Humanity in No Man's Land: A Veterans Day Journey
Courtesy of Douglas Taurel
With current events highlighting the divisions in our country, this Veterans Day Douglas Taurel seeks to reunite us by living in the past. But it’s not what it sounds like. As the Library of Congress kicks off its centennial anniversary of U.S. entry into World War I on November 11th, Taurel will be on hand in the Coolidge Auditorium to perform his acclaimed solo show The American Solider and premiere his latest play, An American Soldier’s Journey Home: The Diary of Irving Greenwald. Turns out we have a lot in common with people from 100 years ago.Taurel, an actor/writer known for his appearances on series like Mr. Robot and Nurse Jackie, has always had a great affinity for telling veterans’ stories. He’s spent the better part of a decade crafting The American Soldier, a collection of monologues culled nearly verbatim from letters that span the Revolutionary War into the present day. I was privileged to be one of the first to write about the play, interviewing Douglas during his Off-Broadway run in 2015 (directed by Indie Theater Hall of Famer Padraic Lillis) before he took it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Since then, the show has undergone an exponential evolution, leading Taurel to various tours around the country, an Amnesty International Award nomination, a performance at Washington D.C.’s illustrious Kennedy Center, and so much more.
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Douglas Taurel performs AN AMERICAN SOLDIER’S JOURNEY HOME at 11AM and THE AMERICAN SOLDIER at 2PM on Veterans Day, Saturday November 11th, in the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium. Visit douglastaurel.com and theamericansoldiersoloshow.com for more information on the shows. Follow Douglas on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. To learn more about the Veterans History Project and the World War I centennial celebrations at the Library of Congress, go here and here.