Showing posts with label The Show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Show. Show all posts
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Here is what Frank has to say about the show...
I went to see Twin Towers with nothing but a brief summary: Two guys go their separate ways and meet again a number of years later. When I saw the play, I realized that it's more than that. Twin Towers goes deep into the world of war vs. peace and comes out shining. Damian and Angela did a great job of evoking emotion throughout the play through their script and direction. Not to mention the phenomenal job by the cast! Definitely check this one out. -Frank
Friday, June 19, 2009
Please tell us what you thought of the show!
If you saw a production of Twin Towers, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought. You can also leave a comment at Theatermania
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/shows/twin-towers_154905/
Thanks!
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/shows/twin-towers_154905/
Thanks!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Audience Reaction!
"Twin Towers doesn't just entertain. Wrapped in a love story, the play addresses some serious issues — war, faith, homosexuality, absent parents. The actors share each of their character's struggles in a very real way, but the dance and song keep will keep you upbeat. You know you're watching something special when tango, rap and capoeira are blended into one seamless performance." - Meg
Monday, June 15, 2009
Second Show
We just had our second show and the audience response was very good. I don't want to say, "they laughed, they cried..." but that's pretty much what happened. People had great things to say about the show and the cast is really in their stride now that they know the space and we have a handle on the sound and lights. Just four more shows left! - Damian
Friday, June 12, 2009
Thank You
A note from the writer/producer to everyone who made opening night possible:
The opening of TWIN TOWERS at 440 Studios is truly special for me. More than a year ago I started jotting down bits and pieces of dialog I overheard on the subway and in the streets of my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Slowly, a story formed, and the characters took on a life of their own. I started submitting the play to festivals in September of 2008, but I never imagined that my play would every actually get produced. Yet here I am - no, here we are, with a cast of 6, a creative team of more than 10 and a score of friends and family who have helped out. Many others read the play, connected with the message and took on the responsibility of making it come to life, be it by learning lines and playing the parts, sending me books of stamps, buying T-shirts or simply buying a ticket. I'm very thankful to the people who have helped make this possible, I couldn't do it alone, nor would I want to. The fun of this show is seeing people interpret and internalize the work, to connect with the characters, to gte involved and be as enthusiastic about my vision as when I was writing it. I've made great friends with the cast and crew, I've learned about my play and about myself, and my friends and family get to see my art, my vision of the world, in a different way. I truly thank you all for being a part of this. - Damian Wampler
The opening of TWIN TOWERS at 440 Studios is truly special for me. More than a year ago I started jotting down bits and pieces of dialog I overheard on the subway and in the streets of my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Slowly, a story formed, and the characters took on a life of their own. I started submitting the play to festivals in September of 2008, but I never imagined that my play would every actually get produced. Yet here I am - no, here we are, with a cast of 6, a creative team of more than 10 and a score of friends and family who have helped out. Many others read the play, connected with the message and took on the responsibility of making it come to life, be it by learning lines and playing the parts, sending me books of stamps, buying T-shirts or simply buying a ticket. I'm very thankful to the people who have helped make this possible, I couldn't do it alone, nor would I want to. The fun of this show is seeing people interpret and internalize the work, to connect with the characters, to gte involved and be as enthusiastic about my vision as when I was writing it. I've made great friends with the cast and crew, I've learned about my play and about myself, and my friends and family get to see my art, my vision of the world, in a different way. I truly thank you all for being a part of this. - Damian Wampler
Thursday, June 11, 2009
What is TWIN TOWERS?
