There are approximately 74,000 veterans living in Delaware, and for many of them, the most difficult battle took place here at home as they re-entered civilian life.
To help facilitate a community dialogue about this process, the Delaware Art Museum is partnering with The Grand Opera House to host Re-Entry: A Performance Tribute to Veterans. It's scheduled for November 10 at the Baby Grand i Wilmington.
Delaware Art Museum Community Connections and Performance Program Specialist Jonathan Whitney says the performance is designed to spark a discussion around the re-entry of veterans back into society.
“All the way from these veterans that were coming back from World War II, up to current wars like the Iraq War,” said Whitney.
The project, directed and choreographed A.T. Moffett, is inspired by interviews with veterans and their families. It blends dance, choreography, and original music with storytelling to examine how the civilian-military divide and the process of re-entry has changed throughout American history.
And Whitney says the project also going the extra yard to engage the public.
“As part of this partnership with A.T. Moffett, the choreographer for this piece, we’ve done a couple of things. First, we had two preview, open rehearsals, at the Museum, for people as they come through to see the piece, to see the title, and to realize that this is an issue that affects all of us; so that’s just for public awareness,” said Whitney.
The project also has a workshop planned for October 21 to get people personally involved the dialogue and the performance. The workshop is free and encourages both veterans and civilians to participate in a conversation and share stories about the American re-entry process. They'll also collaborate on lyrics for a unifying song reflecting themes of veteran and civilian life.
Re-Entry: A Performance Tribute to Veterans is November 10 at 7 p.m. at the Baby Grand in Wilmington and the workshop in advance of the performance is Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Delaware Art Museum.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from theDelaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
