about the play
AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS traces the fears and battlefield crises of three very different officers: the capable but discontented Sergeant Ron, whose primary concern is his rapidly unraveling family life; Sergeant Williams, whose simple warrior ethos is increasingly undermined by on-the-ground ambiguities; and their ineffectual superior, Staff Sgt. Mitchell, a recent college graduate caught between civilian and military worlds and unfit for either. Shortly before the squad embarks on a dangerous recon mission, a rookie female (Private Martin) is suddenly attached to their unit. She upsets their insular, testosterone-charged group dynamic. The squad
raids an Afghan home searching for a bomb, but instead stumbles into a blood bath. The raid leaves the Afghan residents slaughtered. Williams' loses one of his men, and blames the casualty on Mitchell. The mission continues. An unseen sniper shoots Mitchell. The squad moves to defend a friendly Afghan unit. When ordered to retreat and abandon the mission altogether,
Williams claims he murdered Mitchell to protect the mission. Ashamed and angry, Ron and Williams abandon their country; they abandon their squad, they abandon their task; and they charge into Pakistan to kill and die.Wartime havoc clashes with American values in a pitch-black depiction of the democratic psyche at war.
CAST REQUIREMENTS
Up to twenty-one actors required. Cross-gender casting encouraged. With doubling, cast size can drop to six.
PLAY LENGTH
153 pages. Estimated run-time of two hours.
A NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
"I wrote American Volunteers in the summer of 2009. I had been struggling with the story's questions since I returned from Afghanistan five years prior, but every effort to create a 'finished' version of the tale escaped me until I stumbled into theatre. Thanks to the efforts of my friends in Austin, the play came off rather well..."
"... I suppose the play takes some risks when it strides into formal verse, but for me it was less of a choice than a necessity. I enjoy the silences of Pinter, but sometimes it is the responsibility of a playwright to further manipulate the space--especially when the characters diverge so utterly from those encountered in everyday American life."
raids an Afghan home searching for a bomb, but instead stumbles into a blood bath. The raid leaves the Afghan residents slaughtered. Williams' loses one of his men, and blames the casualty on Mitchell. The mission continues. An unseen sniper shoots Mitchell. The squad moves to defend a friendly Afghan unit. When ordered to retreat and abandon the mission altogether,
Williams claims he murdered Mitchell to protect the mission. Ashamed and angry, Ron and Williams abandon their country; they abandon their squad, they abandon their task; and they charge into Pakistan to kill and die.Wartime havoc clashes with American values in a pitch-black depiction of the democratic psyche at war.
CAST REQUIREMENTS
Up to twenty-one actors required. Cross-gender casting encouraged. With doubling, cast size can drop to six.
PLAY LENGTH
153 pages. Estimated run-time of two hours.
A NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
"I wrote American Volunteers in the summer of 2009. I had been struggling with the story's questions since I returned from Afghanistan five years prior, but every effort to create a 'finished' version of the tale escaped me until I stumbled into theatre. Thanks to the efforts of my friends in Austin, the play came off rather well..."
"... I suppose the play takes some risks when it strides into formal verse, but for me it was less of a choice than a necessity. I enjoy the silences of Pinter, but sometimes it is the responsibility of a playwright to further manipulate the space--especially when the characters diverge so utterly from those encountered in everyday American life."