Why GROUNDED Is Soaring: Putting Drone Dilemmas In Your Face

Grounded ended its run at the Greenhouse Theater Center on July 13, and my summer wish is that it can be brought back for an extended stay.

Gwendolyn Whiteside in GROUNDED

You can get lots of detail on the production in Tony Adler's review in The Reader ("A pilot brings the war home in American Blues Theater's Grounded: George Brant scores a direct hit with his one-woman play"); what I want to stress here is:

Gwendolyn Whiteside is an amazing actress. I was sitting 2 feet away from the stage, and I found myself attracted and scared at the same time. I kept wanting to get a word in edgewise, interrupt her cocky assertions, but also just hoping to be able just to sidestep her. I had to remind myself again and again that the wasn't a real fighter/drone pilot, that this wasn't really happening to me . . . .

The play itself is pitch-perfect. Gwendolyn Whiteside has help delivering an amazing performance because every word in this play works. And the other aspects of the production - staging, sound, video projections - all contribute to putting you in the boots of a "pilot" who drives back and forth through the Nevada desert every day . . .  shuttling . . . between home (sincere husband and pink-pony-wielding toddler) . . . and "combat" (a dark, air-conditioned trailer where she stares at images of the putty-colored Middle East terrain transmitted by a Reaper drone's cameras).

Grounded raises tough questions. I was hoping that the play would challenge the idea that killing people with drones is good. It's a reflection of the seriousness of this work that that is just one of the issues it raises; others include our society's willingness to destroy the people who we employ to "serve" ("serve our country," serve us in general), our culture's worship of violence / use of force, and the consequences of pervasive surveillance.

Find a way to see Grounded. And tell others.


[UPDATE November 15, 2014 - A quick check on Google indicates that GROUNDED is being produced in numerous productions around the country.  Look for one near you -- and if there isn't a nearby production, talk to a theater company in your area and ask, "Why not?"]

[UPDATE May 17, 2015 - Anne Hathaway takes GROUNDED to Broadway: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/theater/anne-hathaways-solo-turn-as-a-fighter-pilot-in-grounded-at-the-public-theater.html ]

Anne Hathaway in GROUNDED at the Public Theater

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At the end of the day, is surveillance bad if no harm comes of it? Foucault understood this to be symptomatic of the much larger project of societal rule. To Foucault, prior to the physical and bodily aspects of control and manipulation, there are aspects that have to do with seeing, knowing, naming, and categorizing.

(See Drones, 1984, and Foucault's Panopticon)





Leveling Up is the creative work that demonstrates just how thoroughly America's new ways of warfare have become intertwined with the other dominant strands in our culture.

(See Level Up, Step Up, Grow Up, Man Up . . . Wake Up)












In Chicago on Good Friday, 2013 (March 29), a cast consisting of long-time Chicago antiwar activists was joined by a NY playwright (and defendant in actions against US drone bases), Jack Gilroy, for one of the events kicking off a month-long campaign of anti-drones events across the country: a performance of Gilroy's play, The Predator.

(See "The Predator" in Chicago - Good Friday, 2013 - "A Passion Play for the Drones Era")

Good Friday, 2013: A Passion Play for the Drones Era

You're gonna put this guy in prison? Really??


Last year at this time, on Good Friday morning, I was not only getting ready to participate in the annual 8th Day Good Friday Justice Walk -- a venerable Chicago institution -- but also getting ready to put on a play.

Jack Gilroy

The playwright Jack Gilroy was in town to make a special appearance together with a small group of us who were staging a reading of his play, The Predator. (See The Predator in Chicago - Good Friday, 2013 - 'A Passion Play for the Drones Era'") The Predator is a play that many communities have used to stir conversation about the nature of drone warfare.

Jack is much on my mind today, in part because of the anniversary of that performance, but also because of news he recently shared with me about an upcoming court appearance. I quote here at length from a letter Jack shared -- it is addressed to participants in a Peace Studies course that he advises, and it begins with encouragement from Jack about their work at their college:

The struggle is not over yet but if won, it will open up student minds to alternatives to violence like no single course ever has at B~ University . You can’t wave a victory flag yet but get it ready. There will be snags and disappointments but don’t get discouraged and give up the struggle. Many issues will be wrapped in the new curriculum and the process will not be to solve specific issues but to find ways to treat conflict issues diplomatically, rationally, intelligently—all with compassion.

