Our War at Arena Stage

Our War

Arena Stage
1101 Sixth Street, SW Washington

An esteemed collection of American playwrights, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and Olivier Award, creates a dynamic new theatrical event reflecting on the repercussions of the U.S. Civil War. Through a rich tapestry of short monologues, a core ensemble of gifted actors, accompanied by notable Washingtonians such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Chris Matthews, explore—through diverse perspectives—the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. Our War, commissioned by Arena Stage for the National Civil War Project, uses the power of live theater to bring new understanding to the shades of Blue and Gray that define one of the most significant periods of American history.

Thru - Nov 9, 2014

Show Times TBA

Price: $40 and up

Running Time: 1hrs, 45 mins , no intermission

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Our War Reviews

Average Rating based on 5 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...“Our War” is part of the National Civil War Project, which also brought Liz Lerman’s “The Healing Wars” to Arena’s 200-seat Cradle last spring, and the collection’s chief ambition seems to be to gather as many people as possible for a single 95-minute event."

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- Nelson Pressley

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Our War, an unforgettable production, explores the present-day echoes and historical memories of the Civil War, in a series of monologues which are really like one-act plays. It’s a tapestry of what Artistic Director Molly Smith calls “the impact of a young country at war with itself.” Our War is part of Arena’s collaboration with The National Civil War Project, a multi-city, multi-year commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the war. A superb ensemble of local actors, joined by leaders in the DC community, performs in these vignettes, by a total of 25 celebrated playwrights. On October 24, they were joined by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Simply seeing Justice Ginsberg appear in That Boy, by David Lindsay-Abaire, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

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- Sophia Howes

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

"...As enacted by an empathetic six-member ensemble and directed unobtrusively by Anita Maynard-Losh, Our War is as interesting to the mind as it is to the heart. Many of these perspectives are not often heard in historical works, as the playwrights and cast members include people of numerous races and ethnic backgrounds, and half the authors are women."

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- Susan Berlin

Washingtonian - Recommended

"...Some of the monologues proved more affecting than others, particularly ones set in the present day and told from the perspective of recent American immigrants, such as Aditi Kapil’s “Moo” and María Agui Carter’s “Fourteen Freight Trains.” Both involved illegal immigrants—one Indian, one Hispanic—who join the armed forces to try to secure a permanent place for themselves in the US. Both are all too aware of their own mortality, of the fact that they’re putting their life on the line for a country that might not recognize their contributions until it’s too late, and both accept their fate with open eyes. Even if it’s a bit of a heavy-handed depiction of the immigrant experience, it serves to draw a stark and sad parallel between the issues that divided the nation in the 19th century and the racial inequalities that continue to stitch themselves into the fabric of US life. As another character points out in a monologue aptly titled “Times Have Changed,” society has shown progress—just not much."

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- Tanya Pai

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

a resounding success, not only because of the quality of writing and acting, not only for scale of Arena Stage’s attempt, but because this play interrogates our past and our present with the hope of changing, and sometimes affirming, how audiences think about who they are and where they come from.

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- Alan Katz

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Our War at Arena Stage

Our War

Our War Reviews

Washington Post - Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

Washingtonian - Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

Our War Photo Gallery

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