No Drones Illinois: theater

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Drone Drama: Chicago Productions Ask Where Drones Are Taking Us

Two dramatic productions give Chicago audiences opportunities to explore the questions of where drones and drone warfare are leading us.

TWO DAYS ONLY: Silk Road Rising staged reading of Unmanned
Directed by Sandeep Das

June 28 - June 29, 2014

"By turns comic and appalling, Unmanned dramatizes the lives of two drone operators in a remote desert in the American Southwest—one, a retired male fighter pilot who is terrified to fly; the other, a young female gamer who has never flown. This sets the stage for an exploration of the bizarre and disturbing profession of the military drone “pilot” and the ways in which technology has radically altered contemporary life and warfare.

Performances held at Pierce Hall at The Historic Chicago Temple Building, 77 W Washington St, Chicago

Saturday, June 28 at 4:00pm
Sunday, June 29 at 4:00pm

Advance tickets available.

GROUNDED at Greenhouse Theater

"A hot-rod F16 fighter pilot’s unexpected pregnancy ends her career in the sky. Repurposed to flying remote-controlled drones in Afghanistan from an air-conditioned trailer near Vegas, the Pilot struggles through surreal twelve-hour shifts far from the battlefield, hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother by night. A tour de force play for one actress, GROUNDED flies from the heights of lyricism to the shallows of workaday existence, targeting our assumptions about war, family, and the power of storytelling."

Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago

Runs through July 13

Full information and tickets

Related posts

Grounded raises tough questions. I was hoping that the play would challenge the idea that killing people with drones is good. It's a reflection of the seriousness of this work that that is just one of the issues it raises; others include our society's willingness to destroy the people who we employ to "serve" ("serve our country," serve us in general), our culture's worship of violence / use of force, and the consequences of pervasive surveillance.

(See "Everything Is Witnessed": Searching for "the Guilty" in GROUNDED )

Leveling Up is the creative work that demonstrates just how thoroughly America's new ways of warfare have become intertwined with the other dominant strands in our culture.

(See Level Up, Step Up, Grow Up, Man Up . . . Wake Up)

In Chicago on Good Friday, 2013 (March 29), a cast consisting of long-time Chicago antiwar activists was joined by a NY playwright (and defendant in actions against US drone bases), Jack Gilroy, for one of the events kicking off a month-long campaign of anti-drones events across the country: a performance of Gilroy's play, The Predator.

(See "The Predator" in Chicago - Good Friday, 2013 - "A Passion Play for the Drones Era")

Friday, April 5, 2013

Campaign Against the Boeing Killer Drone Program

April, 2013, saw the intensification of a major campaign against the expansion of Chicago-based military contractor Boeing into drone production:

April Days of Action Against Drones: Protest Against the Boeing Killer Drone Program on Saturday April 6th

Demonstrators make a resounding appearance at Boeing's annual stockholder meeting

This followed demonstrations in May and December, 2012.

Boeing will be the focus of the Midwest Action Against Drones (MAAD) September 28-29, 2013, in Chicago.

RELATED POSTS

What If Illinois Became a "War-Profiteer-Free Zone" ?

April Days of Action Against Drones: Protest in downtown Seattle

April Days of Action Against Drones 2013: Protest Against the Boeing Killer Drone Program on Saturday April 6th

Local news reported Saturday on the demonstration by Chicagoans from all walks of life against the next generation of drone warfare: Boeing's new Phantom Ray, which is expected to be unveiled later this year. This event was a part of the national April Days of Action Against Drones.

Joe Iosbaker of Antiwar Committee Chicago talked to local radio ahead of the event, noting that although drones are nominally cheaper, they will ultimately be much more damaging to the national budget, as more enemies will be created via rampant civilian casualties. The result: perpetual war. "The United States war-making machine has to be stopped," thundered Joe.

"Money For Schools, Not War!": highlighting the perversity of pouring
federal money into the perpetuation of war in a time of crippling debt.

Passersby were regaled with Star Wars-themed street theatre,
in which Boeing was represented by Darth Vader.

"I’ll call it the Phantom Ray!
We’ll arm them with missiles made of depleted uranium,

which will cause instant and long term damage.

And what the people of Chicago don’t know is that the money

we, Boeing, make from tax breaks could be used to fund jobs,

education, and health care.

You don’t know the power of the empire! Of the dark side!"

"I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly
cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

"The drone strikes on my planet have killed at least 178 children!
Please join us in our fight to stop the next phantom ray!"

Person X: "I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that

I like the empire,I hate it, but there's nothing I can do about it right now.
It's such a long way from here."

"When schools are floundering, public intergalactic transportation
has become less accessible, and jobs are becoming scarce,
we are told there is no money for people’s needs. But where do you
think that money goes?"
"For killing those in other star systems so the empire
maintains galatic domination?"

Yes. So you see, fighting to improve your planet means showing
solidarity with those whose planets are being destroyed by the empire.
Together can we defeat it."

Picketing continued at the Chicago Lyric Opera