March 4, 2008                                                                                                                                                     Associate Director of Marketing

                                                                                                                                                                               Phone: 253.573.2360

                                                                                                                                                                               Email: laceyl@broadwaycenter.org

Operation Homecoming Creates Platform For

Service Men and Women to Share Personal Experiences

Sponsored by America’s Credit Union,

 National Endowment for the Arts and Triwest Healthcare Alliance

Media Sponsor Puget Sound Public Radio KUOW

Tacoma, WA – On Saturday, March 15, 2008, the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts will bring both national stories and those of local service men and women to stage with Operation Homecoming.  This production shares many voices of home front troops and their family members through personal stories, e-mails and journal entries in two productions at 3pm and 7:30pm at Theatre on the Square in Downtown Tacoma.  Tickets are $12 for active military and spouses with ID and $24 non-military.

Operation Homecoming was originally a publication sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that shared accounts of Iraq, Afghanistan and home front troops and families through nearly 100 personal letters, private journals, poems, stories and memoirs. Dozens of workshops sponsored by the NEA and led by some of America’s best poets and writers provided an outlet to men and women that have served, sacrificed and seen both hope and tragedy.

The Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia said, “These men and women offer unique and important voices that enlarge our understanding of the American experience.”

The literary anthology Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families was published by Random House in September 2006. The anthology was edited by the best-selling author Andrew Carroll, who will be appearing as a special guest during the performances in Tacoma.  Carroll has edited several bestselling books, including Letters of a Nation, Behind the Lines, and War Letters, which also was a PBS film. He founded the Legacy Project, a national, all-volunteer effort to preserve wartime correspondence of veterans and active duty troops. Carroll edited the Operation Homecoming anthology on a pro bono basis.

In March 2007, the NEA in partnership with the National Archives, presented the world premiere of the documentary film Muse of Fire.  Directed by Lawrence Bridges of Red Car Productions, the film features compelling readings and interviews with troops and their families who participated in the NEA program, as well as authors who led writing workshops.  A second television documentary on Operation Homecoming, directed by Richard Robbins, aired on PBS in April 2007 as part of the "America at a Crossroads" series.  This film received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the recent Academy Awards.

Hear the stories of Operation Homecoming and take part in a dialogue that will go beyond the headlines and politics and focus on individual experiences. The Broadway Center has invited local service men and women, and their families to participate with new writings for the stage in addition to the national stories that will be shared. 

Tickets are on sale now and are $12 for Military personnel and spouses with valid Military ID and $24 for non-military.  Tickets may be purchased at the Broadway Center Box Office located on 9th & Broadway or by calling the Box Office at 253.591.5894. To purchase online at any time or for information about upcoming events visit www.broadwaycenter.org.

The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the following for support of the 2007-2008 Season: ArtsFund, Ben B. Cheney Foundation, The Boeing Company, City of Tacoma, Forest Foundation, The News Tribune, Pierce County Arts Commission, Sequoia Foundation Pierce County Program, and Washington State Arts Commission.

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