it, too.
   “Culpability, responsibility, lies with each and every one of us. I think that’s what the audience gets from this experience. Either we take responsibility or we abrogate it.”
   Levy contends that connection between the personal and the political comes to light more readily in the theater, which is, after all, a communal, visceral experience.
   “When we were talking about doing this play, the simple question came up: What is it we hope to achieve?” he said. “My answer was simple: I want to either wake people up or reawaken them. What we have found is that’s exactly what is happening.”
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ED KRIEGER PHOTO Bernadette Speakes, Ryan Yu and Tony Pasqualini, from left, in “What I Heard About Iraq”.