On your faces, maggots. Iraqi war vet (and former SLC punk) Jason Christopher Hartley (pictured) has collaborated with The International WOW Company to create one hell of an interactive theatrical experience. Called SURRENDER, audience members sign up as active participants in simulations of counterinsurgency operations.
Upon arriving at the Sanford Meisner Theater, you’ll be issued boots, a uniform and a replica M-4 assault rifle. You’ll train with Hartley for 100 minutes in basic combat techniques, including rifle handling, room clearing and engaging the enemy. Then you raid rooms full of insurgents and round up detainees. There’s no raping teenage girls, waterboarding or building naked prisoner pyramids, but during the post-show discussion Full Metal Jacket fans are free to ask, “How can you shoot women and children?” (Answer: “Easy! You just don’t lead ‘em as much!”)
Hartley, the author of Just Another Soldier, trained members of the theater company in combat techniques when the troupe filmed Memorial Day, the company’s first feature film, which comes out this May. Half of his book is culled from a blog he started while on post-9/11 National Guard duty near Ground Zero; the blog was subsequently shut down by the Army.
This Sunday is your last chance – for now – to do your duty for God, Country and Theater; call (718) 841-7517 for reservations, which cost $10. The workshop production, which is part of the Above Ground Zero festival, will be staged on a larger scale this summer, starting July 4th. More details. [Via Culturebot.]
