COLUMBUS, Ohio — A solo performance by the head of acting at The Ohio State University is taking up residence at the Wexner Center for the Arts for a two-night engagement with the hope of helping to shed light on the difficulties faced by military veterans.
"Scrap Heap" is a one-act, one-person play created and performed by Department of Film, Theatre, and Media Arts Associate Professor Kevin McClatchy and is based on the true story of one of his hometown friends who spent 12 years in special forces as well as the diplomatic security service.
"We try to put the audience in the middle of his experience," said McClatchy, "whether it's on active duty or in his transition from service to civilian and we take this whiplash journey with him."
McClatchy stated that the play contains a lot of difficult material, but that those moments of heaviness are assuaged by the humor that many service members use to get through difficult times in real life.
"My father served as a Marine in World War II and my nephew did two tours of duty in Iraq," said McClatchy. "I found myself surrounded by people I cared about who had served in the military and then had a certain amount of challenge through navigating life and, the more I learned about my dad's experiences, the more I learned about my nephew, and the more I learned about my friend, the more I felt like, as someone who had never served, what could I do to raise awareness of veterans' issues with whatever skills I might have."
McClatchy started working with the veteran's community here in central Ohio, introducing veterans and their families to Shakespeare through acting workshops.
An ongoing collaboration with the Columbus VA, McClatchy's Shakespeare and Veterans initiative began a few years ago when his MFA acting students at Ohio State created an all-new play based on their experience working with members of the veterans' community. McClatchy engaged veterans and their families through active, on-your-feet theatre workshops.
"It's an opportunity to have a space where you can explore being a storyteller," said McClatchy, "and also maybe process experiences with people who have had similar experiences and find that sense of unit that a lot of veterans express that they're missing post-service."
McClatchy describes the feedback on the effort as unanimously positive.
"We use something - the term is called 'aesthetic distance,'" said McClatchy. "So, rather than us coming together and talking about our personal experiences, we sort of build ensemble, and then we use a piece of text - for instance like a scene from 'Julius Caesar' where Brutus is questioning Cassius's honor as a soldier and a man - and it's no longer these two people; it's Brutus and Cassius. And, through that distance, there's a little bit of freedom to invest and allow things to happen and then we have a conversation afterwards."
Though the genesis of "Scrap Heap" predates his work on the Shakespeare and Veterans initiative, McClatchy hopes that the staging of the play will mark a return to in-person activities post-COVID. The emphasis of the play, though, is still to help tell his friend's story and pay tribute to everyone in McClatchy's life who had served.
"I hope that people who are not directly connected to the military community, when they come and see the piece, that they maybe gain a deeper understanding of what it is that we ask of our military service members when we send them into harm's way," said McClatchy. "Everyone is complicated. Everyone has hopes, dreams, makes mistakes, is navigating their life and that, maybe this notion of a military-civilian divide is more bridgeable than we think it is."
"Scrap Heap" runs July 27-28 at the Wexner Center for the Arts on the campus of The Ohio State University.
For tickets and more information about the show's potentially triggering content, visit https://wexarts.org/performing-arts/kevin-mcclatchy.