by Gil Benbrook
Little did David Barker know that ten years after he discovered boxes of letters his parents wrote to each other during WWII in the 1940s, when his father was stationed overseas in England and his mother was working toward her nursing degree in the states, that those letters would become the basis of Barker's play From Tidworth with Love, which premieres this week at Southwest Shakespeare Company.
Barker is a theatre artist who acts, directs, choreographs fights and is the author of "Connected Motion: A Common Sense Approach To Movement Training For Actors", and the plays Dodging Bullets and Inductions Dangerous
Barker, a professor who teaches movement and acting at the School of Music, Dance and Theatre at Arizona State University, sat down to answer some questions about how the letters became a play came to be.
What can you tell us about your play From Tidworth with Love?
It is a true story. A genuine love-at-first-sight story. It all began in 1941 as the war in Europe was growing and the US was training people to deploy and fight for freedom and crush the advances of Adolf Hitler. When Bill Barker (my dad) was in Army basic training in Baltimore, Mary Giambrone (my mom) was training to be a nurse in Philadelphia, and she took what she thought was a day trip with her friend to Baltimore. But when they got off the train, they were greeted by 2 soldiers. It was a surprise blind date. The connection was immediate between Bill and Mary and in 8 months they were engaged and planning a wedding. But WWII had other ideas. Bill was deployed to Europe in the 861st Heavy Maintenance Division and Mary continued to work toward her RN degree. This play follows them from the first date, through an intense courtship, deployment/separation for 3 years and Bill's return.
Were the letters between your parents something you were always aware of?
"No. My dad died in 2005 and my mom in 2010. After she passed, my siblings and I went through the process of clearing out every room and closet. And boxes of letters were found on a shelf in my parents' bedroom closet. I quickly recognized the historical value of the letters, and I scanned each of them, labeled and categorized them and placed them all in a large zip file which I made available to all family members. But the idea of a play did not happen for years. "
How did the idea to turn the letters into a play come about?
"In 2018 I was eligible for my last sabbatical at ASU, where I've been teaching acting and movement since 1983. Other sabbaticals have focused on developing solo shows and a movement book, so I wanted to explore another avenue of creativity. That's when the idea of writing a play based on the letters came to me. "
How long have you been working on the piece and were there any major changes you made to the structure since you started working on it?
"My research began with the 2018 sabbatical, during which I visited the small town of Tidworth, England where my father spent the first two years of his three years in Europe. I met with historians, walked the streets my father walked in the 1940s and visited buildings such as the church he went to mass in. The structure of the play has remained the same because I thought it best to proceed chronologically and be true to dates and locations. However, I did add two brief zoom calls that bookend the play, between two of the great grandchildren. "
Was your idea to always have this be a play with just the two characters?
"Yes. Although other people such as Mary's cousin Pauline play a critical role, they are never seen. Again, I felt a responsibility to honor history. "
What were some of the difficulties you encountered in writing the piece?
"There were two major difficulties:
Finding the conflict and highlighting it in the script. It became evident after 2 virtual readings, and listening to the feedback from actors, directors, audiences, that the primary conflict is between the separation caused by the war and the loving couple. There is some personal and ideological conflict between Bill and Mary, but that is small compared to the stress, worry and anxiety produced by the uncertainty of war and the physical separation it caused.
Most of the letters Mary sent to Bill were not saved for security reasons, and so her letters in the play are based on information in Bill's letters that helped me construct Mary's letters. And having my only sister, who was very close to my mom, provide language, was very useful."
What do you hope audiences will take away from seeing From Tidworth with Love at Southwest Shakespeare Company?
"I believe there are many possible take-aways. And all of them are on the positive end of the emotional and spiritual spectrum. However, I learned many years ago, that I can never make an audience respond how I would like them to. I created the work focusing on truth and integrity, and then I will sit back on opening night with my heart pounding and my tears about to flow and open my mind to whatever shall transpire. "
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