In Their Footsteps
Presented by Infinite Variety Productions
Written by Ashley Adelman
with oral testimonies from Ann Kelsey, Judy Jenkins Gaudino, Doris “Lucki” Allen, Jeanne “Sam” Christie, and Lily Adams
“In Their Footsteps” takes a maverick approach to events that happened over fifty years ago. What they have rendered is astonishing and memorable.
–Carole Di Tosti, Theater Pizzazz
Over 50 years ago, thousands of young American women went to Vietnam to serve their country during the war. Infinite Variety Productions interviewed five of these women; two military officers, three civilian employees, all volunteers. Hearing their poignant, horrific, funny and endearing memories, IVP set out to tell the often unknown, but extremely timely story of the human side of war. The script of In Their Footsteps is created directly from the five oral histories, looking at themes such as friendship, loyalty, sexual harassment, ptsd, and the importance of remembering and retelling. The entire set is five wooden blocks with seamlessly evolve into bunkers, rooftops, military vehicles and more. All the sound effects are made live on stage from small props the actors flexibly use as well as created themselves.
www.infinitevarietynyc.org/in-their-footsteps
“Relevant, present day conversations about politics, war, sexual harassment and PTSD, told through honest storytelling.”
–Thereviewshub
The five actresses who play these “heroes” (to define them as heroines would diminish them) move on an empty stage, accompanied only by five wooden cubes which, continuously moved, become a Jeep, a bar counter, an office desk, a bed of hospital. Their movements, their encounters, their clashes are of a disarming simplicity and at the same time highly revealing of their pains, their troubles and the damage that will mark them throughout their lives.
–Ettore Farrattini, Broadway World, Italy
Run time: 50 minutes
Subject matter: Vietnam War, sexual harassment, PTSD
