Marc Wolf :: still asking and telling
These are the most volatile times in our American history. In the midst of what’s shaping up into the modern gay civil rights movement, we have a struggling presidential administration dealing with a current environmental calamity while in the throws of economic turmoil, with two wars being fought abroad. With all the in fighting among our elected officials, the real issues regarding equal rights among our gay citizenship keeps getting lost in the shuffle.
Imagine when those rights are being infringed upon the very individuals that are dedicated to defending our country and who put their lives on the line for our democratic freedom. In the middle of all this chaos the powers that be are debating over the validity of the military policy they’ve called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The stories of those individuals was the inspiration behind Marc Wolf’s decision to revisit his OBIE winning Off-Broadway show Another American: Asking and Telling.
Silence = discrimination
Then the show was an obvious commentary on the controversial decisions over the passing of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during the early days of the Clinton Administration. The policy was intended to prevent the prosecution of gays and lesbian serving in the armed forces, but instead created a chilling effect over the years, leading to something akin to "witch hunts" in ferreting out LGBT individuals in the services. From 1993 (when the policy was put into law) through 2009, 13,389 service personnel have been dismissed under DADT, a number that is inconclusive since not all branches of the military released figures in the past few years.
When Wolf conceived the show some 10 years ago, collecting the stories from interviews he conducted of our servicemen and women, the times were obviously different. "Even though it’s of its time, [the show] now feels more immediate," Wolf admits. "And that’s because when I first performed it, the military was not such a huge presence in our lives -- it was before 9/11, it was before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... our security wasn’t being threatened everyday. The military is much more apparent now." And much more so apparent that LGBT rights are being challenged by policy and bureaucracy with supporters on both sides of the fence. "Because I did the play before the current two wars, it’s less politically about what what we should be doing now in equal rights. It’s about people living in silence."
Whether you agree with the policy or not, Wolf’s focus is much more personal than the policy and politics involved. "It’s about what happens to people when you silence them. You create an atmosphere to discriminate against, abuse and destroy."
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