S.Robert Winer, a WWII Veteran, Tells Us His Story…

New Rep is calling on all active Service Members and Veterans to “Tell Us Your Story.” We want to hear how you, like Mister Roberts, showed bravery, honor, and grace in challenging times. Please e-mail your personal story to marketing@newrep.org.

In September 1941, before the war began, I went on active duty at Fort Devens, here in Massachusetts, where I was put in command of a heavy weapons platoon in H Company, second battalion, of the 26^th Infantry Regiment, part of the First Division, commonly known as the Big Red One. Our regimental commander was Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Our battalion commander told us junior officers we were like toilet paper, i.e. expendable.

The following July, I was transferred to the Army Air Corps to be trained as a glider pilot. Training took place over several months and at many bases, and I got my wings in February 1943.

I should say, at this point, the gliders were not the pretty little sailplanes that one thinks of as gliders nowadays. They were large, with a wing spread of close to ninety feet, and could hold 13 troops, in addition to the pilot and co-pilot, or they could carry equipment, including a jeep (which we carried on our mission in Holland in September 1944).

A number of us shipped to England in March 1945, and I was assigned to a base at Aldermaston. On D-Day, at 1:30 a.m., the first wave of gliders were towed across the English Channel by a C-47 that flew at an altitude of 400 feet when we first crossed the French border. We were to land in a farm field about 10 miles inland from Utah Beach. In our glider, we carried an anti tank gun and its crew of three.

As we flew in, we took ground fire. I remember bullets shooting right through the floor of the glider, but luckily none of us got hit. We landed at 4:00 a.m. The first glider to land in our field hit the trees at the end of the field, killing Brigadier General Don Pratt and the co-pilot, and badly injuring the pilot and the general’s aide.

The second glider landed safely; however, our glider slammed into it due to the darkness. No one was hurt in the collision, but the second glider’s tail was damaged.

Army intelligence had informed us that the field we were to land in was surrounded by hedges, like ones that you would find in your yard. The hedges turned out to be 30-foot-tall poplars. Good old army intelligence. The hedgerows helped hide us from the Germans and their tanks on the road on the other side of the trees. The tanks’ engines were running, which helped mask the noise the gliders made on landing and the crash of the gliders.

For two days, I stayed at the nearby Château de Colombieres, an old château that was converted into the first American field hospital in Europe during the war. There we were given two missions: 1) burial patrol and 2) guarding German prisoners and the hospital. On the 8^th of June, the other glider pilots and I were transported back to England to be issued further orders.

I only flew one other mission - the invasion of Holland the following September. I was unable to fly in the last mission my squadron flew due to illness. The pilot who replaced me was killed during this operation.

Since WWII, I have been back to Normandy twice. Once in 1984, around the 40^th anniversary of D-day and the second time was five years ago to mark the 60^th anniversary. Each time I visited the family who owned the farm we landed on and the owners of the Château, and, of course, they were very hospitable. I was, indeed, very fortunate to come through those missions unscathed.

Photo Credit: Robert Winer and his squadron are shown in 1944. Winer is standing third from the right.
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Steppin Up and Moving On

On Thursday, July 30th, the Studio students gave a fabulous performance to an enthusiastic audience of friends, family, New Rep staff, and even some Summer Studio alumni! As I watched the performance from the back row with Wendy, what struck me most was the growth and commitment I saw in each student's performance. One student confessed earlier in the week that she had never had a solo in a performance before -- ever! What a leap, in four short weeks, to command a stage in a solo piece and to do so convincingly. Ben, Chris, Wendy and I were very proud of all the students! Thanks to Rachael Donnelly, who instructed the group on make-up application, the students had wide-awake eyes and looked really good under the lights. I hear there are some great production photos taken by our own Todd Michael Hall, so stay tuned to the New Rep website....

It's been a while since my last post, so I also wanted to mention highlights of the Theatre Tastes programming that occurred in the last two weeks. Chris Webb gave an introduction to Viewpoints (the actor training program made popular by Tina Landau and Anne Bogart), in which the group explored the viewpoint of Tempo in depth. The group remarked on the wildly different experience of thinking of one's own body as elements of space and shape and tempo. It was inspiring to see the sense of release and depth of articulation this type of training brings to actors! Sign me up!

