Wartime Letters Brought to Life at Playmakers
Mr. Carroll will attend opening night, Sept 15.
“If All the Sky Were Paper” by Andrew Carroll opens September 15 and runs for 10 performances through October 1, 2017. This compelling drama was created from Carroll’s New York Times bestselling books, "War Letters" and "Behind the Lines," and features the best of his Legacy Project’s never-before-seen letters. It was taken from actual letters penned by troops and their loved ones. From the incredible drama of the human experience in battle to the pathos and humor of everyday life on the war front and the home front, audiences have been moved and inspired by the correspondence of those caught up in the war experience. It is a moving evening of memories from American soldiers and their loved ones at home, from the American Revolution and Civil Wars to the two World Wars, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It also includes letters from people from other countries caught up in wars.
“These letters are intimate, deeply personal portraits of the courage, sacrifice, and sense of duty that made this country.” Tom Brokaw
“These war letters are more deeply moving, more revelatory, and more powerful that any dispatch from the front. It’s the truly felt history of what war is all about.” Studs Terkel
In 1998, Carroll launched a national, all-volunteer initiative, the Legacy Project, which worked to find and preserve wartime correspondence. Carroll traveled to all 50 states and 40 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, to seek out what he calls "the world's great, undiscovered literature." He has collected more than 100,000 previously unpublished letters and emails from every conflict in U.S. history. He has edited a book of writings of the troops for the National Endowment for the Arts, "Operation Homecoming."
The minimum age guideline for this production is Upper-Elementary School and above and is based on the appropriateness of the play for that age level and the capability of the student to understand the adult content of this production. Since this is a strong guideline, not a rule, please talk with the box office volunteer when you make reservations about bringing younger students. Children 4 and under are not admitted to Playmaker productions unless the play is specifically intended for that age group.
Mr. Carroll will attend opening night, Sept 15.
“If All the Sky Were Paper” by Andrew Carroll opens September 15 and runs for 10 performances through October 1, 2017. This compelling drama was created from Carroll’s New York Times bestselling books, "War Letters" and "Behind the Lines," and features the best of his Legacy Project’s never-before-seen letters. It was taken from actual letters penned by troops and their loved ones. From the incredible drama of the human experience in battle to the pathos and humor of everyday life on the war front and the home front, audiences have been moved and inspired by the correspondence of those caught up in the war experience. It is a moving evening of memories from American soldiers and their loved ones at home, from the American Revolution and Civil Wars to the two World Wars, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It also includes letters from people from other countries caught up in wars.
“These letters are intimate, deeply personal portraits of the courage, sacrifice, and sense of duty that made this country.” Tom Brokaw
“These war letters are more deeply moving, more revelatory, and more powerful that any dispatch from the front. It’s the truly felt history of what war is all about.” Studs Terkel
In 1998, Carroll launched a national, all-volunteer initiative, the Legacy Project, which worked to find and preserve wartime correspondence. Carroll traveled to all 50 states and 40 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, to seek out what he calls "the world's great, undiscovered literature." He has collected more than 100,000 previously unpublished letters and emails from every conflict in U.S. history. He has edited a book of writings of the troops for the National Endowment for the Arts, "Operation Homecoming."
The minimum age guideline for this production is Upper-Elementary School and above and is based on the appropriateness of the play for that age level and the capability of the student to understand the adult content of this production. Since this is a strong guideline, not a rule, please talk with the box office volunteer when you make reservations about bringing younger students. Children 4 and under are not admitted to Playmaker productions unless the play is specifically intended for that age group.
Special Events Tied to If All the Sky Were Paper
Mr. Carroll founded the Legacy Project in 1998, an all-volunteer initiative that honors veterans and active-duty troops by preserving their wartime correspondence. He traveled to all 50 states and more than 40 countries to collect some 100,000 previously unpublished letters (and emails) from every war in U.S. history. The Legacy Project has been renames “The Center for American War Letters” and is part of Chapman University in Orange, California, where the letters are not only preserved, but also where they are shared with the public in a permanent exhibit. He encourages people to donate their war-related correspondences to the Center so that they will be preserved forever.
See: https://www.chapman.edu/research/ institutes-and-centers/cawl/index.aspx.
“There has, I believe, never been a coordinated initiative of this size and scope to save American war-related letters and emails,” Carroll says. “These correspondences help us to honor and remember the troops, veterans, and military family members who have served this nation—these are their words, their voices, and no one can tell their stories better than they can. I also hope this campaign encourages people to write letters to their loved ones about their wartime experiences, even if they relate to events that happened years ago.”
If you have letters, you may bring your letters, either the originals or photocopies, to Mr. Carroll during his visit to Grove. He will be at the Grove Community Center on Saturday, Sept 16, from 10:00- 1:00. His appearance there is in collaboration with “Paper the Town with Art,” an arts festival sponsored by the new Grove Springs Cultural District.
For more information on accepted letters, see http://www.warletters.com/
Mr. Carroll is best known as the author of the 1999 New York Times best-selling Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters and the 2001 New York Times best-selling book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars which was later turned into an episode of the television program American Experience. His book, Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Word of U.S. Troops and Their Families inspired the film Operation Homecoming, which was nominated for an Oscar and won Emmy Awards in 2007 for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound” and “Outstanding Informational Programming—Long Form.”
