Mission
The Atlantic Council’s War Words stage play is a work of documentary theatre that chronicles the funny, strange, heroic, and heartbreaking stories of men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This Pulitzer-nominated stage play was written by award-winning playwright and Nonresident Senior Fellow Michelle Kholos Brooks based on her interviews with veterans of those wars and their families, and was produced by Senior Fellow Steven Grundman. A key pillar of Forward Defense’s Art of War work, War Words is compelling entertainment that also serves the civic purpose of drawing the audience into a closer relationship with the men and women who serve in the military.
Few movies or plays have ever captured for me as powerfully as War Words… the experiences of American veterans, especially those who have served in uniform since 9/11. Many of the reflections in it were not just familiar to me, they struck important chords with me as well.”
War Words in 2021: A nationwide theatrical production
War Words humanizes professional warriors by telling their true stories in their own words, and the Council hopes it will enlarge the audience’s affinity with veterans and its attention to the uses of the military as an instrument of American policy. As the Council’s board director General David Petraeus observed in his endorsement of War Words, “If Americans’ appreciation of our warriors is fulsome but lacking in real affinity, we suffer a certain civic deficit which, among other adverse effects, can erode citizens’ engagement with the difficult problems and significant opportunities for which American leadership in the world is critically important.” To propagate this mission across the country, the Council has produced staged-reading performances of the play during the week of Veterans Day by professional theatre companies in six cities across the country:
In association with: Stage West Theatre
When: November 10 and 11, 2021, at 6:30pm CT
Where: Stage West, 821 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth
Sponsored by: Bell, Textron Systems, Elbit Systems of America
For tickets: https://www.stagewest.org/war-words
A coproduction with: NewYorkRep West and the US Veterans’ Artists Alliance
In association with: The United States Veterans’ Artists Alliance
When: November 11, 2021, at 7:30pm PT
Where: The Actors’ Gang Theater Company, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City, California
For tickets: https://www.newyorkrep.org/
In association with: City Theatre and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
When: November 10, 2021, at 8:00pm ET
Where: The Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, Florida
Sponsored by: The Boeing Company
For tickets: https://www.arshtcenter.org/Tickets/Calendar/2021-2022-Season/Arsht-Center-Presents/War-Words/
A coproduction with: NewYorkRep
When: November 9, 2021, at 7:30pm ET
Where: The Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum, Pier 86, 12th Ave. & 46th Street, New York, New York
For tickets: https://www.newyorkrep.org/
In association with: InterAct Theatre Company
When: November 11, 2021, at 7:30pm ET
Where: FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd. (at Race St.), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sponsored by: Leonardo SpA
For tickets: https://www.interacttheatre.org/war-words
In association with: Syracuse Stage and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families
When: November 9, 2021, at 7:00pm ET
Where: Tan Auditorium, National Veterans Resource Center, 101 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
Sponsored by: Saab, Inc.
For tickets: https://www.syracusestage.org/warwords.php
Meet the playwright
Meet the project team
Past War Words activities
War Words in 2020: A short film adaptation
In 2020, the Atlantic Council commissioned Arena Stage to adapt War Words into a short film, VETERANS DAY 2020, marking the launch of the Council’s campaign to promote a Veterans Day tradition of bringing staged readings of War Words to communities across the country. Read more about the short film, directed by Arena Stage’s Seema Sueko, here:
War Words in 2019: A workshop production
In 2019, War Words was performed in a workshop production over eight evenings from December 5-15, 2019, at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The play was directed by Sarah Norris.
After the December 12th performance of War Words, the Atlantic Council hosted a reception with retired General David Petraeus, former commander of US Central Command (USCENTCOM) and of the coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. At this reception, General Petraeus joined Atlantic Council senior fellow and War Words executive producer Steven Grundman for a conversation reflecting on the play, on the general’s own experiences leading the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, and on the relationship of Americans to US foreign and defense policy. As he wrote in a Linkedin post the following day, General Petraeus commended the work for conveying “vividly the intensity of the relationships of those in the brotherhood of the close fight” as well as other experiences of men and women at war. Read more here:
Photo credits for images:
- Stage West, Fort Worth – https://stagewest.org/about
- The Actors’ Gang Theater Company, Culver City – https://theactorsgang.com/
- The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami – https://www.arshtcenter.org/Tickets/Calendar/2020-2021-Season/presidential-debate-2020/
- The Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum, New York – Ajay Suresh, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Intrepid_Museum_(49052290092).jpg
- FringeArts, Philadelphia – https://fringearts.com/rent-our-space/venue-images/
- National Veterans Resource Center, Syracuse – https://veterans.syr.edu/news/nvrc/
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Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.