Speaking of inspiring, last week New Rep Artistic Director Kate Warner led an illuminating discussion about the work of a director. To have a director's work demystified was, in my opinion, important for young people who sometimes don't see themselves in any other role but that of performer. Kate also had some great answers for their most dreaded audition questions! Though there was a lot of laughter, and the group was drawn to Kate's welcoming presence, they all took away some good information about a life working in the theatre.

We're having a good last day together, giving audition tips, learning music and choreography "just for fun," and playing Theatre Sports-style acting games. I'll miss this bunch of enthusiastic students, but know they'll see future success!

Happy August!
Liz Fenstermaker, on behalf of the Summer Studio Team

Process, Process, Process

As week three begins, Wendy (Hall) and the students are doing ballet technique to Bon Jovi, while I am in reverie about the process-rich format of our program here at Summer Studio. When we came together as a faculty last summer, we agreed it was very important to pass on some of the skills in performing arts that would make for happy, healthy performers in the future. To that end, we teach technique exercises in dance, acting, and voice that we hope to be in each student's personal "bag of warm-ups" in their personal practice. We have regular "check-ins" about the work of the students; just this morning, one student shared her method of memorizing lyrics with the others. As many of us know, the performing arts can feel very competitive for a young performer; when that competition is removed, as our theory went, the student is more willing to take risks and grow. So far, it's also amazing to see the swell of generosity and trust that each student shows the group.

Speaking of creating a competition-free zone: a word about our showcase! The idea behind this informal showing (July 30th at 7:30pm! Free of charge!) is to highlight the students' work in acting, singing, and dance. Each student will have a solo piece in the showcase, which we hand-picked to show off the student's personality and range. We don't do auditions, but pick material based on our observations when building the all-cast numbers. No stress, no muss, no fuss, no tears. We will do some audition technique workshops in the final week, but our philosophy so far is to treat auditions as something that happens outside of this experience. Our job is to build up students for the tests they will face outside Summer Studio. (And, I might add, they each sound fantastic!) On Tuesday, each student will receive personalized vocal coaching from Ben (Rauhala), and I will work with each to transfer our monologue skills to song. Based on our very early work on playwriting, students are writing introductions, transition scenes, and short monologues to educate the audience on the "page to stage" connections. They are a hard-working bunch, and I couldn't be more proud of their work!

OK, ok, enough philosophy -- let's talk about STAGE COMBAT! Our own Chris Webb led us in an afternoon of kicking and hair-pulling that highlighted technique and safety. It was fun to watch -- and occasionally practice with Chris -- some really convincing and stomach-turning moves. (Don't be surprised if there's, oh, say, a CAT fight in the show.... Meow!) Thanks, Chris!

-Liz Fenstermaker, on behalf of the Summer Studio Team

Summer Studio Week 2

Hi, everyone!

Liz here again. We had a great first week with our strong group of students at Summer Studio. There are so many highlights, I'm not sure where to begin. One piece that was especially exciting for the group to work on was "Mama Who Bore Me" from Spring Awakening. At one point, Ben (New Rep Summer Studio, Musical Director) referred to them as a "choir of angels" singing -- which was an apt comparison. The group is also interested in looking at some of the original Bill T Jones choreography, so Wendy (New Rep Summer Studio, Choreographer) is looking into recreating some of his signature swirly moves. We also worked on "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience" from Frogs, which stretches our comic acting skills. Our facial muscle isolations and work on focal points are coming in handy -- and the group is seeing that Nathan Lane was not built in a day!

On Friday, we worked on monologues, which can be daunting and intense, especially on a sunny Friday summer afternoon. They dove right in, analyzing text for salient words, establishing objectives, and creating a physical life for their characters. It truly wowed me that their early work was so rich and their readings so expressive and natural. (On a practical note, I'm glad they'll be able to rock upcoming auditions with this new material.)

