ArtsUP! LA and Returning Soldiers Speak Will Host ACROSS TIME in Culver City

ArtsUP! LA and Returning Soldiers Speak will collaborate to bring Across Time: Love and Humanity During War to Los Angeles this June. Drawing from the rich and complicated tapestry of military history, the correspondences between those deployed and those at home serve as the inspiration behind this original theatrical production. These letters, spanning from past wars and conflicts such as the Civil War to Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (1 January 2015 to 30 August 2021), provide a poignant window into the hopes, fears, and observations from those who served. The show is produced by Leilani Squire and Bryan Caldwell. Across Time: Love and Humanity During War is directed by Douglas Gabrielle and will run June 7th through June 16th at the Blue Door Theatre in Culver City.

About the Show

Across Time: Love and Humanity During War is an original theatrical production inspired by letters from past wars and conflicts that provide a poignant window into the hopes, fears, and experiences of those who served. Through this live performance, audiences will witness the myriad of humanity encapsulated in these historical letters, original plays, and monologues written by living veterans of the United States Armed Forces. This production offers a unique and complex perspective on the human aspect of war, spanning from the Civil War to the beginning of The War on Terror.

The intent of this production is to give voice to veterans who have experienced war as well as to show how the different wars affected and continue to affect their relationship to the military. In addition, it is the hope that the audience will gain new understanding about our veterans and what it means to serve in uniform.

Producer Leilani Squire was born at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu while her father (who served thirty years in the United States Navy) was deployed on an aircraft carrier during the Korean War, and raised in the military. In 2010, Leilani began a weekly creative writing workshop for veterans at the VA West Los Angeles Medical Center’s Domiciliary and has been facilitating writing workshops and producing various projects for the veteran communities since. In 2017, she formed the non-profit that is Returning Soldiers Speak.

Producer Bryan Caldwell received his B.A. from Tulane University in 2000. Bryan has over 40 years of acting experience and has performed at the Promenade Playhouse, the Stella Adler Theater, and the Culver City Public Theater. A Colorado native, Bryan performed a residency at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, working with their Theatre Academy to implement both the adult and children’s curriculum. He has produced over 50 shows for individuals on the disability spectrum, military veterans, and Los Angeles based performers, and the Wallis Annenberg, the Blue Door Theater, and the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory, and is the co-founder of ArtsUP! LA.

Director and Lighting Designer Douglas Gabrielle has been designing lights and acting for more than three decades, primarily in San Diego and Los Angeles. His L.A. Designs include: Pasadena Shakespeare Co: Comedy Of Errors, The Libertine, Othello; Sacred Fools: Don Juan In Chicago, Tell The Bees, Valparaiso, Caesar Chavez, Lights Out, Puzzler, Crumble-Lay Me Down Justin Timerlake, Absolutely Filthy;  Porters of Hellsgate: Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline (Valley Theatre Award Nominations for both); South Coast Repertory Theatre: Absolutely Filthy; L.A. Shakespeare Center: Macbeth; Group Repertory Theatre: More than a dozen designs, including their current musical revue, L.A, Now And Then.  Since 2020, Doug has been the Technical Director of the Blue Door Theater in Culver City. He has been the lighting designer of The Boys Next Door, Almost Maine, and numerous other works including Romeo Rocks the 80's, The Braille Legacy, and Los Arboles Mueren de Pie.

The cast includes Denah Angel, Miguel Berlingeri (Marines, First Gulf War), Mathias Blake, Anthony Garcia, Nina Rancel, Maggie Dewan Smith (Air Force, First Gulf War),Vince Wainwright (Marines, War on Terror), Hudson Wainwright, and Jonaton Wyne (Army, Vietnam).

Original writings by Melvin Ismael Johnson (Marines, Vietnam), Miguel Berlingeri (Marines, Desert Storm), Benjamin Fortier (Marines, Operation Iraqi Freedom), Ralph S Carlson (Army, Vietnam), Glenn Schiffman (CO, Vietnam War), Lester Probst (Army, Korean War), Kathleen Moorhead (Air Force), Joe Luis Cebillo (Marines),  Ken Klemm(Navy) and Gwyn LaRee (Marines) create the story. Selected letters are courtesy of the Center for American War Letters Archives, Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University.

Across Time: Love & Humanity During War runs June 7th, 2024 - June 16th, 2024. Fridays and Saturdays @ 8pm, Sundays at 3pm at ArtsUP! LA’s theater, The Blue Door, located at 9617 Venice Blvd. Culver City, 90232. 

Single tickets are priced at $20 and available online or at The Blue Door’s box office.  

To post a comment, you must register and login.