Guest host Kate Burton presents four works reflecting on the experience of war. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Cohoes emailed his young sons while serving in Afghanistan. Matthew Modine reads one of his notes. A black soldier fights for independence during the Revolutionary War. Ruben Santiago-Hudson reads “A Soldier for the Crown” by Charles Johnson. In Robert Olen Butler’s “Mother in the Trenches,” a woman makes her way to France to be with her son. And Moacyr Scliar imagines war as just another day job in “Peace and War” read by Michael Cristofer.
On Memorial Day, we honor soldiers who have given their lives in battle, and remember also those who are still serving. Guest host Kate Burton presents four works that look at the experience of war in different ways, from the real-life account of an officer to a futurist’s fantasy.
Our first work is from the anthology Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families. It was first published in 2006, and was part of a project by the National Endowment for the Arts. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Cohoes wrote emails ("Dear Boys") to his young sons while he was serving in the Middle East. One of these is read by Matthew Modine. Modine's extensive film work includes roles on "Full Metal Jacket," "Cutthroat Island," and "Married to the Mob," as well as serving as director on a number of short films. On television he appeared in the award-winning film "The Band Plays On," on "The West Wing," and "Law & Order." He is currently in production on the Netflix original series, “Stranger Things”. Soon to be released projects include “The Brainwashing of My Dad,” “The Confirmation,” “47 Meters Down,” and “Hippopotamus” by Stephen Fry. Additionally, Modine voiced characters in animators Bill Plympton and Jim Lujan’s upcoming hand-drawn feature film, “Revengeance.”
Our second Memorial Day story imagines the experience of a former slave serving in the British Army during the Revolutionary War. Charles Johnson’s “A Soldier for the Crown,” is read by Ruben Santiago Hudson. Johnson is a novelist and essayist whose fiction works include Dreamer, Middle Passage, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and essay collections such as Taming the Ox and Turning the Wheel.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson's Broadway appearances include "Jelly's Last Jam" and his Tony Award-winning performance in August Wilson's "Seven Guitars." As a director he has shaped productions of "The Piano Lesson" and "Cabin in the Sky." Screen credits include "Coming to America" and "Domestic Disturbance." Recent work includes directing the world premieres of Dominique Morriseau's “Skeleton Crew” at the Atlantic Theatre and “Paradise Blue” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
In our third story, Robert Olen Butler’s “Mother in the Trenches,” a determined woman visits her son on the front lines of France during World War I. Robert Olen Butler has published sixteen novels—The Alleys of Eden, Sun Dogs, Countrymen of Bones, On Distant Ground, Wabash, The Deuce, They Whisper, The Deep Green Sea, Mr. Spaceman, Fair Warning, Hell, A Small Hotel, The Hot Country, The Star of Istanbul, The Empire of Night, Perfume River—and six volumes of short fiction—Tabloid Dreams, Had a Good Time, Severance, Intercourse, Weegee Stories, and A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, which won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Butler has also published a volume of his lectures on the creative process, From Where You Dream, edited with an introduction by Janet Burroway. Other honors include the Pen Faulkner Award and the National Magazine Award. He is a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Florida State University.
Reader Kathleen Chalfant's many stage appearances include "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches;" "Wit," for which she earned the Outer Circle Critics, Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel awards and "Talking Heads." On television she's had recurring roles on "House of Cards," "Law & Order," "Rescue Me," "The Guardian," and "The Affair." In 2018 The American Theatre Wing and the Village Voice awarded Chalfant a special Obie Award® for Lifetime Achievement.
The final story on this program is by the late Brazilian writer Moacyr Scliar. His dystopian “Peace and War” imagines war as just another clock-punching job. Scliear was a prolific writer, and physician whose works included novels, young adult fiction and essays, among them The Centaur in the Garden, Max and the Cats, The War in Bom Fim, Kafka's Leopards and The Collected Stories of Moacyr Scliar. Reader Michael Cristofer is a playwright, screenwriter, actor, and director whose work includes the Tony Award-winning "The Shadow Box," "Breaking Up," "Ice," and "The Lady and the Clarinet." On stage he's appeared in "Three Sisters," "A View from the Bridge," and "The Other Woman. Television appearances include roles on "American Horror" and "Mr. Robot."
