Arts of War on the Web

Welcome to “Arts of War,” Vietnam Veterans of America’s up-to-the-minute update of information you can use about the arts—movies, television, stage plays, musicals, music, dance, popular and fine arts, and more—that deal with Vietnam veterans and the Vietnam War.

You can find in-depth information on these subjects in the “Arts of War” column in Vietnam Veterans of America’s national magazine, The VVA Veteran. That popular column has been written by The VVA Veteran’s arts editor, Marc Leepson, since 1986. This page, which is updated daily, contains arts news in brief, along with links to sources with more information.

The latest production of Shirley Lauro’s oft-performed play, A Piece of My Heart, based on the oral history of Vietnam War women veterans by the same name, is being put on by the Red Fern Theatre Company at New York City’s 78th Street Theatre Lab (located at 236 West 78th Street at Broadway) under the direction of Melanie Moyer Williams. A portion of the tickets sales for this production are going to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

The run began May 1 and goes through May 11. There will be special appearances by some of the women whose stories are in the book and play, with Q&A, following the performances on May 8, 9 and 10. For more info, go to: http://www.redferntheatre.org/red_fern_theatre_home.asp

Last week I became the 99th member of the new veterans’ social networking website, iVeteranUS. On this free service any veteran can have his or her own page, to which you can add photos, videos, and text. Members also have access to the site’s groups (one of which is for VVA members and one of which is sponsored by VVA Chapter 324 in Milwaukee), blogs, discussions, and other services. Of course, you get to see a bunch of ads, too, but that’s part of the business of the World Wide Web. Check it out at http://www.iveteran.us

“Semper Fidelis: How I Met My Father” is the title of a new mixed-media fine art exhibition that will be on view from May 23 (Memorial Day) to July 7 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which is located right off I-95 south of Quantico, Virginia. The exhibition is a combination of Hubbard’s work in ceramics, photography, and graphic design. It includes USMC reports, letters written by Hubbard’s Marine Corps Vietnam veteran father, and archival photos of Hubbard, senior, who was killed in Vietnam was his son was just two years old.

For more info, go to the museum’s website, http://www.usmcmuseum.org/index.asp
Click here for a virtual look at Tom Hubbard’s work.

Vietnam veteran Ted Engelmann is an accomplished photographer, teacher, and writer who divides his time between Denver and Hanoi. Much of his artistic work deals with the Vietnam War, Vietnam War veterans, and Vietnam, the country. You can get a good idea of the scope and quality of his work at Engelmann’s website, http://tedengelmann.com/index.html

Engelmann served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam from 1968-69 at Bien Hoa Air Base, with a Forward Air Control team directing tactical air strikes in support of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, and with Advisory Team 55 in the fishing village of Rach Gia, on the west coast of the Mekong Delta.

Tara Van Niekerk, who lives and works in South Africa, is writing a screenplay on the Vietnam War, and is looking for help from Vietnam veterans. She wants to “hear stories and ask veterans specific questions,” Niekerk tell us. “I feel this is very important to the project as it will bring a realism that is needed.” Her subject, she says, “is not to be taken lightly. I cannot just write any story, it has to mean something and the veterans’ stories mean something.” Email her at tarav@absamail.co.za and mention that you read about it on these pages.

VVA member Ira Cooperman, who is on the board of VVA’s Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund, once again this year will be teaching a class at the Chatauqua Institution, the New York state institution that has been presenting summer-long classes, seminar, music, and lectures since 1874. Cooperman and Bob Hopper will present “Remembering Vietnam: An American Foreign Policy Failure,” Course No. 1920, Monday through Friday from 9:00-10:15 a.m. during Chatauqua’s Week 5, July 21-25. For more information go to www.ciweb.org

The current (May/June) issue of AARP Magazine has a long feature on the year of 1968 that includes a section about events that took place during that pivotal year in the Vietnam War. The reader-friendly article contains an interview with noted Vietnam veteran film director Oliver Stone, who was an infantryman with the Americal that year. There also are words from Lawrence Colburn, who was a machine gunner on the helicopter piloted by Hugh Thompson that saw what was happening at My Lai and swooped down to save a dozen women and children. You can read it on line at AARP’s website.

National Public Radio is inviting VVA members to a special broadcast of “Talk of the Nation” at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., from 3:00-4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7. The show will discuss the Buffalo, New York, Veterans Court in Buffalo, which helps veterans in the criminal justice system. Tickets are free and audience members will be able to tour the Newseum after the broadcast. To reserve a complimentary ticket, send an email to tickets@npr.org or call 202-513-3959.

This year will mark the fourth annual Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., put on by the American Veterans Center. The special guests this year will include Miss America, and the actor Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump),and the famed movie star (and World War II veteran) Mickey Rooney. For info go to, www.nationalmemorialdayparade.com