9 Circles presented by Forum Theatre at Silver Spring Black Box Theater

9 Circles

Silver Spring Black Box Theater
8641 Colesville Road Silver Spring

In spring 2006, Private Reeves receives an honorable discharge from the army, returns home to Texas, and wakes up in a prison cell. On trial for brutal war crimes committed in Iraq, Reeves will not (or cannot) explain his motives. And everyone, from his lawyer to his pastor to the public, latches on to a different story. Mirroring Dante's Inferno, this fierce psychological drama ventures into the darkest corners of both the war and the mind -- in hopes of light on the other side.

Presented by Forum Theatre

Thru - Mar 2, 2013

Price: $25

Show Type: Drama

Running Time: 1 hour 45 mins with no intermission

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9 Circles Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...With soldiers still encountering difficult conditions, to say the least, in Afghanistan and more veterans attempting to reconcile acts committed in the intensity of war with the decorum expected at home, Forum Theatre's 9 Circles comes at a very apt time. Written by Bill Cain and directed by Jennifer L. Nelson, the play, in its area premiere, follows Private Daniel Reeves, played by an intense Julian Elijah Martinez, as he is first given an honorable discharge in Iraq and then finds himself on trial back home in the United States, charged with crimes that he does not, at least at first, appear to understand. Knowing that similar cases have occurred, with soldiers tried for rape and murder in civilian courts for crimes committed in Iraq, makes the play extra powerful."

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- Natalie McCabe

Washingtonian - Highly Recommended

"...Director Jennifer Nelson sets 9 Circles in a semicircular set reminiscent of a cage (also nodding to the play's title). The set's multimedia backdrop initially seems rather superfluous, merely serving to chronicle the passage into the play's next circle (which is also announced)-but it is also responsible for one the production's creepiest surprises near the end of the work. At around two hours, 9 Circles tests the audience with its no-intermission structure, but that discomfort is appropriate for the work. It's a play that's hard to watch, but important to see, and it's an experience that shouldn't be made any easier."

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- Missy Frederick

MD Theatre Guide - Somewhat Recommended

"...Give credit to the Forum Theatre for presenting a play about wartime in 21st Century, particularly at a time when war is the last thing on the American' mind, as TV news has dropped war coverage as a regular item. Its production of Bill Cain's 9 Circles brings front and center the pain and horror of the Iraq War through the person of a private charged with a war atrocity. And let's admire the ability of an actor, Julian Elijah Martinez, to endure every scene of the play, baring himself while attempting to bare his character's soul in the process."

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- Roger Catlin

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

At a time when drone strikes and economic sanctions have glazed over the horror of war, Forum Theatre’s riveting 9 Circles chooses to yank the jarring human toll back into the spotlight. Playwright Bill Cain’s unnerving modern reimagining of Dante’s Inferno offers a mind bending journey through a wayward soldier’s transgression, judgment, and penance amid the fallout of the quixotic Iraq War.

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- Ben Demers

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9 Circles presented by Forum Theatre at Silver Spring Black Box Theater

9 Circles

9 Circles Reviews

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

Washingtonian - Highly Recommended

MD Theatre Guide - Somewhat Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

9 Circles Photo Gallery

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