BASETRACK LIVE is a multidisciplinary work including theater, music, news media, journalism, and technology.  While embedded with the First Battalion, Eighth Marines in Southern Afghanistan, a group of photojournalists led by Teru Kuwayama started the online project that became the authentic dialogue of the performance.  Connecting Battalion members with their families and others around the world, the online project became a platform for documenting the range of perspectives and the emotional tolls of deployment and beyond.

AFGHANISTAN, 2010 -- a team of photographers and journalists, embedded with the First Battalion, Eighth Marines (out of Camp Lejeune), began composing a Facebook page and website which captured the stories and images of modern day Marines and their families. These social media pages (which to date have received over five million hits) became powerful tools for families and active military stationed overseas to communicate with each other. They also became the inspiration for a new a multi-media performance touring the nation during 2014/15.

BASETRACK LIVE, presented by En Garde Arts, is a multidisciplinary work including theater, music, news media, journalism, and technology. A group of photojournalists documented Marines in Afghanistan by taking photographs and videos using only an iPhone. This material, which enabled military families to communicate with their loved ones, began to tell an important story of ordinary people fundamentally changed by extraordinary circumstances.

BASETRACK Live, produced by En Garde Arts, is an inspirational, multimedia work of contemporary theatre based on the life of a Marine in Afghanistan, his wife’s experiences at home, and his challenges with returning from war. Live music, projected film, and a cascade of images from embedded photojournalists and veteran filmmakers punctuate a performance drawn from text taken verbatim from social media exchanges and interviews.

Join us this November 8th and 9th at the Fashion Institute of Technology to celebrate veterans in the arts as part of Veterans Week 2014!

SATURDAY, NOV 8th – JOURNEYS in STORIES – From the Front to the Home Front in Words

PRESENTED by: Veteran Artist Program (VAP) w/ Voices from War

The Veterans Artist Program (VAP) presents Telling: Baltimore 2014 in partnership with Johns Hopkins University.  This is the 2nd production of Telling that VAP has produced in Baltimore and includes 10 veterans and family members.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH – TELLING: NYC 2014
Join us for TELLING: NYC 2014 featuring Jerry Castanos, Michael Castelblanco, Elana Duffy, Natalie Lovejoy, John Manley, Letrice Titus and Adam Wojac

Created by Jonathan Wei

Directed by Max Rayneard and Alex Mallory

The United States Air Force Orchestra accompanies a musical performance commemorating the 150th anniversary of Arlington National Cemetery and featuring the Washington, D.C., area premiere of "Arlington Sons," performed by Broadway and Metropolitan Opera star, David Pittsinger, as well as an original work by Virginia composer Stephen Melillo, titled "Courageous."

The United States Air Force Orchestra accompanies a musical performance commemorating the 150th anniversary of Arlington National Cemetery and featuring the Washington, D.C., area premiere of "Arlington Sons," performed by Broadway and Metropolitan Opera star, David Pittsinger, as well as an original work by Virginia composer Stephen Melillo, titled "Courageous."

Featuring The U.S. Air Force Reed Quintet and The U.S. Air Force Chamber Trio, as well as special guest, Broadway and Metropolitan Opera star, David Pittsinger, for the premiere of "Arlington Sons," commemorating the 150th anniversary of Arlington National Cemetery. 

Cultural programming and creative therapies for service members, veterans and their families are thriving in communities across the country. Learn strategies to identify community needs and build military/civilian partnerships that lead to impactful program design.