A more recent book, Here is Where: Discovering America’s Great Forgotten History chronicles
eye-opening and at times hilarious attempts to “find and explore unmarked historic sites where extraordinary moments occurred and remarkable individuals once lived…Carroll wondered how many unmarked places are there where intriguing events have unfolded and that we walk past every day, not realizing their significance?”
Mr. Carroll founded the Legacy Project in 1998, an all-volunteer initiative that honors veterans and active-duty troops by preserving their wartime correspondence. He traveled to all 50 states and more than 40 countries to collect some 100,000 previously unpublished letters (and emails) from every war in U.S. history. The Legacy Project has been renames “The Center for American War Letters” and is part of Chapman University in Orange, California, where the letters are not only preserved, but also where they are shared with the public in a permanent exhibit. He encourages people to donate their war-related correspondences to the Center so that they will be preserved forever.
See: https://www.chapman.edu/research/ institutes-and-centers/cawl/index.aspx.
“There has, I believe, never been a coordinated initiative of this size and scope to save American war-related letters and emails,” Carroll says. “These correspondences help us to honor and remember the troops, veterans, and military family members who have served this nation—these are their words, their voices, and no one can tell their stories better than they can. I also hope this campaign encourages people to write letters to their loved ones about their wartime experiences, even if they relate to events that happened years ago.”
If you have letters, you may bring your letters, either the originals or photocopies, to Mr. Carroll during his visit to Grove. He will be at the Grove Community Center on Saturday, Sept 16, from 10:00- 1:00. His appearance there is in collaboration with “Paper the Town with Art,” an arts festival sponsored by the new Grove Springs Cultural District.
For more information on accepted letters, see http://www.warletters.com/
Mr. Carroll is best known as the author of the 1999 New York Times best-selling Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters and the 2001 New York Times best-selling book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars which was later turned into an episode of the television program American Experience. His book, Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Word of U.S. Troops and Their Families inspired the film Operation Homecoming, which was nominated for an Oscar and won Emmy Awards in 2007 for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound” and “Outstanding Informational Programming—Long Form.”
A more recent book, Here is Where: Discovering America’s Great Forgotten History chronicles
eye-opening and at times hilarious attempts to “find and explore unmarked historic sites where extraordinary moments occurred and remarkable individuals once lived…Carroll wondered how many unmarked places are there where intriguing events have unfolded and that we walk past every day, not realizing their significance?”
A Hilarious Whirlwind of a Christmas Show at The Playmakers
Are you tired of the same Christmas stories in theatres and on TV year after year? Would you be glad if Tiny Tim would just get on with stuffing the turkey, or Bedford Falls became an island paradise where is was warm?
If you don’t want to admit such thoughts, or even if you can still get teary-eyed at all the myriad secular seasonal stories, you can laugh yourself silly by watching them put through a blender and mashed up in “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!),” by Michael Carleton, James Fitzgerald, and John K. Alvarez.
Opening on the weekend following that holiday that tends to get pushed aside, November 24, 25, 26 The Playmakers will take on all those commercial shopping days-- Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and all those others that start and end even before these. You can escape at least one of them to relax and enjoy this madcap romp through holiday stories, Christmas traditions from around the world, seasonal icons from ancient times to topical pop-culture and every carol every sung.
This huge amount of zany material is spoofed with wild intensity in a short period of time by only three actors.
The minimum age guideline for this production is Elementary school and above and is based on the appropriateness of the play for that age level and the capability of the student to understand the content of the production. Since this is a strong guideline, not a rule, please talk with the box office volunteer when you make reservations about bringing younger students. Children 4 and under are not admitted to Playmaker productions unless the play is specifically intended for that age group.
Visit Grove Playmakers Theatre on Facebook for background, character bios, cast and crew photos, and interesting tidbits about the story and characters.
Are you tired of the same Christmas stories in theatres and on TV year after year? Would you be glad if Tiny Tim would just get on with stuffing the turkey, or Bedford Falls became an island paradise where is was warm?
If you don’t want to admit such thoughts, or even if you can still get teary-eyed at all the myriad secular seasonal stories, you can laugh yourself silly by watching them put through a blender and mashed up in “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!),” by Michael Carleton, James Fitzgerald, and John K. Alvarez.
Opening on the weekend following that holiday that tends to get pushed aside, November 24, 25, 26 The Playmakers will take on all those commercial shopping days-- Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and all those others that start and end even before these. You can escape at least one of them to relax and enjoy this madcap romp through holiday stories, Christmas traditions from around the world, seasonal icons from ancient times to topical pop-culture and every carol every sung.
This huge amount of zany material is spoofed with wild intensity in a short period of time by only three actors.
The minimum age guideline for this production is Elementary school and above and is based on the appropriateness of the play for that age level and the capability of the student to understand the content of the production. Since this is a strong guideline, not a rule, please talk with the box office volunteer when you make reservations about bringing younger students. Children 4 and under are not admitted to Playmaker productions unless the play is specifically intended for that age group.
Visit Grove Playmakers Theatre on Facebook for background, character bios, cast and crew photos, and interesting tidbits about the story and characters.
