The Carthage Theatre Department will be opening Fighting For Home: Stories of Women Who Serve, written by Martin McClendon and directed by Marcella Kearns, on Friday, February 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wartburg Theatre, located in the David A. Straz, Jr. Center. Performances will continue through two weekends, with additional shows on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Fighting For Home is a verbatim theatre project that will present stories from the front lines of one of the most significant policy shifts of our time straight from the women who lived it. Verbatim theatre seeks to tell stories of real people in their own words, and are built from extensive interviews and research.
Women have a long history of serving in the military, but the changes of the last three decades have brought them into a new prominence and forced the nation to confront many of its beliefs and prejudices regarding women’s roles in the military and their rights and responsibilities in society at large. Based on interviews with women specifically about issues related to being a female in the military in the last 30 years, “Fighting for Home” will highlight women’s struggles to protect their country from all enemies while they deal with rapidly-changing policies and deeply-entrenched beliefs within the military.
Prof. McClendon was honored to receive the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Innovative Teaching Award for 2016-17 for his work with students in developing veteran theatre projects. He is also the co-founder, with David Chrisinger and Lawrence Gums, of Carthage’s annual Veteran Night of the Arts, held every November. He is the 2016 recipient of the Carthage Quality of Life Enhancement Award for his work to raise awareness of veteran issues on campus.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online 24/7 at www.carthage.edu/tickets or Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. at the Fine Arts Box Office. Tickets are $14 for adults, $10 for seniors (55+), and $8 for students with a valid ID. Please visit carthage.edu/box-office for the Carthage student/faculty/staff complimentary ticket policy. If you have any questions, please contact the Fine Arts Box Office at oee@carthage.edu or (262) 551-6661. Be sure to like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/carthagefinearts for information about upcoming events and fine arts at Carthage.