A SHOW OF FORCE
Created & Performed by Donnie Mather
Directed by Leon Ingulsrud
Scenic & Lighting Design by Brian H. Scott
Soundscape by Darron L. West & Emily Wright
A Show of Force investigates the morality of war, shining a light on the complicated questions that war raises. Through the lens of the solo character, we are faced with the contradictions that make up American society and human nature. This one man show is a tour de force of text and movement at times thoughtful, ironic and entertaining.
The script is comprised entirely of found texts of various political points of view collected over three years by performer Donnie Mather—some familiar, some not—from the war poetry of Wilfred Owen to William Shakespeare; from the Bible to Mark Twain; from Malcolm X to Martin Luther King, Jr.; from the jazzy song and dance of the 1940s; from Kennedy to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War; as well as numerous interviews with a wide range of citizens including Historian Howard Zinn. A Show of Force is a trip through our culture’s collective memory that asks “do we learn from our past?”
The play is one young man’s crisis. Having fallen into the rabbit hole beset with these enduring questions, he examines all he has learned trying various answers on for size. The character is a lot like America: young, passionate, divided and full of contradictions.
Photos by Dixie Sheridan & Sandra Zea © copyright 2006