Baghdad Comes To California

If one motors up twenty miles north from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree, California, it looks and feels like just annother sunny spring day in Paradise - until that is, you enter the High Desert Cultural Center Blak Box Theatre.

Once inside, you find yourself in an alien environment. You are visually and audially transported to the middle east. Once the haunting call to prayers by an unseen muzzein diminishs and the echos of the street sounds fade throughout the theatre, the audience hears the powerful roar of Huey helicopters approaching. The roar is deafening and disorienting as it surrounds the audience capturing our senses and our imaginations - we and the players in the production - are now about to experience "Another Day In Baghdad".

The current play at the Joshua Tree theatre is a diary of sorts, written by retired Iraq War veteran Major David A. Tucker II. The story is told from the point of view of the troops in the field. It is their stories and their experiences we witness - without the benefit of Washington "spin doctors" or media bias. Program notes inform us that all the weapons, uniforms, and gear employed buy the actors in the production is authentic.

The plot, such as it is, follows a squad of Army reservists from the time they board their aircraft and deploy to Baghdad, to the time the when they return home from that tour of duty a year later.

Along the way the audience is exposed to the realities of war and to the decisions and choices that must be made when an Army is engaged in all aspects of war. Forget John Wayne and Hollywood war movies. This is not your grandfather's war story. This is now. This is the story of a conflict and the dilemma confronting the young men and women of America today. The dilemma is the need to serve, to obey, and do "the right thing" and still be true to oneself in a 21st Century Army. That's a tough job for the under 30 group. But, it's an even tougher assignemnt for the older professional soldiers who must lead them.

"Another Day In Baghdad" is co-directed by New York professional actor and playwright Ron House, and actor/director Rebecca Havely. This directing duo puts their creative heads together in a clever and imaginative way; resulting in a taut, compelling drama that is devoid of "anti-war" or "pro-war" positions and polemics which is so popular with today's newspapers, TV, radio, and Washington insiders and pundits.

There is a human interest aspect to the production that's worth mentioning. When director House cast Greg Crabill, a real-life naval Commander and military doctor in the role of the Commander in the play, he didn't forsee the possibilty of his leading actor being called up and deployed to Afganistan, which of course, is exactly what occured just three weeks before the opening. House then had to make a few artistic decisions. First, in the interests of time, he stepped into the role himself. Second, he asked Havely to co-direct to keep everything on an even keel.

The cast of fifteen, three of whom have never acted before, aquit themselves most convincingly, right down to the three small children's roles. Standouts are: Corbett Brattin, as the Top Sargeant. Sherry Powell as the arab translator, Manuel Rincon, as Mustafa, Abe Daniels, as the Lt. Colonel, Jeff Wood, as Sgt. Calloway, Amanda Villalobos in dual roles of Fong and an arab protester, Steven Hernandez, as Peters, ( his conflicted and embittered speech at the end sums up, I imagine, what a great many veterans in his situation must feel. It is delivered with passion and poignancy and heard by the audience with compassion and understanding. ), and leading the production with a most convincing and solid acting job is Ron House, as the Major and Commander.

The High Desert Cultural Center in Joshua Tree, only a stone's throw away from the Marine Corps Base at TwentyNine Palms, is to be commended for presenting what could have been construed as too controversial a subject matter to present to its patrons. Any play dealing with a hot button issue, such as the on-going Iraq war situation could become a hard sell to the community. The hi-desert area is proud of its label as "military country". To their credit both the residents and military base personnel have responded to the play and it's thought provoking message in the proper light. It's a production that deserves to be seen no matter your personal political position.

"Another Day In Baghdad" plays Fridays, at 8 pm, Saturdays at 7 pm with Sunday Matinees at 2 pm until Sunday, April 27th. Call the box office at 366-3777 for tickets and reservations.