'Under Fire: Stories of Combat Veterans Across Generations'

CLU theatre arts professor Michael Arndt will present the first workshop reading of his piece "Under Fire: Stories of Combat Veterans Across Generations" based on his service in the Vietnam War and interviews with combat veterans from six wars.

Drafted into the army after graduating from college in 1968, Arndt was an infantryman who conducted reconnaissance missions and was involved in 52 combat assaults. Last year, he returned to the battlefields of Vietnam for the first time to confront the traumatizing memories of what he had seen there.

Arndt took a sabbatical from CLU and received funding from the Ventura County Community Foundation's ArtsLIVE program to put his experiences and those of other combat veterans into a theater piece. He worked with the local chapters of the Military Order of the World Wars and the Military Order of the Purple Heart to conduct more than 15 interviews of veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War.

From their stories, he created a work that weaves their diverse experiences into a common fabric displaying the fears, loves, humor, terror and courage shared by men who have lived through war. Though technology has changed, he found that the realities of human beings in combat have not changed significantly through the generations.

The production features scenes with actors portraying veterans interspersed with clips from the interviews Arndt conducted. A panel discussion will follow the reading.

The production and discussion are designed to give veterans and their families an opportunity for sharing and healing and provide those who have not experienced war with an understanding of the experience. Arndt hopes to share the format with other theater artists in the country so that other veterans can share their stories in the same way.

The workshop is free and open to the public. The forum is located south of Olsen Road between Campus Drive and Mountclef Boulevard.