Martha's Vineyard Performing Arts Center
If All The Sky Were Paper
July 6, 2016 at 7:30 pm
CREATIVE TEAM
Director: Directed by John B. BenitzWriter: By Andrew Carroll
06 Jul If All The Sky Were Paper
Garrett Schweighauser, as the play’s narrator, recounts Andrew Carroll’s worldwide search for extraordinary war letters from every war in U.S. vetranhistory
Tickets Available in Advance or at the Door. A Special Benefit for Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse and the Dukes County Veterans Services “Veterans Grant Fund”.
Starring Mary Steenburgen with John Noble Barrack, Scott Barrow, Marc Carver, Rachel Claire, Monique Edwards, Matt Greenberg, Christopher Kann, Tom Kee, Ezra Knight, Julia Knight, and Garrett Schwieghauser.
IF ALL THE SKY WERE PAPER, written by the New York Times bestselling author Andrew Carroll, is a play based on Carroll’s incredible journey to more than 30 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, to seek out the most extraordinary war letters ever written. The play weaves together the harrowing (but also humorous) stories of Carroll’s travels around the world with excerpts of the breathtaking letters that he found along the way.
The play is part of a much larger initiative to save America’s war letters as a way of honoring and remembering our nation’s troops and their families. Andrew Carroll has spent the last 17 years preserving the words of these remarkable individuals. Notable results of his work are an audio version of his bestselling book WAR LETTERS (which was nominated for a Grammy in the “Spoken Word” category) and a critically acclaimed PBS documentary.
From the Washington Post, May 21, 2015:
“Dozens of people worked on the script for “If All the Sky Were Paper.” They just didn’t know it at the time. The show, being staged this week at Kennedy Center, features readings of letters written in wartime by those who lived it.
“I have these moments once in a while, when we’re deep in rehearsal or even just privately reading the script, that in some ways the ghosts of these people are with us,” director John Benitz says. “The actors share this feeling, so there’s a deep sense of responsibility on our part.”
Benitz has been involved with the show in various forms for nearly eight years, but that doesn’t mean it’s old hat. “There is something an actor can do to bring it to life in a way that just leaps off the page,” he says.
Because of the personal nature of the letters, Benitz says the show speaks to everyone, though it resonates with veterans particularly.
“Something I recall just absolutely vividly were these three guys sitting in the front row of a theater in L.A.,” Benitz says. Toward the end of a post-show discussion, one of the men raised his hand and said he and his friends were veterans of the Korean War. “He said, ‘I just have one question: When is everybody going to see this play?’ ””
From the Martha’s Vineyard Times, June 30, 2016
“In a world of social media, emails, and text messaging, Andrew Carroll is one of the few who still seek out good old-fashioned letters. War letters to be exact, and he has collected thousands since his project began in 1998. The play “If All the Sky Were Paper” is the latest product of Mr. Carroll’s collecting efforts, and it makes its Island debut at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center this Wednesday, July 6.
Mr. Carroll, also the New York Times best-selling author of “Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters” and “War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars,” which was adapted into an episode of PBS’s “American Experience,” first became interested in letters when his family’s home burned down in his sophomore year of college. “The worst thing was losing all the letters,” Mr. Carroll told The Times in a telephone interview. “The books, the furniture could be replaced, but the letters were gone forever.””
This project has garnered enormous media attention, from articles in virtually every major newspaper across the country, as well as features in TIME magazine (cover story) and The New Yorker to profiles on NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, and NPR.
CNN Video: War Letters Offer a Peak into History
Andrew Carroll
Andrew Carroll is the editor of several New York Times bestsellers, including War Letters, Letters of a Nation, and Behind the Lines. War Letters inspired the critically acclaimed PBS documentary of the same name, and the audio version of the book was nominated for a Grammy in the “Spoken Word” category.
Andrew also edited, on a pro bono basis, Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families. The book inspired the film “Operation Homecoming,” which was nominated for an Oscar and won Emmy Awards in 2007 for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound” and “Outstanding Informational Programming – Long Form.”
Andrew was the co-founder, with the late Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky, of the American Poetry & Literacy Project, which distributed free poetry books throughout the U.S. The APL Project handed out more than 1,000,000 books in schools, hospitals, train stations, airports, hotels, jury waiting rooms, and other public places.
In 1998, Andrew founded the Legacy Project, an all-volunteer initiative that honors veterans and active-duty troops by preserving their wartime correspondence. Andrew has traveled to all 50 states and more than 40 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and he has collected, to date, an estimated 100,000 previously unpublished letters (and emails) from every war in U.S. history. Andrew donated this massive collection, free of charge, to Chapman University. The Legacy Project has been re-named “The Center for American War Letters,” and is now part of Chapman University. The Center’s mission is to continue to collect, preserve, and promote extraordinary war-related correspondences so that this generation and those to come will better understand the sacrifices and experiences of U.S. troops, veterans, and their loved ones.
