Interview: Ben Grimes, Ben Barham, Ruth Shepherd of THE BREACH at Arkansas Repertory Theatre

Arkansas Repertory Theatre has partnered with Riverside Actors Theatre for a new type of production in time for Veterans Day. THE BREACH is a docutheater experience you do not want to miss, and Broadway World was thrilled to be able to sit down with creators Ben Grimes and Ben Barham to talk about their labor of love. This show takes the stage Saturday, Nov. 11, at 2pm. To make sure you get a seat, visit therep.org. 

BWW: So, Ben, please tell us about this program.

Ben Grimes: So, I've been working on this kind of program that is THE BREACH for about five years now. I first started working on it when I started at the Clinton School. I went to the Clinton school to study drama therapy and applied theater for at risk populations, and my interest for that was my own story of being an actor, you know, living in New York City and doing so well, that I joined the Army. And then going from being a professional actor to a professional soldier and then coming back out of that and coming back in the theater and finding therapeutic aspects of theater. But also, that these two seemingly disparate communities, both military members and theater members are actually very, very similar in their value system and in their kind of devotion to something larger than themselves. So, back in 2018 I started researching that and other programs that were doing this kind of outreach, and we ended up forming a theater company to be a vehicle about that and have this be the next iteration of the growth really for what we call the breach, our outreach effort with at risk communities and then veterans. We started out doing classes at the Event Center in Little Rock and working with veterans there with no real performance aspect. It was just a group meeting that we did monthly and then it's now evolved into this partnering with the Rep and doing a six-week workshop and curating stories that will be presented on veteran's day.  

BWW: That's so exciting. How did you get wrapped up in this?  

Ben Barham: Yeah. Well, like Ben said about five years ago he starting going to Clinton school and do some work back in the area of theater, because we had been in New York together at the same time and like he said, our careers were going so well, that he joined the Army, and I went to law school. And so, I wanted to support him finding a path back into theater. It's also one of the things that we've always talked about our entire lives. Ben was my best friend from high school. We did theater together when we were kids.  

BWW: Where did you go to high school? 

Barham: Parkview. The things that we were always drawn to, the work that we were always drawn to, was theater that had some sort of message to it, some sort of purpose behind it, that was driven by more than just entertainment. The stuff that we've always wanted to work on has been stuff that that is meaningful in community and drives a conversation certainly about deficits in our community. I think veterans' issues are only one element of a larger kind of pictures of trauma that people end up experiencing in life. There are many other areas in our community where some serious, serious trauma also needs to be dealt with and storytelling helps with that. I mean, usually that's done in a much more private context, like between you and the therapist, between you and a religious leader, between you and a family member. All of those conversations are helpful, but when you can take it to the next level of being able to tell that story to a larger sort of community audience, it drives a further conversation. That creates a ripple effect that these sorts of things have. There’s a great quote by Marianne Williamson saying that allowing yourself to shine automatically gives other people permission to do that themselves, to open that up themselves, and I think that's an important aspect of what he's trying to do, so why wouldn't I get wrapped up in that?  

BWW: I'm totally for it. I'm. I'm the product of the military.  

Grimes: And that is what's really great about this program. We have current military members, we have veterans, and we also have family members. We really tried to get a whole picture of what it means to serve. Service is not just the one wearing the uniform. It also ripples out into those family members and those people closest to service members.  

Barham: Two of the stories being told in this production are family members. They are not veterans, they are a wife and a son of veterans, and I think that's just as important. Oftentimes in the conversation about veterans and the experience of war, we forget the war at home. Those people sacrifice, sometimes, just as much as the people who wear the uniform. It's all service.  

Grimes: Yeah, it's interesting. Less than 1% of the American population serves, but talking about the ripple effect, there are all of the family members and people that love that person, and that community gets much larger. Still, it's an insulated community. So, back to that theater community versus service members community, there's a quote that I love that says the shortest distance between two people is a story, and I think that allowing service members to tell their stories, family members to tell their stories, opens up the conversation to be had between those two communities.  

BWW: How many people will be participating? 

Grimes: We started out at ten, but we are sitting at nine right now who will be telling their stories in a variety of ways. Some people will be sharing in a traditional kind of storytelling manner, some people will be doing movement to music. It’s going to be unique and really, really impactful.  

Ruth Shepherd, one of Arkansas Reps long time volunteers, joined us on the phone. 

Barham: Ruth, can you give us a little bit of what you've experienced in this process?  

Ruth Shepherd: I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but when I told Ben Grimes that I would do the program when I said yes, I'm gonna sign up, I will be physically and emotionally present for each meeting. Physically, it was the easy part, as it turns out. Emotionally it is fulfilling. It's not always fun, but Ben has been able to create an environment where everybody feels valued. His attitude is that every person's story is of value, every person’s stories is worth telling, every person’s experience is important. Maybe the most important value of what's going on is that I think everybody in the circle has felt that way, that I am important, my experiences are important and other people care and are interested.  

BWW: You guys are going to make me cry. 

Shepherd: You just wait.... 

Barham: This is not an easy night at the theater.  

Grimes: But I will say, every story, even the ones that just rip your heart out, all have this beautiful celebration of life in them. It’s what life is...you have your ups and your downs. The military community is known for its dark humor, and there is a lot of dark humor, so... 

Barham:  I'll say that there have been some nights where yes, you feel like your heart got ripped out, but I also have noticed in the last couple of weeks, I have laughed harder at some of the ironies people present in their stories of service. Some of the funniest lines have come out of this.  

Shepherd: Another statement I'd like to make as a long time board member volunteer person at the Rep is I'm really, really thrilled about our new business model, because for years we've produced Wonderful Productions, and we're going to continue to be able to do that, but we've also been able to add the opportunity to be doing some very meaningful work and creating some very meaningful experiences for a broader audience than just the folks that say ‘you know I think I'd like to go see that,’ and this program is a good example of that, because I think it's brought in, certainly, some new folks who haven’t been there before and giving them an opportunity to have very meaningful and valuable experiences, and putting this on the stage, I think that folks that are coming in and filling the theater will not be your typical audience. It will be new people. To see the evolution that is taking place right now is very healthy, and I'm very excited about it.  

BWW: Thank you guys for sharing your project with me. I can’t wait to see it. 

Broadway World would like to thank the wonderful Matthew Sewell of Matthew Sewell Photography for these wonderful pictures. Check out his website at https://www.msewellphotography.com for all of your photography needs.  

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