Get ready for live theater at the world?s most notorious detention facility. No, not for live readings of the Gitmo Files. The Army wants to stage readings from Sophocles? classic plays Ajax and Philoctetes for the beleaguered troops at Guantanamo Bay.
It?s hardly just entertainment. The readings are part of a theater program ?aimed at helping combat veterans return to civilian life after deployments.?
Called ?Theater of War,? the program takes the martial themes of the plays and treats them like ?ritual reintegration for combat veterans by combat veterans.? Panel discussions with veterans typically follow the readings, ?to increase awareness of post-deployment psychological health issues, disseminate information regarding available resources, and foster greater family and troop resilience.?
Before anyone makes a crack about Guantanamo not being a combat zone: the first soldier serving there I ever met was an Iraq vet who nearly lost hearing in a roadside bomb detonation. And troops who walk the blocks guarding the detention cells are frequent targets for threats, hurled bodily wastes and potential physical assault. Whatever anyone thinks about Guantanamo Bay, the guards have a stressful job.
Not to say there aren?t ironies here. The readings may concern what happens when a soldier?s war ends. But Gitmo ain?t closing, as President Obama lost that fight with congressional Republicans and timid Democrats.
Lots of famous actors have done ?Theater of War? readings, including David Strathairn, Paul Giamatti, Jesse Eisenberg and Charles S. ?Roc? Dutton. Maybe John ?Harold? Cho and Kal ?Kumar? Penn are up for returning to Guantanamo Bay.
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Spencer Ackerman is Danger Room's senior reporter, based out of Washington, D.C., covering weapons of doom and the strategies they're used to implement. Follow @attackerman and @dangerroom on Twitter.
Source: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/army-wants-to-stage-plays-at-guantanamo-bay/
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