Andrew is also the author of the play, “If All the Sky Were Paper,” which began touring the United States in August 2013. The play is based on his worldwide search for the most extraordinary war letters ever written.
In 2001, Andrew revived the “Armed Services Editions” (ASEs), which are pocket-sized editions of bestselling books given to servicemen and women during World War II. Andrew began working with major publishers in 2000 to reissue them, and he has distributed 500,000 free ASEs to U.S. troops around the world, including thousands of books he personally handed out in Baghdad and Kabul.
Andrew also edited, on a pro bono basis, Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families. The book inspired the film “Operation Homecoming,” which was nominated for an Oscar and won Emmy Awards in 2007 for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound” and “Outstanding Informational Programming – Long Form.”
Andrew was the co-founder, with the late Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky, of the American Poetry & Literacy Project, which distributed free poetry books throughout the U.S. The APL Project handed out more than 1,000,000 books in schools, hospitals, train stations, airports, hotels, jury waiting rooms, and other public places.
In 1998, Andrew founded the Legacy Project, an all-volunteer initiative that honors veterans and active-duty troops by preserving their wartime correspondence. Andrew has traveled to all 50 states and more than 40 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and he has collected, to date, an estimated 100,000 previously unpublished letters (and emails) from every war in U.S. history. Andrew donated this massive collection, free of charge, to Chapman University. The Legacy Project has been re-named “The Center for American War Letters,” and is now part of Chapman University. The Center’s mission is to continue to collect, preserve, and promote extraordinary war-related correspondences so that this generation and those to come will better understand the sacrifices and experiences of U.S. troops, veterans, and their loved ones.
Andrew is also the author of the play, “If All the Sky Were Paper,” which began touring the United States in August 2013. The play is based on his worldwide search for the most extraordinary war letters ever written.
In 2001, Andrew revived the “Armed Services Editions” (ASEs), which are pocket-sized editions of bestselling books given to servicemen and women during World War II. Andrew began working with major publishers in 2000 to reissue them, and he has distributed 500,000 free ASEs to U.S. troops around the world, including thousands of books he personally handed out in Baghdad and Kabul.
John B. Benitz
John has directed the West Coast premieres of Borderlands, an original play about Bosnia, which was a “Best Pick” in the LA Weekly and Fortune’s Fools at the McCadden Theater in Hollywood, also a “Best Pick” and for which he won a Dramalogue Award. He directed One Grimm Evening at the Odyssey Theatre, as well as What I Heard About Iraq by Simon Levy, which performed on college campuses, in theaters and performing arts centers in New York, California, Washington State, Montreal and at the LaMama Theatre in Manhattan.
In 2007, John approached Andrew Carroll about the possibility of a play based on Carroll’s books, War Letters and Behind the Lines. Three years later he directed the premiere of If All the Sky Were Paper at Chapman. In 2013 he was awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts grant, as well as a Cal Humanities grant to bring the play to a wider audience. Since then he has brought the play to Seattle Rep, the WAMC Linda Performing Arts Studio in Albany, N.Y., The Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles twice, the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara and the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C. Academy Award winner Annette Bening and Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winner Laura Dern and Academy Award winner Common are just a few of the wonderful actors he has had the pleasure to direct as part of this production.
John wrote and directed the award-winning film Children of the Struggle, which was shown in film festivals across the country, on PBS station KQED for three years to commemorate Black History Month, and is seen in high schools and colleges nationwide. It was also recognized by the NAACP Film Commission for its “true and poignant portrayal of the fight for black voting rights”.
He has acted Off-B’way at the former Ubu Rep, at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, The Odyssey Theatre and Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and Shakespeare Orange County, as well as various television and film roles. He’s a proud member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA. John received his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College and his MFA in Acting from Brandeis University. He is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Department of Theatre at Chapman University.
In 2007, John approached Andrew Carroll about the possibility of a play based on Carroll’s books, War Letters and Behind the Lines. Three years later he directed the premiere of If All the Sky Were Paper at Chapman. In 2013 he was awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts grant, as well as a Cal Humanities grant to bring the play to a wider audience. Since then he has brought the play to Seattle Rep, the WAMC Linda Performing Arts Studio in Albany, N.Y., The Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles twice, the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara and the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C. Academy Award winner Annette Bening and Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winner Laura Dern and Academy Award winner Common are just a few of the wonderful actors he has had the pleasure to direct as part of this production.
John wrote and directed the award-winning film Children of the Struggle, which was shown in film festivals across the country, on PBS station KQED for three years to commemorate Black History Month, and is seen in high schools and colleges nationwide. It was also recognized by the NAACP Film Commission for its “true and poignant portrayal of the fight for black voting rights”.
He has acted Off-B’way at the former Ubu Rep, at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, The Odyssey Theatre and Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and Shakespeare Orange County, as well as various television and film roles. He’s a proud member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA. John received his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College and his MFA in Acting from Brandeis University. He is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Department of Theatre at Chapman University.