The one-man play called “Memorial Day,” featuring its writer, Brian Delate, a Vietnam war veteran and artist, is set to be staged for free in Hanoi on September 20 and 21.
The play, which conveys a meaningful message of peace and will raise funds for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, will take place at Tuoi Tre Theater, 11 Ngo Thi Nham st., at 8pm on September 20 and 21. Free tickets are available at the theater.
Delate, an American actor, playwright, and director who served as a draftee infantry sergeant in the Vietnam War from 1969-1970, will star in his own play, which revolves around a Vietnam veteran on the brink of suicide during a Memorial Day celebration.
The play, which has been movingly embraced at Studio Actors in New York and Los Angeles and several other famed US theaters, depicts the intricate psychological world of Bret Westmoreland, a US veteran in Vietnam, and his lonesome, devastating struggle with his Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe mental condition that has afflicted many US vets.
Through his own and some others’ life stories, the character undergoes a massive change and penitence, which gives hopes and promise to veterans in all times, as well as civilians.
Some excerpts from the play were enacted at Tuoi Tre Theater last year and received overwhelming, enthusiastic response from the local audience.
“If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed that the Vietnamese veterans and civilians attending the show were that interested in the American viewpoint. It was a life changing experience for us all,” the artist said in an interview.
The performance is part of a project jointly put on by the Vietnam-US Association and the Soldier's Heart Initiative (SHI).
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