Douglas Taurel is not an American soldier. He’s never been to war.
Yet, veterans across the country are saluting him– thanking him for being “their voice,” for telling their stories and for showing the nation what military members go through in times of war and at home.
For the past five years, Taurel has fine-tuned his one-man play entitled “American Soldier” and will be performing it at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Jan. 22.
The one-man show spans all of America’s significant war conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Taurel shows his acting chops as he portrays multiple service members and a few family members – including a mother and child.
“I wanted to write something and I was very moved by the stories I was reading in the papers regarding combat veterans with PTSD and not having work. Some particular stories really moved me and started the spark (for the play,)” Taurel said. “That was what it was – a tremendous empathy for them and their family members for what they were sacrificing and how they weren’t being helped.”
The characters are based upon letters written by real servicemen in each war. Taurel said over the course of eight years, he spent hours a day at the New York City public library, reading veteran letters and researching each war for the play –reading 20-30 books and thousands of letters.
Taurel certainly covers a lot of ground during his 55 minutes on stage. Taurel hopes to accurately portray different struggles military members face – including deployments, family relationships, PTSD and acclimating back into society after war.
“I have a storyline that goes through the play and in a way they are all trying to come back home to a degree. I try to talk about the different aspects of war and the challenges and what they have to go through,” Taurel said. “(The characters) are different explanations of war. The overall theme is ‘thank you’ to the family members and veterans. The idea is to give the audience a sincere understanding of what it is that we ask our men and women in arms to do for us. That is the goal.”
Audience members, veterans and critics alike have received the play well. He’s performed the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, to crowds of veterans in New Jersey and Texas and in Red Hook, N.Y.
The play has even been nominated for an Amnesty Award.
And while the play has done better than Taurel ever expected, he said he has gained much more than awards and positive reviews. Taurel noted his years researching and now portraying military members has given him a new appreciation for men and women in uniform. Taurel also noted he now calls himself an “advocate,” calling for military officials to do more for service members’ mental health needs.
Taurel said he is “nervous” for his upcoming free performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts because of the likely amount of veterans and high-ranking officials in the audience, but is excited for the opportunity. Like all of his previous performances, Taurel hopes audience members take away the “tremendous” sacrifices military members and their families make.
“War has changed so much today, and it used to bother me because when we (used to be at) war, the whole country felt it,” Taurel said. “Now, as a society, we don’t have to make the same kind of commitment or sacrifices that previous generations made. Society functions efficiently even with war. We forget what they go through. My play reminds them.”
The trailer for the play can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieo-YaTuqGI.