Theatre in Review: War Words (NewYorkRep/New Light Theater Project at ART/New York Theatres)

We talk a lot about political divisions in the United States, but here's one that doesn't get nearly enough attention: "The number of Americans who serve in the Armed Forces is less than one percent of our entire population. There's no draft. No one has to join anymore." So says Nate, a long-time Army chaplain. "So," he asks, "who the hell would want to do something like that?"

As it happens, all sorts of extraordinary people have signed up to serve their country and, in War Words, playwright Michelle Kholos Brooks distills her interviews with survivors of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, also known as the Long War. It's a stunning group portrait, each person's story filled with details that place him or her on a set of coordinates not found on the current map of red-vs.-blue conflicts. Some of them enlisted to escape home lives marked by poverty and/or emotional chaos. Others wanted to finance their college educations. Still others -- quite a few, in fact -- were motivated to act after the events of 9/11. It's safe to say that none were ready for what they would find overseas; each account is different, and each is fascinating.

There's John and Emily, who met in Iraq and married; when she was deployed a second time, he stayed behind to raise their kids, a difficult situation made infinitely more so when Emily was diagnosed with breast cancer. Steve, a Green Beret, recalls moving heaven and earth to get a helpful local official out of Iraq, where he had provided crucial assistance; as it happens, he came with a family unit that included "his five kids, his brother, and his two wives." (They end up at the home of Steve's mother, a most understanding woman.) Dan F., a drone pilot based in Las Vegas, describes watching his targets, who are half a world away, for months at a time before dropping a bomb. "What's strange is that you strike, debrief, and the next thing you know, you're on the 45-minute drive home. How do you begin to explain when you walk in the door and your wife asks, 'How was your day at work, honey?' Amy, a member of the first female Special Forces Cultural Support Team, says, "There was one woman I'll never forget. She saw her husband get killed as we were coming into her home. By the time I got to her, she was covered in blood, and she was really upset. I tried to calm her down and offered her a water bottle. She said she'd rather drink her own blood than take water from me."

Time after time, the subjects defy stereotypes. Nash, a colonel and devout Muslim, says, "It's my responsibility, because of my rank, to create that kind of environment for everybody, whether they're Muslim or Buddhist or Jewish or whatever the situation is. If you have to hide your religion or the person that you love or who you really are...you can't bring your whole self to work." Matt, caught in an attack in Afghanistan ("I watch this 32,000-pound vehicle in front of me get picked up and thrown like a Coke can") is saved by Janas, a translator. When the latter and his family face Taliban death threats, Matt starts a not-for-profit to bring Janas and many of his colleagues to safety in the US. When counseling soldiers, Nate avoids too much religious doctrine, focusing instead on "the idea of moral injury -- which is that you violate some kind of core, fundamental, moral concept of who you are. That's kind of how I view my role as a chaplain -- to help you make sense of the morality of your decisions; or the lack of it; or your inability to even make a decision."

And, of course, the damage done to many is incalculable. Pete who lost a leg, views his injury with black humor. "It just so happens that there was a film crew on the helicopter that came to airlift me out. They were doing a documentary about doctors and nurses at war, so they filmed me all the way to the hospital, where you literally see the surgeons cutting my legs off. So, it's not great to show at happy hour!" Jennifer, determined to make a success in the Navy, is raped by an officer; when she reports the incident, she becomes isolated, demonized as a snitch. And then there's Danny, who, having served in both the Army and the Air Force, returns home with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, which has triggered early-onset dementia. Keeping watch on him is Kimberly, his heartbreakingly devoted wife. "I mean he...threatened to...to kill me," she says. "Many times."

Directed with military precision by Sarah Norris, the actors handle the material frankly and unsentimentally, letting the devastating facts speak for themselves. Alysia Reiner, as Emily, recalls a grenade attack, saying, "The world erupted. I thought I was going to die." The comment is followed by a look between her and David Alan Basche, as John, which speaks volumes. Kevin Loreque, as Dan F., describing the strange intimacy he begins to feel for his victims, says, "We watched them playing soccer... y'know?" -- and, for a second, he is quietly overcome. Brandon Jones, as Steve, recounts seeing a buddy killed in an example of "green-on-blue violence," in which Afghans working for the US military are forced by the Taliban to commit murder to save their families. Looking straight into the audience, he barks, 'Let me ask you something. What's the biggest decision you had to make today?" As Danny and Kimberly, Jakob von Eichel and Bethany Geraghty demonstrate how to face catastrophe with grace and dignity. (Among other things, War Words doesn't shy away from depicting a military that doesn't provide its personnel with up-to-date maps and a veteran's health system that provides substandard care. It also implicitly raises painful questions about the entire Afghan/Iraqi misadventure and the way the US has abandoned Afghanistan to Taliban rule.)

The production benefits from Brian Dudkiewicz's set design, which uses color-changing LEDs to spell out the show's title and define the contours of the stage. Elaine Wong's meticulous lighting strikes the right tone, and Julia Squier's costumes are appropriate. In the inventive sound design by The Roly Polys aka Andy Evan Cohen and Janet Bentley, an audio specialist, seated upstage, creates Foley-style effects using a drum pad and various objects.

A thoroughly gripping piece of documentary theatre, War Words immerses us in a parade of humanity that is, by turns, inspiring, dismaying, and terribly sad. "How many of us actually know people in the military?" Nate asks. "They're not likely to be your sons or daughters, wives or husbands." This first-rate production provides a crash course in the lives of an America we often forget about. To my mind, it is essential to our understanding of where this country is today. --David Barbour