The Griffin Theatre Company will bring its hit touring production of “Letters Home” to The Mendel Center Mainstage at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 21.
The production, adapted and directed by Artistic Director William Massolia, puts the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan front and center by bringing to life actual letters written by troops serving in the Middle East. Since its original run at the Chicago Cultural Center in January 2007, the production has become one of the most sought after national touring shows and has received critical acclaim throughout the U.S.
The production has been seen by more than 50,000 people in 35 major U.S. cities.
The production is inspired by the New York Times op-ed article “The Things They Wrote” and the subsequent HBO documentary “Last Letters Home.” It additionally uses letters and correspondences from Frank Schaeffer’s books, “Voices from the Front,” “Letters Home from America’s Military Family,” “Faith of Our Sons” and “Keeping Faith.”
The play, without politicizing, gives audiences a powerful portrait of the soldier experience in the ongoing wars.
Although the title of the play implies that all the letters are from soldiers, it also includes a small number of correspondences from parents. These letters were written under the most difficult of circumstances — the disorientation of training, deployment, separation from family and loved ones, combat, and occupation duties in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Collectively the production gives a voice to a generation that went to war in the Middle East, and reveals the humanity that lies within the war as seen through the eyes of the men and women fighting it, producers said.
Tickets for “Letters Home” are on sale at TheMendelCenter.com and through The Mendel Center Box Office at (269) 927-8700, from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, seniors, students, active military members and veterans.