The Vokes Players of Wayland present the Boston area premiere of the drama The Body of an American, written by Dan O’Brien and directed by Dave Sheppard. Performances will be held at Beatrice Herford’s Vokes Theatre, Route 20 in Wayland, MA from February 22 through March 10, Thursday-Saturday evenings at 8PM with a 2PM matinee on Saturdays, March 3 and March 10.  For tickets and information call 508-358-4034, or order online via our website, www.vokesplayers.org.  Ticket prices are $19.00 for Thursday evenings and Saturday matinees; $22.00 for Friday & Saturday evenings.

The image: the body of a fallen American soldier desecrated by a mob in Mogadishu.  Journalist Paul Watson’s famous photo had a lasting impact on America in an age of global terror, an impact keenly felt by the man who took that photo, and his life and career became a touchstone in the debate about the horrors of genocide.  Dan O’Brien’s play intertwines Paul’s personal journey with Dan’s own attempt to understand the world of a war reporter.  Watson, haunted by the incident, his photo, and the soldier in it, questions his motives, his ethics, and the value of his profession.  In conversations between journalist and playwright, they consider lives spent with danger, wanderlust, dislocation, and separation from family – as well as the lasting impact of one photograph on themselves and on world events. The play was awarded with the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama and was the winner of the Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play.

The cast for the show includes: James Barton (Marlboro) and Jeff Mahoney (Walpole).  The director, Dave Sheppard, is from Maynard.

Contains adult themes