Created by Penny Coleman, Elana Michelson, and Patricia Lee Stotter
Based on the book, Flashback, by Penny Coleman

Directed by
Abigail Zealey Bess
Sound design and music by Patricia Lee Stotter

with Christine Farrell*, Judith Delgado*, Ilene Kristen*, Elia Monte-Brown, Annie O'Sullivan*, Gloria Sauve*, Dion Graham*, Karen Young*

*Member of Actors' Equity Association.

Our April 2007 run at the West End Theatre and our October 2007 reading at Ensemble Studio Theatre taught us a lot about the possibilities inherent in this material. So, once again our amazing cast is coming together to read a new, updated script, this time with a full-length score by Patricia Lee Stotter.

Ensemble Studio Theatre has offered us a week of rehearsal time in March, culminating in a backer's performance on the 19th. We are very grateful to EST, and specifically to Billy Carden, the new Producing Artistic Director, for this opportunity.  

Flashback the play, is structured as an "argument" between two main characters, the widow of a Vietnam veteran suicide and a veteran who trained and served with her husband and remained a friend until his death. Woven through their efforts to sort feelings of guilt and responsibility, five other widows speak, with exquisite personal detail, about their attempts to cope with both psychic and social injuries before and after the deaths of their husbands.

Most Americans are unaware of the deep and lasting wounds suffered so predictably and frequently by combat veterans. These characters describe a commonality of symptoms that provide compelling evidence of the reality of combat-related PTSD and the predictable outcome of ignoring its lethal effects. Because they speak without conventional anti-war rhetoric or partisan accusation, their words are accessible to a broad cross-section of Americans, both those who support and those who disagree with our current military ventures, including military families.

We remain committed to reaching audiences beyond traditional theatre-goers and, to that end, we will keep the production relatively simple so that Flashback can be performed in a variety of settings, e.g. conferences, college campuses, veteran centers, and community theatres.

This page will be updated as new information becomes available.

 3.22.08