Review: Multi-Media UNDER FIRE at California Lutheran University Theatre Arts Department Celebrates and Honors The Warrior, Not The War.

Multi-Media UNDER FIRE at California Lutheran University Theatre Arts Department Celebrates and Honors The Warrior, Not The War.

Director Michael J. Arndt, a Cal Lutheran theater arts professor from Newbury Park, wrote the script based on interviews he conducted with veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan. Videotaped interview excerpts, dramatized scenes and monologues, and an original score and choreography tell the story of human beings at war and others left behind. Ninety percent of the script is the veterans' own words.

Drafted into the Army after graduating from college, Arndt was an infantryman who conducted reconnaissance missions and was involved in 52 combat assaults. In 2010, he returned to the battlefields of Vietnam for the first time to confront the traumatizing memories of what he had seen there. Arndt took a sabbatical from Cal Lutheran and received funding from the Ventura County Arts Council to begin weaving his experiences and those of other combat veterans into the theater piece. Although the details varied, the stories had common elements of fear, love, humor and courage.

What Arndt has created with this production is a true, full-scale, strong, ensemble-acting piece. The dictionary describes ensemble-acting as "an approach to acting that aims for a unified effect achieved by all members of a cast working together on behalf of the play, rather than emphasizing individual performances" and this is precisely what has been achieved.

The 21-member cast takes the audience on a 1 hour and 35-minute journey of emotions. One moment you are entertained by a story of a WWII photographer and his adventures of his fringe benefits, and the next chills are sent up your spine as you listen to (and watch) the story of a soldier sharing his feelings of death and the amount of it surrounding him. One moment you are cheering for the first female helicopter pilot, and then next instant you are hurled into an occasion where a platoon of Vietnam soldiers come across the enemy soldier they recently shot and killed.

Stories of family...stories of loss...dealing with PTSD...the friendships that were made...the pioneers and trailblazers...are all presented as the Ensemble morphs into the background as a soloist delivers his/her monologue, while next transforming into an environment to collectively create the adjoining memory.

With the support of choreography (Jeff Wallach), lights (Gary Mintz), an original score (Christopher Hoag), video (Omar Ramos), authentic props (T. Theresa Scarano), first-hand military training (David Lopez) plus CLU professors Erik D. Diaz (set), Josh Clabaugh (Technical Director) and Noelle Raffy (hand-painted costumes) UNDER FIRE proves that it is a documentary-style piece of theatre with an important message that needs to be seen!

The message: "...it is not about the war, it is about the warrior"!

Arndt's goal is for the theater piece to be presented widely at military hospitals, veterans homes and public venues throughout the country.

Admission is free, but reservations are required via the Theatre Arts Department website at CalLutheran.edu/theatrearts. The production runs through November 22 playing November 17 at 10:30 am, November 18, 19 at 8 pm, November 20 at 4 pm and 8 pm, November 21 at 8 pm, November 22 at 2pm. The theater is located in the Theatre Arts Building at 141 Memorial Parkway on the Thousand Oaks campus. For more information, call 805-493-3452.

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