The first read-through

Last night we had our first read-through of GUANTANAMO: HONOR BOUND TO DEFEND FREEDOM. The first rehearsal is always an exciting and anxiety-ridden night when the full cast and design team are together for the first time and we hear the play read aloud. Having heard so much of the play over the past 6 months during auditions I already had a sense of what was in store, however last night was still a bit of a revelation. This play isn't "breaking news" anymore, and the fact that there are questionable things happening down there isn't going to be a shock to anyone who walks into our theatre --- newspapers are filled with stories every day, the political talking heads are balking about it every chance they can get, and it's very much a part of the national and international conversation.

But what makes GUANTANAMO (the play) an interesting piece of theatre (and not just another rant or editorial) is its ability to put a human face on these stories. It's so damn personal, and hearing it last night was quite moving and enlightening in terms of its ability to work as a piece of theatre.

The issues certainly are not black and white. The solution to the mess isn't to let all of the detainees free....nor is the answer to hold them all indefinitely with no judicial process. So what is the answer???? I sure as hell don't know and judging by the news and government policy no one else does either. And this play doesn't purport to have all of the answers....or possibly even ANY of the answers. Hopefully what it does is to humanize these murky waters and bring us face-to-face with the detainees, lawyers and families whose lives are being torn apart as the government scrambles to form a plan.

Over the next 6 weeks of rehearsals we've got our hands full. It's an awesome responsibility to portray living people who've lived in a sort of hell for the past few years, and trying to do honor and justice to their stories is a daunting task.

But, with one night under our belts I'm feeeling quite proud to be producing this play at TimeLine. As I told the cast last night, we kicked around dozens of plays for this slot in our season. Most of them fell by the wayside because we couldn't articulate well enough why those plays HAD to be done at this time. When we first read GUANTANAMO we had no such difficulty. It was one of the fastest decisions we've ever made.

Now it's time to get to work. I'll keep you posted as we move along....

PJ Powers
TimeLine Artistic Director

Guantanamo rehearsals begin tonight

With barely a chance to catch our breath, TimeLine's production of A Man for All Seasons closed yesterday, and tonight we are kicking off rehearsals for our next production, Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom. I hope you'll join us for the production, as well as check back here to see some of our latest notes on the production and our thoughts about the issues the play raises.