Twin Towers opens tomorrow at the Robert Moss Theater at 440 Studios, 440 Lafayette - but what is the play about? Quite simply, it focuses on two young men, Trevor (left, played by Kena Anae) and Jamal. Both fatherless and raised like brothers in the Bronx, the two meet again in their old neighborhood after five years apart. Jamal is returning from 5 years living overseas (which began with Peace Corps service) and Trevor is returning from a second tour of duty in Iraq. Trevor's return sparks a rush of childhood memories and emotions, while they both struggle to contain the feelings that are really inside them. In their youth, the boys were nicknamed the Twin Towers because of their strength and athletic ability, and while the play doesn't directly deal with the terrorist attacks on 9/11, it does confront the social and political issues of the Bush Era as it plays out on real people. Life isn't about the situation you are given, but how you react to the challenges you face. But the play isn't preachy - it uses music, dancing and a Brazillian martial art called Capoiera to move the story forward. Like my playwriting teacher in college said, "Don't be boring!"For tickets and showtimes, visit www.twintowersplay.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
Patches...
Some of Trevor's experiences and some of the dilemmas he faces reflect the challenges that some (certainly not all) soldiers in our military face. Throughout the play, Trevor’s personal turmoil reflects the crisis of a war veteran dealing with post traumatic stress disorder, and he impatiently struggles to pick up his civilian life right where he left off, despite his prolonged absence.
Trevor set out to advance his career by entering military service, only to face an abrupt shift of roles the invasion of Iraq placed on many soldiers. At one point in the play, Trevor mentions that he joined the army to be a clerk, to learn a trade. Due to the necessities of the Iraq war however, there is no clear division between the clerks and the soldiers- even “support elements” like Trevor conduct patrols, protect convoys, and face roadside IEDs, suicide bombers, and non-military insurgents. In the war in Iraq, everyone is on the front line.
For nearly half a century the military has promoted itself as an opportunity to learn valuable career skills, but in the modern age of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, it has proven impossible to separate even the “cooks and clerks” from the career soldiers- when the Iraq War first began, entire divisions of the military were stretched thin on a high speed armored dash to contain Iraq’s major military resistance, and to project US forces to places like Baghdad as soon as possible. The result was that entire brigade combat teams were deployed wholesale, often strung out in long supply chains, often with the support elements, the cooks and the clerks, alongside and sometimes facing as much hostile fire. While the military was stretched thin before the strategy of the current, force-heavy, human presence of the “Surge,” Guard and Reserve elements were also facing militias and insurgents on street patrols alongside full-time career soldiers. In short, anyone and everyone in today's ground forces faces at least some degree of very real danger of combat action in Iraq. This is an essential component of Trevor's character and his journey, one we don't see on stage, but we do see on his uniform.
Trevor’s uniform marks him as a very particular kind of soldier, and ties his service to a very particular time window of the Iraq war. Since Trevor wears the old Desert Camouflage Uniform, which predates the green-grey Army Combat Uniform, we know that his time in Iraq was most likely sometime between 2003 and late 2006. The pre-surge numbers of soldiers deployed in theatre meant that those there would more likely be called upon for combat duties, regardless of specialty. Even the cooks and clerks had to fight.
But Tr
evor is not entirely unprepared. On his right shoulder, Trevor wears a “combat patch.” This is the patch of the larger unit he was assigned to when he saw 
combat, and is now authorized permanent wear regardless of whichever other unit he transfers to. On his left shoulder, he wears the patch of the unit he currently serves with, and more specifically ties him to the 167th Support Division (left), which would fit with his stated career path as a clerk. His combat patch is of the 3rd Infantry Division, (square, right) a much larger unit and one of the Army’s oldest and biggest and most distinguished. At least some element of the 3rd has been deployed to Iraq at every point since the initial invasion.
Trevor also wears specialty insignia which allude to his training in a ground combatant role. He wears the Army’s Air Assault wings (left, with helicopter center), which identify him as having trained to conduct airborne helicopter operations. More coveted that the Air Assault pin is the Army’s Airborne “jump wings,” (left, with parachute) which indicate that he has attended the 
Army’s basic paratrooper training. Both of these badges mark him as a very capable soldier.
