LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville veterans are connecting with Shakespeare and taking it to the stage during a festival.
What You Need To Know
- "Shakespeare With Veterans" are performing during the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival
- Troupe members represent Vietnam War veterans to active duty members
- Shakespeare wrote often of warriors and war
- Amy Attaway is the group's director
Not every member joined with a firm grasp of the Shakespearean language, but by performance time, everyone involved with "Shakespeare with Veterans" had made a strong connection to the stories written hundreds of years ago.
“We are going to do a compilation of scenes, monologues and stories," Director Amy Attaway explained. Attaway has one last rehearsal before her troupe "Shakespeare with Veterans" hits the stage at Louisville's Central Park amphitheater.
“I mean, a lot of people, I would say, come just because they are curious and they stay because they love it," Attaway said. She's been involved with the group for about five years.
Her performers are veterans from the Vietnam era, Desert Storm and active duty.
“Shakespeare writes a lot about wartime and a lot of about the warrior’s experience and what goes through a warrior’s mind and heart," Attaway added.
Debbie Sawyer enlisted some 16 years ago, served as a military police (MP) in Afghanistan, and most recently transferred to the Reserve Army National Guard. She found a strong connection in Shakespeare's work.
"There was something that kind of helped me in my soul, normalize it, because that’s not ever what war should be — normalized, but it made it relatable to me, so. These words were written over 400 years ago and they were relevant then and relevant today," Sawyer said.
Weekly practices culminate with a performance during the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and the troupe is always open for new recruits.
“I was in the Army. I worked with patriot missiles,” Cassie Boblitt explained. Now Boblitt is navigating clever wordplay on a different front: center stage.
“It’s really been wonderful just to be with veterans from across the different eras and different branches. It’s really cool to share this experience. It’s just next level. I really love it," he said.
Since Shakespeare wrote so often of heroes, it seems these veterans were born to play the part.