This weekend, drama students at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music will present an original theatrical collage about the Vietnam experience. Director and CCM faculty member Michael Burnham, dramaturge/actor Amelia Henderson and cast members Alec Bova, Maria Kelly and Stacey Morrison recently took time out from rehearsing in in CCM's Studio Theater to talk about the show.

        Question: Why a show about Vietnam now?

        Mr. Burnham: A student came up to me last year and suggested it. He told me, “I don't get it.”

IF YOU GO

What: The Vietnam Project: Staging Warfare, Staging Minds     When: 8 p.m. today and Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday     Where: University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Studio Theater     Tickets: Free. 556-4183.

        Q: How did it come together?

        Mr. Burnham: It started with auditions. Students were told to prepare a monologue about the war that didn't feel like it was about the war, and also a story about the war that they had to tell the entire group.

        Ms. Morrison: The night before the audition, I called a woman I'd found on the Internet. She'd been a Donut Dolly — a Red Cross worker. We talked for two hours, then she sent me information.

        Sophomore Amelia Henderson asked how to be a dramaturge. Mr. Burnham put her to work researching.

        Ms. Henderson: I collected material, the book A Piece of My Heart, Blood, Mark Baker's oral history Carried to the Wall, lots of stories by Tim O'Brien.

        Once The Vietnam Project was cast, the 17 company members read material.

        Ms. Morrison: We sat around and read for days.

        Q: Vietnam was over before any of you were born. What do you use as an emotional reference?

        Mr. Bova: My father is an ex-Marine. He was always trying to instill in us the reasons why men go to war. My brother and I grew up seeing movies like Full Metal Jacket and Platoon. I've heard stories from as far back as I can remember.

        Ms. Kelly: For me, the process hasn't been about accurate depiction. The work that we've read and included are so strong by themselves — all we have to do is show up and say the words.

        Q: With all that material, how did you decide what to cut to fit a two-hour performance?

        Ms. Kelly: We had to learn not to fall in love with things.

        Mr. Burnham: We also had to be aware of the differences between a 50-year-old and 20-year-old sensibility and find a way to be true to them both.

        Ms. Kelly: A lot of things are missing ...

        Mr. Burnham: ... There's not a lot about the Vietnamese, the POWs, the officers ...

        Ms. Morrison: But the essence of it all is there.

        Ms. Henderson: What stayed was what we remembered, what we couldn't forget.

        Q: What couldn't you forget?

        Mr. Bova: The stories that got me derailed touched on soldiers perceptions of being there. They could be very surreal, other-worldly. It must have been like nothing anyone had seen before.

        Ms. Kelly: There's a moment when they're singing Lemon Tree. I'd never associated that with war. The things I remember most are visceral — the blood and guts of emotional connection.

        Ms. Henderson: Like the relationships — friendships made on a bus going to boot camp, guys from Minnesota and Texas who would never have met otherwise. Who probably won't meet again after the war.

        Mr. Burnham: And when it closes Saturday night, it's gone. We were given the rights for all the material as a class project. Four times, and then it's gone.
       

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