 They call themselves the Hassan Theater. Part of what they do is they take oral histories, which is they found some elderly folks, and they take their live stories, and they record them, and they interpret them, and they turn them into a dramatic presentation. And tonight we've got the pleasure of seeing one of their original productions called Alice and Eugene in the Forgotten Years. I'm looking forward to it. It should be something new for us. I really hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your feedback when it's all said and done. Please sit back and enjoy the show. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming to see our show. At this time, please turn off your cell phones. We are the Hassan Theater Truth, and the performance you're about to see is part of our Live Forever project. The mission of the Live Forever project is to illuminate history through a personal lens by preserving and sharing true stories through artistic expression. We aim to keep memories alive. Our current focus is World War II and the Great Depression. Today, we'll experience stories based on our interviews of two people who lived through World War II. Eugene Hilke from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, who was stationed with the National Guard 32nd Division 127th Infantry E Company in the South Pacific. He fought in New Guinea in Island Northwest Australia. You'll also experience stories from the life of Alice Green from Manitowoc, Wisconsin as someone who experienced the effects and implications of the war on the home front. Our performance is a collection of different pieces in various art forms that depict these stories. The play you are about to see is original work created by the Hassan Theater Truth. Without further ado, the Hassan Theater Truth Live Forever project presents Alice and Eugene, the lucky ones. Please save your applause for intermission and the end of the show. Bad news, what is it? Grandma and Grandpa were in a car accident. They still have the road driving into town. Grandma and Grandpa, are they all right? Well, yeah, but it was scary. You should go visit them. Will you be there? What to talk about? And it's always so awkward when it's just me. I just came back from there, so I don't think we're gonna make it again today. But you should really go. You'll find something to talk about. Just be yourself. Okay. All right, well, let me know how it goes, okay? I will, I love you. Love you, too. Bye. Bye. And you here? Oh, I thought I'd just come check on you. Well, for me. Would you like me to get you some water? Um, no. You don't have to. I can get it. She's in the bedroom resting. Her back isn't bothering her. Oh. Is that because of the accident? I suppose your mom and dad will do about that. Yeah, they told me. I'm glad you guys are all right now, though. We were lucky this time. It just sounds good to get a steering wheel that used to be. All of a sudden, we're staying off the road, and... this was a close call. I've felt that a lot in the past. Well, it's been a service for many close calls. I remember I used to talk about that when I was a kid, but I can't remember any of the stories now. Well, that's all right. I have a hard time remembering that many more. That was many years ago, and my memory is not what it used to be. That's what it was like for you. That's like a jumble. That's all right. You can do it. Let's see. I was in the age that I joined the service since about 1940, and it ended off as a service almost until the very end of the war. We dreamed of quite some time and now stationed for a more clean beginning. Wow. When you first started, did you think you would be in the war in that long? No. Each step of the way we thought, something's going to happen. We'll turn around and head home. But things have moving forward. National Guard. It shouldn't be too hard. We lived one week as we moved gas masks and helmets and things we didn't have. And then there was this one evening when we boarded the U.S.S. Mount Vernon, this huge passenger vessel out here carrying troops. And then that same night, we left under the Golden Gate Bridge. And that was quite a sight. And then we got on to the Pacific. And the Pacific was rougher than anywhere in the whole trip. And every day we'd wake up there would be a new sea. There would be rough seas, mild seas, and very gentle seas. We were on the water for 23 days and no land in that time. And every day everyone in the vessel would say, walk through, walk through everywhere, but not a drop in drink. Finally, we arrived in Adelaide, Australia, which is the southern part of Australia. And from that point, we boarded the train and we moved to the Brisbane area. And we left for Port Morsley, New Guinea. It was a dark, ominous day. And we all wondered what we were in for. A puddle of eight-foot grass, rays of sun split shadow in half, soldiers' wounds burdened native backs. How many living? How many passed? How much damage? Who will be next? Fives in the trees and in the reeds, burning holes in the soles of my feet. Was this the plan when Lucifer fell? If I had to choose, New Guinea or hell? When sunlight fades and moonlight rains, my blood turns thickly in my veins. I shut my lids, but I don't sleep. Can't see the weeds stare back at me. Madded fur and eyes like bees, I cringe under the weight of tiny feet, a jerk and a sugar from through my back. What else lingers in the grass? Feaster boots, I can't tell. If I had to choose, New Guinea or hell? The Dreadmoor River lasted us, as the creatures living in our guts. As our flesh blisters and falls off. Our boots reek of jungle rot. Beware, black water is poisonous, and the pills we pop to keep death at bay make our eyes droop and our minds decay. And it all goes dark, but just as well. If I had to choose, New Guinea or hell? I live in hell. I live in hell. I live in hell. I live in hell. I live in hell. And rent out New Guinea. Some of it down? Sure thing. Hang on, I just gotta find something to write with. In there? Yeah! Are you sure you'll be able to find