3 Graces Theater Company
presents

A Piece Of My Heart
by Shirley Lauro
suggested by the book by Keith Walker

COMPANY IMMERSIONS
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3Graces Theater Co.’s commitment to careful dramaturgy has manifested itself this fall in the dedication of over 20 hours of the A Piece of My Heart rehearsal process to special Immersions, which have been coordinated and led by the production’s dramaturg, company member Kelli Lynn Harrison.  Kelli Lynn also designed independent Immersions -- or, as the cast likes to call it, "homework."


Company Immersion #1: 
Pre-Gulf of Tonkin Vietnam, America and America in Vietnam

Handouts:  Map of Southern Vietnam during the War
   Map of Vietnam today
   Glossary of terms

Lecture:  Post World War II / Pre-American War Vietnam

Read Aloud:  John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech

Watched:  George Lucas’ American Graffiti


Week 1 Independent Immersion:

Lynda VanDevanter’s Home Before Morning (Chapters 1-5)

Listening:  Annie McGovern compiled this list of late 60's hits for the cast


Week 2 Independent Immersion:

Lynda VanDevanter’s Home Before Morning (Chapters 6-10)

WebSurfing: USMC/Combat Helicopter Association Photographs

Handout: Fodor’s Exploring Vietnam


Week 3 Independent Immersion:

Lynda VanDevanter’s Home Before Morning (Chapters 11-15)

Handout: “The Bitter Homecoming” by Dennis J. Stauffer


Company Immersion #2:
Translating the Vietnam Veteran Experience to the Stage

[Workshop with Brian Delate]


Week 4 Independent Immersion: 

Lynda VanDevanter’s Home Before Morning (Chapters 16-19

Handouts:  “Saluting” and “Individual Drill”

                  Vietnam War Timeline 1964-1975


Company Immersion #3:
Homecoming:  Journeying from Invisible to Empowered


Week 5 Independent Immersion:

Lynda VanDevanter’s Home Before Morning(Chapters 20-end)

Handout: Ladyhouse Blues


Week 6 Independent Immersion:

Keith Walker’s Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 Women Who Served in Vietnam


Company Immersion #4
Commemoration and the Senses

Lecture at Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Maya Lin: The Renaissance Spirit by Maya Lin (artist/architect) and Lowery Stokes Sims (Executive Director of The Studio Museum in Harlem and former curator in the Modern Art Department at the MMA).  
More info
Vietnamese dinner at: TBA


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