In the military, unlike almost any other profession, personal history and credentials are worn and displayed openly, rather than noted in a résumé. Perhaps if Trevor’s true personality could be displayed as openly as those insignia, he could more easily relate to those around him. But for Trevor, a uniform can only capture one tiny piece of his person, one dimension of his conflicted psyche. Despite the simplicity of the story that the patches tell, there is much more to Trevor, and to life, than can be indicated by a man's rank.
Trevor set out to advance his career by entering military service, only to face an abrupt shift of roles the invasion of Iraq placed on many soldiers. At one point in the play, Trevor mentions that he joined the army to be a clerk, to learn a trade. Due to the necessities of the Iraq war however, there is no clear division between the clerks and the soldiers- even “support elements” like Trevor conduct patrols, protect convoys, and face roadside IEDs, suicide bombers, and non-military insurgents. In the war in Iraq, everyone is on the front line.
For nearly half a century the military has promoted itself as an opportunity to learn valuable career skills, but in the modern age of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, it has proven impossible to separate even the “cooks and clerks” from the career soldiers- when the Iraq War first began, entire divisions of the military were stretched thin on a high speed armored dash to contain Iraq’s major military resistance, and to project US forces to places like Baghdad as soon as possible. The result was that entire brigade combat teams were deployed wholesale, often strung out in long supply chains, often with the support elements, the cooks and the clerks, alongside and sometimes facing as much hostile fire. While the military was stretched thin before the strategy of the current, force-heavy, human presence of the “Surge,” Guard and Reserve elements were also facing militias and insurgents on street patrols alongside full-time career soldiers. In short, anyone and everyone in today's ground forces faces at least some degree of very real danger of combat action in Iraq. This is an essential component of Trevor's character and his journey, one we don't see on stage, but we do see on his uniform.
Trevor’s uniform marks him as a very particular kind of soldier, and ties his service to a very particular time window of the Iraq war. Since Trevor wears the old Desert Camouflage Uniform, which predates the green-grey Army Combat Uniform, we know that his time in Iraq was most likely sometime between 2003 and late 2006. The pre-surge numbers of soldiers deployed in theatre meant that those there would more likely be called upon for combat duties, regardless of specialty. Even the cooks and clerks had to fight.
But Tr
evor is not entirely unprepared. On his right shoulder, Trevor wears a “combat patch.” This is the patch of the larger unit he was assigned to when he saw combat, and is now authorized permanent wear regardless of whichever other unit he transfers to. On his left shoulder, he wears the patch of the unit he currently serves with, and more specifically ties him to the 167th Support Division (left), which would fit with his stated career path as a clerk. His combat patch is of the 3rd Infantry Division, (square, right) a much larger unit and one of the Army’s oldest and biggest and most distinguished. At least some element of the 3rd has been deployed to Iraq at every point since the initial invasion.Trevor also wears specialty insignia which allude to his training in a ground combatant role. He wears the Army’s Air Assault wings (left, with helicopter center), which identify him as having trained to conduct airborne helicopter operations. More coveted that the Air Assault pin is the Army’s Airborne “jump wings,” (left, with parachute) which indicate that he has attended the Army’s basic paratrooper training. Both of these badges mark him as a very capable soldier.In the military, unlike almost any other profession, personal history and credentials are worn and displayed openly, rather than noted in a résumé. Perhaps if Trevor’s true personality could be displayed as openly as those insignia, he could more easily relate to those around him. But for Trevor, a uniform can only capture one tiny piece of his person, one dimension of his conflicted psyche. Despite the simplicity of the story that the patches tell, there is much more to Trevor, and to life, than can be indicated by a man's rank.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Performance Schedule
I just got the performance schedule for Twin Towers, which will be at the Robert Moss Theater in 440 Studios at Astor Place and Lafayette.THIS SCHEDULE HAS BEEN UPDATED!!!
Here are the dates and showtimes:
- Friday, June 12th, 5:30pm
- Sunday, June 14th, 9:00pm
- Wednesday, June 17th, 4:0pm
- Friday, June 18th, 4:00pm
- Friday, June 19th, 7:30pm
- Sunday, June 28th, 1:00ppm
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