something? Crayon? What are you calling me? The first battle for Morski, New Guinea, and the Japanese attacked my plane. It was during the night when I heard explosions, and I galled by my puppets. And the battle itself was terrible, but prettier than heck. Terrible. Better than heck. I know what you mean, but everyone gets that feeling. I don't know, Hilki. I think it's different this time. I just get this feeling like I'm really not going to make it out of it this time. You'll see it, boy. We'll do what we have to do, and we'll make it. Right. The scariest things you saw. The scariest things? I saw many scary things. Many horrible, gruesome things. I don't like to think about them. With Halloween masks, eaten, beaten, rotten flesh, stationary, distorted limbs, turning to mush, showing their macabre teeth, metal eyes, cold and blind, whose face is this, gruesome, an abandoned, bloated buoy, rusting in the sun, half of an empty time capsule, cradled in the surf, the sunken eyes of a moth-eaten-rayed doll, an ageless, raceless depression, in the restless, reaching water. The ominous creature other, now our brother, whose face is this, gruesome. Heads will roll, heads will roll. Do heads roll? Do they thud or do they crack? Do they burn or do they break? Get this faceless man a drink. He looks ill, he looks sick. Whose face is this, gruesome? An ancient ghost who eats the soul and leaves the bones? You impose and insist. A will no one can resist. You take the eyes, the skin, the mind until you create a mirror image. You wake in trees, and in water, and in reeds, and in the hearts of men. Death, this is your face. These are your hands. Gruesome. Gruesome. Gruesome. Have to hear about some of the saddest things you saw. The saddest things? Saddest things. Oh, yes, now I see what you mean. Now it comes back to my memory. We were on the beach, and nearby there was a cluster of trees, and the ocean came up to them. At the cluster of trees, the waves came up to the roof system, and you could lie behind those two trees, and look between them, down the beach, and over towards the jungle. That ended up to be kind of a hotspot. A number of guys got shot there. So we learned that we had to shy away from that place, because in training you learn places that are hot. You use tactics, and you go someplace else. Well, it just so happened that we had a new commanding officer, because their old man put in for a transfer. This new officer happened to be there at the time, and he volunteered to command our company, and he didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. He really didn't. He didn't know it's part of a machine gun where which, and he was calling them by the wrong names and such, and he insisted that someone should go down by those two trees, where all the men got shot, because the trees stuck out into the water, and you could maybe peek around one of them, and shoot a little bit further down this way. That's why you wanted a machine gun there. So, coming down from Texas and I, we hop-skipped down to that hotspot. Now, we knew where the shooting would be coming from, and we didn't want to expose ourselves, so we hop-skipped, and we jumped, and we used the protection of the higher ground. Finally, we got down to that hotspot, and pretty soon, POW! bullet came, hit the ground, sand sprayed in our face, POW! another bullet, sand sprayed in our face, and we were trying to make a spot for the machine gun to set the machine gun in, and the sniper was still shooting, but he was missing us, and I didn't want to say it, so I was glad when Cunningham said, God darn it, he'll be that son of a bitch, can't miss forever. So, we decided to get the hell out of there, so he hop-skipped, tumbled, and rolled, and once he was done, I hop-skipped, tumbled, and rolled. We went back to that commanding officer who sent us there, and we told him that that was a hotspot with machine gunners from G Company. Someone shot his back real his, because I'm telling you about it. I never saw who was real hysterical, like, that was really as funny, you know? The commanding officer for that death. Many, many times. Because I'm telling you about it. That's what makes me break down. You can stop for a while if you want. Next question. Alright, is there a time during the war where you experienced joy, even though you were going through a lot of hardship? One morning, when I had chosen a shallow depression in the ground as my face to sleep, I woke up, and I found something there in the grass that I never, ever expected to find. Sometime later, when I was at home, I opened up an issue of Life Magazine, and lo and behold, there was a picture of that dead soldier laying on the beach, and it was such a strange feeling to think that I laid next to that soldier in the magazine when he died. Picture of God. Picture of God. Well, I take him out of the barrel, and I hang him on the hook. I worked there with two other girls. Oh. Oh, and there was also this creepy guy. His name was... Frankie. Yes, Frankie. And I guess he liked me. He would always come over by me, and I couldn't stand him. Frankie came by yesterday. My lover boy, you know, Frankie. But Frankie is really a creep. Oh! I hate it when he comes over here to talk to me. What's up? You want me to call him over? You can tell him that you love him. I'll give you a thing or two about Frankie. Okay. Both of you help me get back to work. And I've been hearing about how you see Alice. For a break. She had to cut a hate beatpacking company. Um... The ABC store. J.C. Penney. Mural. Yes, in the factory, I would make equipment for the soldiers. We all worked very hard. Times in between it all. They're playing baseball. They had local teams for girls, and they were looking for girls to play ball. So we played ball. I hear they're looking for some girls for a ball team. My baseball team moved. That was gone already. I just bought this. Can I trade it in for a new tube? I have too much to carry. I just bought this. Can I trade it in for a new tube? Do I take your car today? Or my car? What did you like to walk