The ‘anti’ anniversary

In theaters, in halls, libraries and bookstores and at outdoor sites around the globe, the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is being marked today with readings of an antiwar article and the play it inspired.

Under the auspices of Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin and the Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics, Elliot Weinberger’s widely disseminated article “What I Heard About Iraq,” and Simon Levy’s stage adaptation, “What I Heard About Iraq (A Cry for 5 Voices),” will be read and performed in cities across the United States and in the United Kingdom, India, Germany, South Africa and many other countries.

Weinberger’s article, which first appeared in the London Review of Books, chronicles U.S. military involvement in Iraq, amassed from the quotes of American soldiers, Iraqi citizens, politicians, policymakers, military commanders and others.

Locally, Levy will reprise his play tonight at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood, where it premiered for an extended run on Sept. 11, 2005. The performance will feature the play’s original cast and a post-show discussion with actor and activist Mike Farrell. Weinberger’s article “created a cognitive map of the war,” Levy said in a phone interview. “It’s about quotes and verifiable facts; it’s not punditry. When I read it, it was like an explosion went off in my head -- and my heart.”

It was what Levy had been looking for, he said, to fuel a theater piece that would confront U.S. involvement in Iraq “head on and say to America this is what’s going on, here’s how we got into this thing, and here’s the consequences of being in it.”

Levy makes no apologies for his play’s strong antiwar stance and hopes that it will spark debate and dispel apathy.

“People ask, ‘Aren’t you just preaching to the choir?’ No, I’m crying out to the congregation,” he says. “We need to be reminded and reaffirmed in things that we care about, and I think theater can serve that function.”

For more information, see www.fountaintheatre.com

-- Lynne Heffley