Oh, and how could I forget our new best friend Maurice Parent?! Part of the New Rep’s cast of Ragtime, Wild Party, and Cabaret, funny and charming Maurice came to chat with us about his life as a working actor and creating the role of black in Wild Party, whose music and original text we had sampled earlier in the day.

This morning, I'm watching Wendy give a technique class, and wishing more schools would have formal dance instruction as part of their arts curriculum so teens could have great teachers like Wendy. (There, I said it. Write your school boards!) Later today, each student will show a piece of their own choreography they created this weekend as "homework." One student told me this morning that she's done a production number and we each have a part. I guess I'd better go stretch!

Summer Studio is Sizzling!

Hi, New Rep fans!

I'm Liz, director of this year's Summer Studio: "Page to Stage." Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring the connections between some of our favorite musicals (like Frogs, Oliver, Applause, Damn Yankees, and Wicked) and the works of literature that inspired them. (Our awesome education intern, Jason Simon, is busy amassing a research library for us!)

Today was our first day, and the group of teen performers is truly fabulous! Wendy Hall, choreographer extraordinaire, gave a great dance technique class this morning and taught a fun 1980s dance combination. In the afternoon, our new best friend and music director Ben Rauhala busted out some of the company numbers for our Showcase (July 30, 7pm, in the Mosesian Theatre). The group was singing in three-part harmony by the end of the afternoon, which is a huge accomplishment on the first day! Best of all, everyone seemed to be having a good time, and the group went off to lunch break chatting like old friends.

A new component of this year's studio is the inclusion of workshops that will encourage these young artists to take on the creative roles of choreographer, playwright, and director. Keep reading to see what this group can do!

Liz Fenstermaker
on behalf of the Summer Studio team

Exciting Changes

Hi Everyone,

As we are preparing for the New Voices @ New Rep reading of DEPORTED / a dream play, Joyce has been rewriting the script based on our discoveries in the Boston University New Plays Initiative Workshop (please see my earlier entries).There are some major, exciting changes a-brewing! The dream-like quality of the play is growing and characters deepening and changing. I am so looking forward to sharing these changes with you in a public setting!

We have also confirmed the majority of our panel for discussion after the reading about the place theater has in the public discussion and processing on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. We are thrilled to have some wonderful members of the Armenian community on our panel including Ruth Thomasian (Founder and Executive Director of Project Save, the Armenian Photo Archive), Dr. Martin Deranian (the real life son of one of the principle characters in DEPORTED), Mariam Stepanyan (Executive Director, Armenian Library and Museum) and Tina Sajonian (President, BU Armenian Student Association).

We hope you will join us on Monday, May 4th at 7:30 pm for the reading of DEPORTED / a dream play!

Best,
Judy Braha
Director

Discovering Cultural Components

Hi Everyone,

In February, we had a very exciting experience with DEPORTED / a dream play! Boston University New Plays Initiative gave us the opportunity to work on further developing an already strong script via a workshop production of the play with BU School of Theater students. Joyce and I spent 5 weeks working on the play in rehearsal with 9 BU actors and 3 designers. This rehearsal and performance process was invaluable to us! We learned a huge amount about the world of the play, the characters, the style and the use of Armenian dance, music and film images.

We had the extreme pleasure of collaborating with Apo Ashjian, Artistic Director of SAYAT NOVA DANCE COMPANY. Apo taught the actors in the workshop traditional Armenian dance that wove throughout the scenes of the play. We made some wonderful discoveries about how essential these cultural components were in weaving the play together and evoking a whole culture in a very private world. It became clear that these elements gave us a real link to finding the universal in the particular, to linking the vibrancy of the Armenian culture to the difficult memories of the genocide. It has been most important to us that we speak for life in this play and the opportunity to work with Apo and sound designers Liz Wallbridge and GW Roderigez in adding the dance and sound of historic Armenia to the play helped us immensely!

The reading for the New Rep will be the first reading of the newly revised script based on our discoveries from the BU New Plays Initiative workshop!

Best,
Judy Braha