ReEntry presented by Urban Stages February 6, 2010

ReEntry is an unflinching look at the lives of Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. An honest, moving, surprisingly funny play based on interviews with privates and colonels, combat vets and clerks, and one particularly memorable family. ReEntry tells the stories you haven't heard. ReEntry is not about politics. It is not about the WHY of this war. It’s about stepping off that plane and coming home, re-entering ones life, family and country - again.

The creation of ReEntry began at home: Ackerman has two brothers who have served multiple deployments in Iraq (both Marines) and Sanchez had five brothers in the military during the Vietnam War. Over the course of a year, Ackerman and Sanchez interviewed many Veterans, enlisting several as advisors to the play. These men and women became integral to the development of the play, reading each draft, providing feedback, insight and introducing the authors to other veterans that then in tern also became part of the process. It was vital to ReEntry’s authors that the voices in this play be authentic. It was also essential that the actors who portray these men and women have a deep and profound understanding of what it means to be a Marine, and so former USMC drill instructor Joe Harrell was employed to take the actors through a rigorous training program, akin to basic training. Sanchez went on to cast Harrell in the production, who’s performance as the commanding officer in ReEntry garnered much acclaim.

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