Army theater group to perform in Iraq, Afghanistan
By Tim Hipps
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 Pfc. Blake Boles says taking BRAVO! Army Theatre Touring Company on the road to perform "Farley Family Reunion" for front-line Soldiers is "bigger than Broadway . . . bigger than the Oscars."
Tim Hipps
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Army News Service, Nov. 13, 2003) – BRAVO! Army Theatre Touring Company will present “Farley Family Reunion” during the holiday season to lighten spirits of Soldiers deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
Having already performed the hilarious play about family at Fort Belvoir, Va., Nov. 7 and 8, the five-soldier entourage departed Nov. 12 for Kuwait.
BRAVO! will entertain troops in Iraq, Qatar, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan before returning to Fort Belvoir in early January. A few days later, they will embark for Korea and Japan. The four and a half-month tour will conclude in Alaska in late February.
“This tour is going to be unlike any tour that we’ve even ever done,” Army Community Entertainment Program Manager Tim Higdon said. “We’ve had people go to the Middle East, but we want to get them to the small remote places where they can’t take contract civilian entertainers – take them on four-hour truck convoys into little camps.
“We’re really excited that they’re going to be performing for troops in Iraq on Christmas and for troops in Afghanistan on New Year’s Eve. They’ll be hitting every major command that’s represented in Iraq right now.”
Thanksgiving will be a travel day to Qatar for BRAVO!, which will perform as many as three shows on 33 of their performance dates.
“We as an Army see the need for our Soldiers over there in the deployed area to have things to recreate with at this time,” Higdon said. “We’re sending packages of DVD players, TVs, Xboxes, PlayStations and that kind of thing. But I think, historically and traditionally, a Soldier in a combat zone still craves that human interaction with somebody who’s taking the time to come and be with them.
“That’s why the Bob Hopes and Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders of the world, people who go over to these combat zones and actually do something for them, are much more appreciated and have a much greater impact,” Higdon said. “In the tradition of our motto, entertainment ‘for the Soldier, by the Soldier’, I think we take that interaction one step further and say: ‘I’m one of your own, and I’m taking my time and my holiday just to help you get away for 90 minutes.’ That’s key to our whole program.”
BRAVO! director Sgt. Tobin Atkinson first saw “Farley Family Reunion,” a play written by James Arrington, at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City, Utah, his hometown.
“I’ve never laughed harder,” Atkinson recalled. “It was very inspirational and very funny – to the point where it stuck in my head for the last 15 years.”
Atkinson, who never envisioned himself in the military, now directs Soldiers performing the script for Soldiers.
Pfc. Blake Boles thought his acting days were numbered when he joined the Army.
“I did theater when I was a civilian, and to be able to do it as a Soldier in the Army is a dream come true,” said Boles, 30, a native of Chicago who considers Montgomery, Ala., home. “I thought I was leaving theater behind for at the very least four years, if not for 20.
“This is the noblest thing that we as performers can do,” continued Boles, a food service operations specialist at Camp Casey, Korea. “This, to me, is bigger than Broadway. This is bigger than the Oscars. If I could do this for the rest of my life, I would be thrilled to death, absolutely.”
Spc. Vanessa Bradchulis will complement Boles on stage during her second tour with BRAVO!
“I’ve worked for BOSS (Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers) a lot, and it’s always been a concern of mine that morale and welfare of Soldiers is something that can’t be forgotten,” said Bradchulis, 28, a health care specialist from Miami Springs, Fla., stationed at Vilseck, Germany. “I’m very proud to be a part of this, especially the second time because now we’re going into a combat area.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to bring some laughs to some folks over there. It’s a funny show that we don’t always get through without laughing hysterically.”
Other members of the troupe include Spc. Joel Miller and Spc. Alexis Sutter.
Miller, 28, of Sulphur Springs, Texas, is the technician in charge of lights and sound for BRAVO! Miller, from the 55th Signal Company out of Fort Meade, Md., is a seven-year Army veteran who recently completed his third stint as stage manager for the Army Entertainment Division’s Miller Lite Army Concert Tour.
Sutter, 20, of Yucaipa, Calif., is an imagery analyst stationed at Fort Myer, Va. She will handle costumes and props for the two-person play.
BRAVO! Army Theatre Touring Company, an Army Entertainment Division production, is a program of the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center in Alexandria, Va. It is one of more than 50 Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs the Army provides for Soldiers and families worldwide. Further information is available at the Army MWR Web site at www.armymwr.com.
(Editor's note: Tim Hipps is a senior information specialist in the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center.) |
