NewYorkRep to Present New Play WAR WORDS by Michelle Kholos Brooks

NewYorkRep, in association with New Light Theater Project, will present War Words, a world premiere production of a new docu-play by Michelle Kholos Brooks (H*tler’s Tasters). The limited six-week engagement, directed by NewYorkRep Artistic Director Sarah Norris (H*tler’s Tasters, Everything is Super Great), launches Veteran’s Day weekend, November 10, and runs through Dec. 17 at A.R.T./New York (502 W. 53rd Street). Opening night is November 14 at 7PM. Tickets are now on sale at OnTheStage.com.
 
War Words is a docu-play in the words of the men and women who served in the U.S. Military during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Based on the playwright’s interviews with veterans of the 20-year Long War and their families, War Words is composed of heroic and heartbreaking stories of the veterans, families, and allies of people who served: those who came home, and those who were left behind. The playwright and NewYorkRep have felt that there was always a need for civilians to better understand the motivation and sacrifice one makes to serve.
 
The cast of the New York premiere production includes Maggie Bofill, John Concado, Bethany Geraghty, Brandon Jones, Kevin Loreque, Jakob Von Eichel, and Stephen Tyrone Williams, with further casting to be announced. 
 
The scenic design is by Brian Dudkiewicz; costume design by Julia Squier; lighting design by Elaine Wong; sound design by Janet Bentley and Andy Evan Cohen; choreography by Sarah Grace Houston; percussion orchestration by  Mariana Ramirez; percussion and additional orchestrations by Andrew Beal. Amanda Levie is Production Mangager. Madeleine Blossom is Production Stage Manager.  The Casting Director is Gama Valle, Bass/Valle Casting.
 
NewYorkRep presents this world premiere production following 2021 one-night-only readings featuring US. Military veterans at The Intrepid in New York, The Actors’ Gang Theater in Los Angeles, and presentations in Forth Worth, Miami, Philadelphia and Syracuse.
 
Retired US Army General David H. Petraeus experienced an early workshop presentation of War Words offering the following endorsement: “Few Americans enjoy close, personal relationships with service men and women and their families, and that fact risks veterans remaining at arms-length. This gap is no one's fault or dereliction. It exists as a natural consequence of the fact that proportionally fewer and fewer Americans serve in the military, and those who do are mostly concentrated in small geographies across the country. … That's where the play, War Words, comes to bear. It is an inspiring and entertaining work that gets right after this ‘affinity gap and serves the civic purpose for Veterans Day. … I do not want to glorify war…just service. Because as one of the final lines in this exceptional production notes, ‘War will break your heart.’ …Few movies or plays have ever captured all of this for me as War Words.”
 
“War Words is based on interviews that I conducted with veterans of the Long War in Iraq and in Afghanistan,” says playwright Michelle Kholos Brooks.” These are the stories of real veterans, in their own words. War Words aims to bridge the divide between those who serve in the military and the rest of us who say ‘thank you for your service,’ without really understanding what the service and sacrifices truly are. I hope that audiences will be as surprised, delighted and moved by these stories as I was.”
 
“Michelle Kholos Brooks and NewYorkRep have felt that there was always a need for civilians to better understand the motivation and sacrifice one makes to serve,” says Gayle Waxenberg, Founding Artistic Director of NewYorkRep. “Now we feel even more compelled to give voice to our veterans in light of the recent and ongoing situation in Afghanistan. Presenting War Words around Veteran’s Day feels like a civic responsibility.”
 
NewYorkRep presents War Words in a six-week engagement November 10 - Dec. 17 at A.R.T./New York (502 W. 53rd Street). Opening night is November 14 at 7PM. Performances are Tuesday – Saturday at 7PM, with matinees Saturday at 3PM, and Sundays at 3PM (except Dec. 3.); and special Sunday evening performances Dec. 3 & 10 at 7PM. Tickets, ranging from $30 - $45, are now on sale at OnTheStage.com.
 
 
About the Artists
 

MICHELLE KHOLOS BROOKS

(Playwright)  Michelle Kholos Brooks is an award-winning playwright with productions staged internationally. Awards and distinctions include the Susan Glaspell Award for H*tler’s Tasters and the Riva Shiner Comedy Award for Kalamazoo, co-written with Kelly Younger. Room 1214 was a finalist for The Ashland New Plays Festival. Hostage was a finalist for the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, The Fratti-Newman Political Play Contest, and a Showcase finalist for the National New Play Network. Chair received second place in the Firehouse Theatre Festival of New American Plays. Plays have been produced and/or developed at the Skylight Theatre (World Premier, Hostage), Centenary Stage (World Premiere, H*tler’s Tasters), Pacific Resident Theatre, Bloomington Playwright’s Project (World Premiere, Kalamazoo), The Colony Theatre (World Premiere, Family Planning), Florida Repertory Theatre, Boston Court Theatre, The Road Theatre Company, Wordsmyth Theatre, The Barrow Group, Bay Street Theatre, Venue 9 Theatre, Wings Theatre, Laurel Grove Theatre Company, Drama West, Vox Humana Theatre Ensemble, iTheatre Collaborative, New Light Theater Project, 59E59th Theaters, Olive Theatre at Greenside (Edinburgh), Arena Stage (Veteran’s Day 2020, an adaptation of War Words), New York Rep, Syracuse Stage, City Theatre Miami, InterAct, Syracuse Stage, Stage West, and The Actors’ Gang. Publications include Dramatists Play Service, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Room literary magazine, and The Daily Beast. Brooks earned a B.A. from Emerson College and an M.F.A. in Fiction from Otis College of Art and Design. She is the Playwright-in-Residence at New York Rep, a board member of ShPIel-Performing Identity Theatre Project, and a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, The Playwright’s Center, and Pacific Resident Theatre. In addition, she is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. www.MichelleKholosBrooks.com

Sarah Norris

(Director) is a theater artist and producer based in New York. Her directing work has been seen around the country including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and around the world in Scotland, Australia, England and Ireland. Directing credits include:   by Michelle Kholos Brooks (Time Out NY Critics Pick; Best of the Edinburgh Fringe; featured in the Chicago Tribune, LA Times and the BBC), Everything is Super Great by Stephen Brown (Time Out NY Critics Pick), This Wrestling Place by Emma Sandall (with Executive Producer Ben Folds), Picture Ourselves in Latvia by Ross Howard (Best of Theater, The L Magazine). Other highlights include: Guild Hall of East Hamptons, Pleasance Theatre (Edinburgh), Greenside Theatre (Edinburgh), Bottom Dog Theatre (Ireland), Adelaide Fringe Festival (Australia), 59E59 Theaters, LAByrinth Theatre, Working Theater, Electric Lodge (LA), Chicago Dramatists, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, The Flea Theater, Zeiders American Dream Theater, Calliope Stage, Forestburgh Playhouse, Pendragon Theatre, and New Light Theater Project. Member of SDC and AEA. Upcoming projects: Friends With Amenities by Ahsan Ali & Lisa Jill Anderson (59E59 Theaters) and The Lights Are On by Owen Panettieri (Theatre Row).  www.sarahnorris.org

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