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A German officer, played by Jeffrey Miller (right), confronts a British soldier (Aaron Epstein) in "Soldier's Christmas." (Photo by Matt Steffen) |
The
holiday season
is always
filled with various celebrations,
entertainment, and traditions. This year, a new play is premiering,
and you will certainly want to add it to your Christmas to-do list.
Award-winning Fort Thomas playwright Phil Paradis has penned an
impressive work of historical fiction. According to the play's
website, Soldier's Christmas
“is an epic tale of war and peace set in Belgium in late December
of 1914, dramatizing the Great War’s effects on front-line soldiers
as well as on their families at home. This original play with song
presents the personal stories of disenchanted, battle-weary British
and German soldiers who throw down their rifles, leave the mud of the
trenches, and join hands in one of history’s most astonishing
Christmas celebrations.”
The inspiration for Soldier's Christmas
came long before the first draft was ever written. “I
heard about the Christmas Truce from my eldest uncle when I was a
boy. It struck a chord with me. Over
the years, I came across it in history classes. And maybe a dozen
years ago, I heard author Stanley Weintraub on NPR discussing the
Truce and his book Silent
Night
and was very impressed. That rekindled my interest. I thought that
the story of the Christmas Truce might make a good stage play, so I
began to conceptualize how that might be. And
I sketched it out. Then I started the research,” said Paradis.
For
this fictionalized retelling of the Christmas Truce, Paradis launched
into an extensive researching process.
He looked
to reading materials and films to help inform him about the
lives of soldiers in the trenches during 1914. “I
just read everything that I could get my hands on from the library,”
said
Paradis. “I
read articles on the web, and watched movies and documentaries, and
really got immersed. I attempted to imaginatively put myself in the
shoes of the soldiers at the Western Front, in a manner of speaking,
trying to get their perspective and capture a small bit of what it
might have been like.”
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Playwright Phil Paradis talks with assistant stage manager Mary Gascho, during a rehearsal. (Photo by F. Anderson) |
Any
writer will tell you that it takes a lot of work to make those words
seem effortless on the page. Paradis worked through countless drafts
to make sure his version of the Christmas Truce was ready to hit the
stage. “I wrote and rewrote it over ten years. I worked on it and
other projects, other plays, on and off over that period. I
must have rewritten it a dozen times. It's evolved slowly, I guess
you could say. I don't consider myself a particularly fast writer.
But I do like to keep working on a project if it excites me and I
think it has the potential to
warrant the investment of my time,” said
Paradis.
Paradis
organized readings throughout the Greater Cincinnati area, including
the Clifton Performance Theater and the Cincinnati Playwright's
Initiative. Thanks to the
readings,
Paradis was able to see what parts of the script needed to be
tweaked. The readings also kept him inspired throughout the writing
process. “Those
things kept me motivated, and working on the project on and off over
the years. In
between all these stage readings, the time that transpired was when I
would re-work the script, change things, add things, delete things,”
said
Paradis. When
Paradis finally
sees
his plays performed on stage, he experiences an entire spectrum of
emotions. According to Paradis, seeing his work performed is
“exciting.
Gratifying. Humbling. Terrifying. Exhilarating, and excruciating by
turns.”
Paradis'
talent for writing started at a young age. “I've always been
fascinated with writing, even when I started as a kid. In high
school, I wrote poems. In college, I studied journalism and wrote
poems. I was encouraged by my college teachers, and so I just kept at
it for going on 50 years,” said Paradis. He now encourages other
writers to keep writing, and to trust your writing process. “If
your strongest desire is to write, good for you. A writer's life may
not be particularly easy, but it is fascinating and rewarding, though
the rewards might not be what you expect at first. If you love to
write, keep reading, keep writing. Give yourself time to develop.
Improvement with your writing is the kind of success you want. It
will come. Be patient with yourself and the process. Keep at it. Be
open to life beyond books, relish your experiences. If you still love
to read and write after ten or fifteen years, you're probably meant
to be a writer,” said
Paradis.
The
play is certainly more than a holiday story. It's inspiring and also
creates an encounter
with humanity even during the darkest of times. “Just
taking time out from war to say Merry Christmas, or Happy Christmas
to each another, shake hands, and be civilized human beings in a time
when it was essentially their duty to live in sub-human conditions in
those awful trenches, under terrible, brutalizing, de-humanizing
conditions. To me, it's such an inspiring
story of human beings, who in the worst of conditions, can be
civilized to each other and wish each other well. Even though they
have great differences, they also as human beings have great
similarities, of course,” said
Paradis. The play is both serious and humorous at times, and will
give something audience members to talk about after leaving the
theater.
You
can see Soldier's Christmas now through December 21 at Northern
Kentucky University's Corbett Theater. Tickets can be purchased
through the CincyTicket website, and you can find more information
about the play by visiting the Soldier's Christmas website.
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