That said, I am involved in an issue now that may prevent me from working with you next school year. I go to trial on July 14th in DeWitt Court House near Syracuse for a ‘killer drone die in’ that I was part of a year ago. I was one of 31 who lied on the ground of the entrance way to the 174th Attack Wing of the NY State National Guard. The 174th Attack Wing fires drones (located in Afghanistan and only God and the NSA know where else) electronically by ‘pilots’ located at their consoles inside the Hancock Air Base in Syracuse . [NOTE: die-in pictures here]

Some of our group chose to take a plea bargain (plead guilty and pay a fine) and have charges dropped. I would not do that. I committed no crime by asserting my constitutional rights of free assembly and speech. Every United States citizen has an obligation to call their US Government to honor when the US government is committing crimes. It is illegal to assassinate. Both President Ford and Reagan both issued Executive Orders to forbid assassination. And of course, this is a test of our morality that for me is much greater than legality. I will not be a party to killing any person.

Since the Magna Carta in 1215, Western jurisprudence has given high ground to habeas corpus—a person has the right to hear charges, to a fair trial. There is no hearing for those assassinated by US drones. Thousands of people have been killed by our drones--- many of them women and children.

My trial will be one of the first jury trials for this so called ‘crime’ of speaking out against killer drones. If convicted, I was told by the Judge to expect to be sentenced to the Jamesville Penitentiary for one year.

This is reminding me of how rapidly the resistance to U.S. drone killing is growing, and the many dimensions of this resistance.  And as I reflect on Good Friday, the day we remember Jesus' showdown with imperial power 2,000 years ago, it is also reminding me that there are people today who have come to the conclusion that the preservation of their own bodies may have to be foregone in the interest of saving others.

I'm pretty sure that Jack Gilroy is not a fan of spending time in prison.  I sense that he would be very happy if this cup could pass from him. But I also hear Jack saying, "If this is what it takes to stop the killing . . . thy will be done."

On this day, as you reflect on the meaning of Good Friday, take an opportunity to look around you.  There are Jack Gilroys all around us, and their number is growing.


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At trial, Jack Gilroy testified that he joined the Army out of high school, and was stationed in Austria in the early '50s at a time when the Cold War was hot. He says that despite a climate of distrust and contempt towards Russians, when he actually had to look a young Russian soldier in the eye during a ceremonial event, he didn’t see the evil he’d been trained to expect. Since then, Gilroy has spent 30 years as a teacher. A member of Veterans for Peace and Peace Action New York, he is currently working with Peace Action at Binghamton University to convince the college to offer a Peace Studies Program.

(See Hancock Show Trial #1: Anti-Drone Protester Convicted of a Misdemeanor )

Brian Terrell, prior to beginning his term in federal prison for entering a drones base near Kansas City, MO: "There seems to be in these last weeks a new openness to speaking about the issue of the drones. It is as if with the dreadful distraction of the presidential election over, people are wiping the sleep from their eyes and are shocked to see the evil that had been festering while they were not looking."

(See Brian Terrell: "I go in solidarity with prisoners every place")

Beale, in CA, is home of the Global Hawk Drone, a surveillance drone that demonstrators claim helps in the targeting of Predator and Reaper armed drones. Increasing numbers of demonstrators have been arrested at Beale over the past several months. On March 5, Ash Wednesday, arrests included several members of the clergy. Other actions are scheduled for later this month.

(See Former National President of Veterans For Peace Arrested at Beale)

Level Up, Step Up, Grow Up, Man Up . . . Wake Up

Clancy McCartney in Leveling Up

The current run of Leveling Up by Deborah Zoe Laufer at the Steppenwolf had its final performance on Saturday night, but I'm confident audiences around the country are going to have opportunities to see future productions. Leveling Up is the creative work that demonstrates just how thoroughly America's new ways of warfare have become intertwined with the other dominant strands in our culture.

In this play, the phenomenon that so many of us in the antiwar movement have been trying to bring to public attention -- the conflation of innocent video gaming and actual war, especially drone operations -- plays a key role. An expert gamer is recruited by the government for his unique skills, youthful acuity . . . and naivety.

"Do you ever wonder if this thing was real?"

But this is not just agitprop for anti-drone activists. The play asks other big questions: What does it mean to have a relationship?  What constitutes fulfilling work? Do we really have to face the world "out there"?

From the after-performance discussion on Saturday night at the Steppenwolf, I could tell that this video-game-immersed young adult world of Leveling Up was revelatory for the parents in the audience and provocative for the teens there. As I reflected on the play in the days that followed, I started to wake up to how provocative  Leveling Up is for all of us -- even outside the trope of the video game.

Leveling Up  -- coming to a stage near you soon (if you're lucky).

MORE:

Leveling Up- Trailer

Download the Leveling Up Study Guide

Steppenwolf for Young Adults Artistic and Educational Director Hallie Gordon welcomes you to Leveling Up

The History Behind and Future of Drone Warefare: Article by Steppenwolf For Young Adults Apprentice Lexy Leuszler


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There were so many places in this book where I thought, "Holy mackerel - he knows about that? It's as if he was part of the same anti-drone movement that I've been so deeply involved in for the past several years!"

