“Pieces of War”

Tonight was the year’s final Issues & Artists seminar. The speaker was Kenny Carnes, with a one man show entitled “Pieces of War”. A former member of the military, he wrote the play to help troops deal with the realities of war as they returned from Iraq. He played many different characters, including a veteran, a drill sergeant, a PFC, an observer of 9/1, a “revolutionary” and a company CEO. There was a reoccurring Bear theme, representing the universal hero, as well as a powerful monologue in which a man lost his girlfriend Innocence in the fall of the towers, how he dealt with the loss by enlisting to protect America, and how he hoped part of his recovery would involve his girlfriend’s sister Grace. When asked how a military man become a man of the stage, he said that he believed theatre was the perfect forum in which to express democracy and invoke reactions. A very powerful piece, and a brilliant speaker, his presentation was a perfect ending to an excellent seminar series.