is an ambitious effort to look at the effects of on members of the military and their families.
The production, a collaboration between and the , follows the exchanges in a sort of group- therapy meeting consisting of a suspended military drone pilot, a retired Marine, the wife of an infantry officer and the mother of a hospitalized soldier on life support.
The script is based on stories from the Pentagon’s , which uses training to help active troops, veterans and their families.
In the play, the six strangers who find themselves in the group have each been summoned by a letter. None of them particularly want to be there. Upon learning of the group’s purpose, most scoff, but while there isn’t exactly a group hug at the end, the people have found some common ground.
“Reason” has a solid foundation in how it portrays military relationships. Playwright Ami Dayan consulted military trauma specialists, veterans, psychologists and mindfulness training experts to create the characters’ story lines.
Each performance is followed by what’s billed as an Urgent Conversation, an opportunity to talk to military veterans familiar with post-traumatic stress.
The idea is to connect with audiences in the way that the LIDA Project, which co-presents “Reason” with the Maya Productions, uses a post-performance conversation as a built-in part of its innovative epic play (This year’s final performance of “Happiness” is Saturday — visit lida.org for details — and it will be revived in early 2015.)
But, unlike “Happiness,” “Reason” doesn’t really cover new terrain. It has the earnestness of an ABC After-School Special, with more platitudes than nuances, and no real sense of transformation.
The six actors do their best with the material. But if the goal is to show how mindfulness training can change the impact of stress and trauma on military veterans and their families, the script falls short.
“Reason,” which made its debut at this year’s , skirts more questions than it addresses. Having the Urgent Conversation moderated by (and dominated by) one of the production team members means that it’s less of a conversation than a post-lecture Q&A.
Nobody last week really raised the hard questions: Does mindfulness training deter suicide? In what ways has mindfulness training proved to be effective at addressing post-traumatic stress?
The main lesson learned at that Urgent Conversation was that veterans prefer to eliminate the word “disorder” from any discussion of “post-traumatic stress.”
If civilians — and the audience largely consisted of civilians — genuinely want a better understanding of the complications facing those leaving military service, they’d be better off seeing the ‘s next month, or the LIDA Project’s “Happiness is a Warm Gun.”
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
REASON
Written and directed by Ami Dayan. With Jennifer Faletto, Maruta Kalnins, Tammy L. Meneghini, James Miller, James O’Hagan-Murphy and Josh Robinson. Through Dec. 21 at The Laundry on Lawrence, 2701 Lawrence St.. Tickets $25 at 303-351-5214 or online at reasononstage.org
