ReEntry

As I've written before, most military families quickly learn that post-deployment can be more difficult and stressful than is deployment itself.  What happens when physical distance is erased but emotional distance remains?  That's a question I often ask audiences when I'm reading from Stateside.  Everyone--both civilians and those connected to the military--are inclined to make a romance of reunion.  We imagine the soldier dressed in camis.  He kneels in a public space, opening his arms to welcome his wife, his children, his golden retriever, as they all rush toward him in a blur of weeping.  Sometimes when I click on the homepage of USAA, I see these very moments at the top of the browser in clean, bright shades of patriotism.

We make a romance of reunion.  We do this because the alternative is, well, depressing.  Long silences.  Jagged hugs.  These are not the kinds of reunions that play well on TV or on the little movie screens of our imaginations.  Aren't you happy that he's back? a colleague asks.  Yes is the answer.  And then she rushes on to the next story, because he's back which must be the end of the story.

As ReEntry--the new play at Round House Theatre in DC--demonstrates, post-deployment can be really, really, really bad.  For everyone.  Created by KJ Sanchez and Emily Ackerman, ReEntry is piece of documentary theater, the result of several years of interviews with a small selection of soldiers and their families.  All the words spoken in the play come directly from these interviews and, as result, the text provides real insight into the post-deployment experience, which is one defined by trauma, anger, detachment, and all those other spiky emotions that so discomfit us.

I saw a reading of ReEntry over the summer at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  And then last week, when I attended the "National Summit:  Arts in Healing for Warriors" in Bethesda, I had the chance to hear KJ Sanchez speak about the process of crafting ReEntry.  I've only met KJ a few times, but I think she's one of the coolest people I've met in years (not to sound like a complete dork), an artist from an avant-garde theater background who is creating works that are also accessible. You can learn more about the creation and development of the play here.

Tomorrow, I head to Round House for an afternoon of theater.  Then it's my turn to earn my keep.  I'll be part of a small panel following the play.  I have no idea what I'll be asked or what I might say, but rumor has it that I'm Quite A Talker.  You can learn more about the panels that will follow each performance here.

But, really, what I want to say is go.  Go see ReEntry.  It's relevant, powerful theater.  The play addresses health issues--like PTSD and those more visible, physical injuries--that have the power to affect us all and that should be a national concern.  So.  GO.