Necessary Targets by Eve Ensler
URBAN CURVZ Theatre Presents
In Association with SAGE Theatre
NECESSARY TARGETS
A story of Women and War by Eve Ensler
(Acclaimed author of The Vagina Monologues)
Directed By
Jane MacFarlane*
Starring
Valerie Planche* and Elinor Holt*
* Appeared Courtesy of the Canadian Actor’s Equity Association
April 12th – 22nd, 2006
Dancer’s Studio West Theatre
2007 – 10th Ave SW, Calgary
Featuring:
Ann Barrett, Jessica Dollard, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Lorianna Lombardo and Christin McComb
Set/Costume Design
Deneen McArthur
Lighting Design
Kimberley DeLude
Sound Design
Mike Gesy
Production Manager
Jed Tomlinson
Stage Manager
Rachel Parris
Assistant Stage Manager
Sam Duthie
Marketing
Cameron Falkenhagen
Publicity
Whitney Huget-Penner
General Manager
Marie Lychak
Eve Ensler tells the story of two American women who go to Bosnia to help women confront their memories of war and emerge deeply changed themselves. Exploring compassion, control and common ground the women find a place to be taught and a place to learn. NECESSARY TARGETS is a groundbreaking play about women and war – about the violence of dark memories and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.
From Eve Ensler’s Introduction to NECESSARY TARGETS:
“When we think of war, we think of it as something that happens to men in fields or jungles. We think of hand grenades and Scud missiles. We think of the moment of violence – the blast, the explosion. But war is also a consequence – the effects of which are not known or felt for months, years, generations. And because consequences are usually not televised, by then the war is no longer sexy – the ratings are gone, consequences remain invisible. It is the bombing, the explosions in the dark, that keep us watching. As long as there are snipers outside of Sarajevo, Sarajevo exists. But after the bombing, after the snipers, that’s when the real war begins.
It is found in the broken-down fabric of community, in the death of trust, in the destruction of the everyday patterns of living. It is found in trauma and depression, poverty and homelessness and starvation. It is found in the emasculation and rage of the victim, in the new violence; the traumatized solider beating his wife, the teenage boys already plotting revenge, the ongoing panic of the children.
When we think of war, we do not think of women. Because the work of survival, of restoration, is not glamorous work. Like most women’s work, it is undervalued, underpaid, and impossible. After war, men are often shattered, unable to function. Women not only work, but they create peace networks, find ways to bring about healing. They teach in home schools when the school buildings are destroyed. They build gardens in the middle of abandoned railroad tracks. They pick up the pieces, although the usually haven’t fired a gun.
To make war matter. But how do you make destruction matter? How do you make people’s suffering thousands of miles away matter? How do you make this world, this life, in all its mystery and injustice, matter?
Maybe this is the purpose of art, and theatre in particular – to experience what we experience, to see what’s in front of us, to allow the truth in, with all its sorrow and brutality, because in the theatre we are not alone in our worried and stained beds. We are there, for these moments together, joined by what we see and hear, made stronger, hopefully, by what opens us.”
Necessary Targets garnered rave reviews!
“Subtlety Be Damned” says Jeff Kubik. Read more…