If you go ...
"We Will Remember: A Tribute to Veterans"
WHAT: A play put on by students at Monroe Middle School
WHEN: 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday
COST: Free-will donation from attendees encouraged.
MONROE - Veterans' stories are the stars in a Monroe Middle School production with more than a dozen young actors set to perform on Wednesday.
The show, "We Will Remember: A Tribute to Veterans," encompasses five tales of wartime to help relay to the audience what the times of conflict were like for those who served and their loved ones.
Katie McIlvanie, a teacher and one of the play's three co-directors , noted that the exercise was as much a way to express gratitude to veterans as teach young people, on a more personal level, how wars affected service members.
"I don't think the kids hear much about it other than it's talked about in Social Studies or what they say on the news," McIlvanie said. "It's probably a different take on anything they've seen before."
The show will be performed on Veteran's Day. Co-director Lance Smith said the tribute show would be one of the first the school had ever put on in honor of the holiday.
In the play, some cast members portray curious students who want to learn more about times of war. Others embody people who served, such as Jada Lara, who performs as a Vietnam veteran.
"They talk about how it felt to be waiting at home for a loved one," Smith said. "For the Vietnam vet, how it felt when he got home. The Korean one was very interesting; he's still bitter yet that they did all that fighting and they didn't call it a war until now. It's not too harsh, but it's not too sugar-coated either."
As the story unfolds, the students hear stories told by a Civil War soldier through journals. Corresponding letters from a World War II sailor and soldier are performed for the audience. One young girl goes to her grandmother to gain perspective on what wartime was like for those in the U.S. who stayed behind, worrying about their loved ones. Others garner first-hand accounts from Korean and Vietnam War veterans.
Kaitlyn Elgin, a sixth-grader who portrays one of the students looking to learn more, said she made some discoveries herself because of her participation in the show.
"I learned a lot about how the veterans were treated," Elgin said. "I felt bad about some of the things we were learning. I just never thought there were really bad wars. I always thought veterans were honored when they came home, but it turns out they weren't."
"Yeah, like with my part, they were calling them babykillers and spitting on us and shaming us," Lara added about what she learned playing her part as a Vietnam veteran in the play.
Both said the cast found each element of the story interesting, and were able to hear unique stories - the kind usually not included when learning about different wars in the classroom.
Smith said he hopes that learning experience stretches across the classes when the group performs the story for the entire school Wednesday morning before their two public performances at 1:30 and 7 p.m.
The show, "We Will Remember: A Tribute to Veterans," encompasses five tales of wartime to help relay to the audience what the times of conflict were like for those who served and their loved ones.
Katie McIlvanie, a teacher and one of the play's three co-directors , noted that the exercise was as much a way to express gratitude to veterans as teach young people, on a more personal level, how wars affected service members.
"I don't think the kids hear much about it other than it's talked about in Social Studies or what they say on the news," McIlvanie said. "It's probably a different take on anything they've seen before."
The show will be performed on Veteran's Day. Co-director Lance Smith said the tribute show would be one of the first the school had ever put on in honor of the holiday.
In the play, some cast members portray curious students who want to learn more about times of war. Others embody people who served, such as Jada Lara, who performs as a Vietnam veteran.
"They talk about how it felt to be waiting at home for a loved one," Smith said. "For the Vietnam vet, how it felt when he got home. The Korean one was very interesting; he's still bitter yet that they did all that fighting and they didn't call it a war until now. It's not too harsh, but it's not too sugar-coated either."
As the story unfolds, the students hear stories told by a Civil War soldier through journals. Corresponding letters from a World War II sailor and soldier are performed for the audience. One young girl goes to her grandmother to gain perspective on what wartime was like for those in the U.S. who stayed behind, worrying about their loved ones. Others garner first-hand accounts from Korean and Vietnam War veterans.
Kaitlyn Elgin, a sixth-grader who portrays one of the students looking to learn more, said she made some discoveries herself because of her participation in the show.
"I learned a lot about how the veterans were treated," Elgin said. "I felt bad about some of the things we were learning. I just never thought there were really bad wars. I always thought veterans were honored when they came home, but it turns out they weren't."
"Yeah, like with my part, they were calling them babykillers and spitting on us and shaming us," Lara added about what she learned playing her part as a Vietnam veteran in the play.
Both said the cast found each element of the story interesting, and were able to hear unique stories - the kind usually not included when learning about different wars in the classroom.
Smith said he hopes that learning experience stretches across the classes when the group performs the story for the entire school Wednesday morning before their two public performances at 1:30 and 7 p.m.