CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A multimedia production tells the story of U.S. Marines stationed in Afghanistan - not just the stresses they face from fighting a war, but also the emotional toll on their families and the struggles to readjust when veterans return home. "BASETRACK Live," a documentary theater piece about the impact of war on veterans and their families, will come to Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. March 18.
The show was inspired by a photojournalism project called "Basetrack," created by photographer Teru Kuwayama. He and other photojournalists embedded in Afghanistan created a website to post photos and videos of Marines in the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. They also created a blog that Marines and their families used to document their experiences, stay in contact and connect with other families separated from a loved one who was serving in the war.
Edward Bilous, director of the Center for Innovation in the Arts at the Juilliard School, saw an exhibition of the "Basetrack" project. Recognizing the power of the images and stories, he and a team of artists and designers created a multimedia theatrical event. The original adaptation premiered at the Center for Innovation in the Arts at Juilliard School in 2012.
Anne Hamburger, executive producer of En Garde Arts, a nonprofit theater company, worked with Bilous and others to produce the full-scale documentary theater production that is touring the country.
At the center of the production is the story of Marine A.J. Czubai and his wife, Melissa. Actors portray the couple, showing his deployment to Afghanistan, his return home to his wife and the daughter who was born during his absence, and his struggle to readjust to civilian life.
Czubai represents the Everyman, Hamburger said. "His story represents the story of so many people who served.
"It's a complicated-yet-hopeful message," Hamburger said. "It's intimate, it's human. There's humor in it. There's warmth in it. It's not a partisan story at all. It's really about the human side of war."
Every word in the show is taken directly from interviews with Marines and their family members. The original "Basetrack" project and the Juilliard show focused on the Marines and their experiences in Afghanistan, but "BASETRACK Live" was expanded to include their return home and the impact on their families of deployment and the veterans' return. The full-scale work added "a much greater emphasis on the pain and challenges not only the Marines, but their families, have on their return," said Bilous.
"That is where 'BASETRACK' is really unique," Hamburger said. "It's about the experience of the family."
It also recognizes the issue of communication with those going to war now, "where a loved one is immediately accessible and, at other times, they are completely distant from you by the nature of war," said Seth Bockley, director and co-adaptor of the production.
"Here we have young men and women who say goodbye, and five minutes later they're texting each other and looking at iChat and seeing images of each other," Bilous said.
Another unique aspect of "BASETRACK Live" is the multimedia components, combining the live performances of the actors, photos, videotaped interviews and live music. Bockley said the multimedia elements "give the piece a richness and much more universal quality ... to lift off from the personal to a more abstract musing on war, what it means to fight a war, what it means to come back from a war, or have a spouse that does those things."
Michelle DiBucci, composer and music director, wanted the music to reflect the 21st-century experience, with a lot of interactive technology. She described the musicians as an "electro-acoustic chamber ensemble," with cello, violin, percussion and a DJ. The ensemble at times produces very sensitive, moving, orchestral-type pieces, as well as electronic, driving, muscular elements that reflect the youth, masculinity, fear and violence of the Marines and their environment.
The team that produced the show said it has brought together military and civilian audiences. While some veterans have been apprehensive about seeing the production, fearful that it might be too intense or stir up uncomfortable feelings, Bockley said the show takes a careful approach to portraying combat and other difficult situations.
Veterans who have seen the show are "really appreciative of the fact that we are doing this," Hamburger said. She described an email she received from a woman she'd interviewed, whose husband had been deployed: "This show could explain things to my husband's family that he never could."
"A lot of people come home from war and don't want to talk about it," Hamburger said. "What 'BASETRACK' is able to do is use a creative theatrical production to start the conversation. That's been the most rewarding thing to me."