WPLN News Archive; A Heartbeat from Baghdad (Rebecca Bain) 7 2 04; News Archive 6/18/04-8/15/04

war has frequently been a topic of films and plays showing its emotional toll in miss saigon or it's carnage and staggering loss of lives in gettysburg or the heart of wars madness scene in apocalypse now there's no malice in play a heartbeat from baghdad he doesn't question us involvement or wars morality instead o'malley explores the changes this experience has wrought in the souls and psyches of the soldiers and their families the relationship between love into this extremely high atop its spikes here in this lamb that green lush beautiful peaceful rally with people who every day are waking up to is this going to be the day blaine o'malley is an internationally produced play right and director when he accepted the playwright in

residence position for the current semester at austin peay state university in clarksville o'malley told the drama department they were sitting on untapped treasure with the one hundred first nearby we're not any town america but you're certainly the heartland of america impacted tremendously by the events happening day by day interact look at what impact it's having on families here and soldiers here and this is an opportunity to get it incredible up close soldier's tale feeling the soldiers actual experiences were vital for crafting an honest work of fiction o'malley asked to fort campbell's top brass for permission to talk to persons willing to share their stories somewhat to a surprise they said yes i think this is the only time that any of us know a playwright actually go into an intruder acting with the military like this in this kind of relationship to

write a play inspired by what they're doing so it's a very odd marriage here of the dramatist an army and so far it's been working o'malley talk to an extraordinary cross section of the one hundred first airborne like this longtime special operations officer now and there's this sergeant in charge of the military press corps distressed by how little positive coverage for the one hundred first came out of the middle east they get started cutting cover the positive in cash to see if that was a horrible horrible horrible horrible series of days but we went from mosul rebuilding wonderful you know look how well they're doing that has developed quite a bit here and we went back to harvard first as last four people in the war

and what you do on the ground is you hope that something that happens southern stop at the farm mixing what he heard with his own writer's imagination combining stories and people and fictional characters and situations o'malley has written a heartbeat from baghdad the play's conduit is clear that therapist hired to help the troops and their families this is more sergeant when you talk to individuals they know what they were there as one soldier reminded me i take an oath of office to send the constitution of the united states america is not a president an administration is not a foreign policy is the same basic oath that the president takes and just

like this country it's caviar sake and to combat he's got a strong enlightened constitution and a political act to grow and hear or cruel and impeach position to take it's too easy to write about wanting the fact is it is it's a reality and it's part of our american way for treatment in the only way that we get to know where to go to what will be or there will be a staged reading of a heartbeat from baghdad saturday evening at seven at the train home theater on the austin peay campus for nashville public radio i'm rebecca bain as being these