A&E

Letters Home’ delivers the war from the soldiers’ point of view

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The play, first an HBO documentary, was inspired by a New York Times op-ed piece.
Michael Brosilow

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Letters Home
March 1, 7 p.m.; March 2, 3 p.m.; $27-$37
Smith Center's Troesh Studio Theater, 749-2012

In this era of blogs, instant messaging and texting, the notion of a letter seems more than a little quaint. But those who still receive letters will tell you, there’s something about pen to paper that makes the words so much more meaningful, so much more powerful. The New York Times seized on this potency in a 2003 op-ed piece, “The Things They Wrote,” using letters from soldiers who had been killed in Iraq as a way of framing the experience there in a non-political way. It led to an HBO documentary, Last Letters Home, and is now a play, Letters Home. In addition to letters from soldiers, Letters Home includes correspondence from parents. Be prepared for a night of emotional, cathartic theater, as these letters are given life through dramatic readings. And when it’s over, maybe you’ll be inspired to go home and send someone a message ... the old-fashioned way.

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Ken Miller

Ken Miller is the editor of Las Vegas Magazine, having previously served as associate editor at Las Vegas Weekly, assistant ...

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