Other Americans: Do Tell
Rating: 5
Another American: Asking and Telling
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Don't ask, don't tell: here's a rubric that's been stuck in our craw for quite awhile now, ever since our national teach-in on oral sex — the Clinton administration. So much of the past two decades has been spent with this phrase buzzing about in the background, apparently hopeless of any reconciliation — until the logjam burst after the last election, victory was declared by its opponents. All of this might make the new show at KC Rep seem passé. That's why you need to see it.
Showing us how the overturning of this policy is not an end, but a beginning, is part of the enormous power of "Another American: Asking and Telling." Marc Wolf's one-man show introduces us to a parade of colorful characters whose stories bring the whole issue to life. Based on scores of interviews with service people and their families, reaching back to World War II, the show won an Obie for its Off Broadway production in 2000, then was revived last summer in New York.
>From now through February 6th, Kansas City is blessed with its first run since the December 18th decision to end this policy. Along with stories of enlisted men and women, their families and officers, Wolf has harvested from his interviews some of the most amusing renditions of the arguments, for and against, that I've heard. Flattened journalistic statements and pundit-speak are replaced with personal insights dripping with irony, and exhortations from the the pulpit with the simpler stuff of the locker room. Laughter once again proves to be good political medicine, though tears are sometimes not far behind.
Wolf ably conveys the personalities of his interviewees not only with impressive theatrical skill, but also with obvious respect, affection and humor. For all the attention this issues has gotten, "Another American"'s simple eloquence demonstrates how little of the human story has come through. Wolf's caharcters are not people most of us know, because of the atmosphere of fear that the policy itself and its advocates have created. His excellent, economical portrayals bring us a vibrant picture of gays and lesbians who have really wanted to serve, have done so, and have triumphed and suffered because of it. He also conveys military people's concerns about what might go wrong, without the overheated rhetoric that's predominated in mass media.
Having organized against the Vietnam war in my youth, and each other one since, I was not expecting to find this show so affecting. Wolf captures the vital essences of each of the characters for whom he speaks, and they cover the full range of experience, politics and feeling involved in the issue. Their stories establish that gay people and straight have been serving in the military all along, and that diversity of emotional responses to war can be understood as a strength. They leave us with the sobering insight that repealing "don't ask, don't tell" will not solve the problems on anti-gay feeling — plenty of it is expressed here — nor end episodes of violence such as those some of Wolf's characters, but not all, have survived.
Simply but elegantly staged, this fast-paced show is a theatrical gem. Humane, humanizing, funny, touching, illuminating, KC Rep should be applauded for bringing it to Kansas City, and you should really not miss it.
read the review at KC Stage
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