Not For Heroes

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Not about Heroes: by Stephen MacDonald

This Drammy Award winning show was composite of dialogue, letters, excerpts from memoirs and pieces of poetry, "Not about Heroes" tells the true story of two of England's most lauded World War I poets, brought together by the shared horror of war. Siegfried Sassoon, most famous for "Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man" finds himself stuck in a mental hospital after refusing to lead his troops into what he has come to believe is a senseless war. There he meets Wilfred Owen, a budding poet later made famous for his "Anthem for Doomed Youth," who has been hospitalized for an aggravated case of shell shock.

First , tolerant author and adoring fan, then teacher and pupil, and finally friends of a deeply passionate and passionately reserved nature, Sassoon and Owen discover in each other a shared commitment to telling the unpopular truth about the "Great War". This fragile communion is ultimately torn apart when both betray their pacifist convictions to return to the front in fruitless attempts to confront private ghosts of fear and nihilistic desire.

"Not about Heroes" was directed by Jon Kretzu, and starred Grant Byington as Sassoon.

Dates: Oct. 19 - Nov. 19, 2000

For more information about the historical figures of Wilfred Owen and Sigfried Sassoon, check out The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Database Archive

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