(See 7 Ways the Ugly Facts About Drones Are Hidden in Plain Site in UNMANNED )













What are the 2 or 3 -- or 5, or 10 -- biggest lessons about "collaborating in peaceful mode" that we might be able to witness if we were to seek the answers in Minecraft worlds?

(See Go dig up the solution to world peace in a video game environment )

Grounded raises tough questions. I was hoping that the play would challenge the idea that killing people with drones is good. It's a reflection of the seriousness of this work that that is just one of the issues it raises; others include our society's willingness to destroy the people who we employ to "serve" ("serve our country," serve us in general), our culture's worship of violence / use of force, and the consequences of pervasive surveillance.

(See "Everything Is Witnessed": Searching for "the Guilty" in GROUNDED )


With drones, people become just dots. "Bugs." People who no longer count as people . . . .

(See Drone Victims: Just Dots? Just Dirt? )

The U.S. military is desperately trying to beef up the ranks of its drone pilots - to meet a "near insatiable demand for drones." There's only one way that's going to happen, and that's if we let our young people think that it's okay to sign up. The world of military service is more abstracted and foreign than ever. If ever there was a time that young people needed guidance from others about what military service might mean for them, that time is now.

(See Mothers Don't Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Drone Pilots)


In Chicago on Good Friday, 2013 (March 29), a cast consisting of long-time Chicago antiwar activists was joined by a NY playwright (and defendant in actions against US drone bases), Jack Gilroy, for one of the events kicking off a month-long campaign of anti-drones events across the country: a performance of Gilroy's play, The Predator.

(See "The Predator" in Chicago - Good Friday, 2013 - "A Passion Play for the Drones Era")

Anyone who cares about stopping drone killing should take a friend and go see Good Kill, and then do it again, and again.

(See GOOD KILL: Struggling to Bring the Truth of Drone Killing Out of the Shadows )

#Art #Poetry and More During #AprilDays #Protest - #aprildayseverywhere

It took a haiku to make me believe in the power of Twitter again.

We're at the beginning of an important antiwar campaign - the April Days of Action Against Drones. Part of that campaign is getting the word out on Twitter, using the #AprilDays and #nodrones hashtags.

I've been very focused on the dozens of protests that have been scheduled at the facilities of drone manufacturers, research facilities, and bases. We've been using Twitter to encourage turnout.

In the last week, three things have encouraged me to remember that protest can include a lot more.

Creative Resistance: A Chicago production of The Predator by Jack Gilroy

The first was a production of the play (reader's theater) called The Predator. This is important because people everywhere can download the script and share it with their communities -- whether or not they are able to join a street protest. The Predator is a great way to educate people about the issues surrounding drones.

#aprildayseverywhere

The second was the Drones Quilt project. Each square of the quilt is made by an ordinary member of the public, who writes their name and then the name of a victim on a square of fabric. The quilt will be finished by the 1st May and, on the 6th, will be taken on a pilgrimage for peace, calling for an end to the use of armed drones.

Creative Resistance: The Drones Quilt Project

People everywhere -- no matter where they are -- can take the time to make a square and add it to the quilt.

#aprildayseverywhere

The third -- and this was the big Aha! moment -- was @DroneHaiku.

Creative Resistance: @DroneHaiku on Twitter

@DroneHaiku reminded me of all the creative ways that we have used social media like Twitter in the past year to built widespread, robust, multi-dimensional protest. Efforts like #AfghanistanTuesday. And #Natoin5. And #NoIranWar.

With @DroneHaiku, all you need is 17 syllables and a Twitter account.

#aprildayseverywhere

No matter where people are, no matter what their gifts are, they can be part of the April Days of Action Against Drones.

What are YOU prepared to do?


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Eventually, in large part due to Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the United States was converted from a country in which a small number of people thought slavery needed to be ended into a country determined to act to end slavery. This literary work took the movement wide, and it took it deep.

Why is a novel an important tool for creative resistance?


(See Creative Resistance 101: Uncle Tom's Cabin )

Grounded raises tough questions. I was hoping that the play would challenge the idea that killing people with drones is good. It's a reflection of the seriousness of this work that that is just one of the issues it raises; others include our society's willingness to destroy the people who we employ to "serve" ("serve our country," serve us in general), our culture's worship of violence / use of force, and the consequences of pervasive surveillance.

(See "Everything Is Witnessed": Searching for "the Guilty" in GROUNDED )

I'm marveling at the adjacency of a piece of public art -- one with a very clear message about the risk of human ambition and self-absorption and heedlessness -- to the center of political power in the city of Chicago.

(See NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Who will bring us down to earth? )