Letters from the front: A play gives voice to the men and women who serve
Letters of the hand-written kind may seem quaint and anachronistic. But to Andrew Carroll, they’re rich historical documents from which we can extract and learn “the world’s greatest undiscovered literature.”…
By Lisa Napoli • • 1 min readFor years, Carroll’s been collecting letters to and from veterans of wars from every conflict in US history, amassing over a hundred thousand to date. (Emails, too.) They’re the foundation of two books as well as an all-volunteer run nonprofit called the Legacy Project.
Now, Carroll is giving voice to a selection of the letters by bringing them to the stage. For one night only—Monday, June 9
th—you can see
If All the Sky Were Paper directed by John Benitz of Chapman University at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. Laura Dern and Antwone Fisher are among the actors who have signed on to read letters, with Carroll narrating.
We talked with Carroll from his home in Washington, DC about how Benitz and Chapman got involved with Legacy, and how he started collecting letters in the first place. You might be surprised by his explanation.
If All the Sky Were Paper, The Kirk Douglas Theater, Culver City, June 9th, Tickets $25