Partners: The Arts at C.I.I.S. and Veterans Book Project: Objects for Deployment
Directed by: Krista DeNio
Written and Performed by: Zoe Bender, Jesselito Bie, Samantha Blanchard, Katarina Eriksson, Stephen Funk, William McQueen, Matthew Plosick, Jenny Schaffer, Maia Scott, Keisha Turner
Dramaturgical Advisor: Jenny Beth Schaffer
Movement Coach: Katarina Eriksson
Drama Therapist: Arianna Wheat
Sound design: Cory Neale
Music by: Cory Neale, Gabriel Todd, Jesse Autumn, Stephen Katz & Maia Scott (Shruti box)
Visual Installation: Sara Kraft/KraftyWork
*featuring text & images from Veterans Book Project: Objects for Deployment
Labyrinth by: Mark & Maia Scott
Combat Paper, AREA 5: Drew Cameron
Mugs: Aaron
C.I.I.S.
The ETS performance ensemble included CIIS students and Bay Area community members, both those with and without military experience. The work integrated stories and content from the lives of ensemble members, in addition to the work of authors from Veterans Book Project: Objects for Deployment. Performances were followed by receptions, a panel discussion and visual installation created by Sara Kraft.
Veterans Book Project: Objects for Deployment is a library of books authored collaboratively by artist Monica Haller and dozens of people who have been affected by, and have archives of, the current American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In their printed format, the books provide a place or “container” that slows down and materializes the great quantity of ephemeral image files that live on veterans’ hard drives and in their heads. Each book re-deploys volatile images with the aim of rearticulating and refashioning memories. It stands both independent of and in concert with the larger collection.
Special Thanks to colleagues and advisors:
Daniel Bear Davis, Anne Bluethenthal, Deirdre Visser
Special thanks to Drew Cameron, co-founder and director of Combat Paper Project, www.combatpaper.org, for sharing this beautiful paper made by hand from the uniforms of service members.
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.