today? Where would you like to walk today? Inspire me or give me thoughts anyway. My mother worked part-time at something, and my father also worked, you know. We just took everything as a matter of course. Like, say you couldn't get this thing because it was rationed. Well, that's it. You can't get it. It was the way it was. We feared. It didn't manifest itself outwardly. It was just an era in our lives that we have. Like, your eras are high school, and then college, and everything like that. Well, we didn't have that. It just seemed like a plain humdrum life. Not much events, really. Now all the events are happening in a different people's life. Under people. That's the way. In a school? Did you know anyone that died? Yes. My classmates died in the war. Did you find out? Well, it was published. It was published, and we would follow it at school. Richard, Frank, Charles, Novak, Joseph, Todd, Andrew, Miller. They were all a part of our togetherness. And it hits me harder now than it did back then. Families had children who were in the war, and whatever would happen would be an acceptance. And that was our part in the war. Creatures of the night. I can still hear them in the water. Tiny feet. Are they cams? Madded fur. Do you remember the cams? Crossed your skin. Click in the water. Tiny feet. Are they cams? Madded fur. Or creeping boots. Do you remember the rats? Do you remember the cams? Crossed your skin. Click in the water. Tiny feet. Are they cams? Madded fur. Or creeping boots. Do you remember the rats? 30 seconds from plighting, holding your breath to soft time. 15 seconds from white water, cling to a paddle for dear life. You are 23 days from battle, in a tin can on thick old seas. A new horizon every day, you wade, freefall splash, water, water everywhere, but never a drop to drink. Eat, sleep, pray, play, live, die, don't blink. Don't blink. Add in right and wrong, but there's food to be cooked and clothes to be hung. Life, life, loud life goes on, except for when it doesn't. Bring out the dead. Bring out your dead. Bring out the kid who sat next to me in class. Bring out my partner at the last school dance. Bring out a list of empty desks. Put them in neat little rows and close your eyes. It's like nothing's changed at all. Vertigo. The world spins around and around. And life, life goes on. Sometimes I feel nothing at all. Sometimes I feel nothing at all. The empty eternal sleep. Sometimes the ineffable fades up to the sky. Sometimes in the back of my eyes, I brush my teeth. This is life. This is me. The present changes the past. Like the past changes me. Perception swims and jumps and wiggles. Many histories in my eyes. Time. Time. Time. Time doesn't heal, but it sheds the light. A different light. We were just kids. Bring out your dead. You were just kids. Bring out your dead. You were just kids. Bring out the dead. I didn't think a lot about it back then. But now they live in the back of my head. And sometimes I still cry for them. Sometimes. Thank you, sweetie. How are you doing? Oh, your grandfather is out in the garden right now. He got some crazy ideas in his head. But I told him not to stay out there too long and overwork himself. Your story. Sure. Would you like some toast? Okay. We did. I think I slept a little better than your grandfather, though. Today we need to talk about something a little happier. I was wondering what it was like when you and Grandpa met. Oh, goodness. Well, we met when he was in the service. And it was towards the end of the war. Did you guys date for a while? Different back then. People got married very quickly. And things moved pretty fast for us, too. Why is that? Soldiers were coming home from war. People wanted to, you know, get out on their own. Move on. They wanted to start a family. You know, some people moved even faster than we did. I didn't really know your grandfather that well before we got married. He was in the service for most of the time we were dating. To do one. Getting older and you're not in the best of health. I don't know what I can do about it. Well, that people know our stories. We're just living our lives. But they are important. And they can get lost in time. That's just how time works. None of us can help that. Well, that can't be. Just can't be. It was Jimmy Green that Jimmy and I were wounded at about the same time. But Jimmy was hurt just a little bit before I was. So we were both headed home to heal up, stopping at different hospitals along the way. And the way it worked out, Jimmy was already always one hospital ahead of me. I could never quite catch up with him. By the time I got to the hospital he was in, darn it, he was already onto the next one. But eventually we both got home and I decided to go pay Jimmy Green a visit. Little did I know that when I went to see Jimmy Green, I would meet his little sister, Alice Green. It was a very strange and special day. And at the same time, hospitals you always looked before but I let you at the finish line and visit home. There are shows tomorrow afternoon. It's a really great venue and they went out of their way to help us advertise and to do this wonderful set up and all that stuff. So we really, really appreciate that very, very much. We'd like to thank all of you for coming. We'd like to thank my grandparents, Alice and Eugene Helpe for being so gracious to tell us their stories so that we could create this for you tonight. We'd also like to thank all of our family and friends for supporting us. There's more of us now so I don't think I'm going to list off everybody. But thank you to mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, boyfriends, all that kind of stuff. And I think we'll go down the line and introduce ourselves and then I will say some other things. Hi, I'm Kelsey Bowen and I'm from Two Rivers. I'm Winifred Bondi and I'm from Manitowoc. Emily Mathis from Manitowoc. Duffy Mathis from Manitowoc. Colleen Makut, originally Two Rivers. Now living in Sheboygan. Diana Kiyava from Sea of the Point. I have a trick. I'm from Manitowoc. And we are the Hussah Theatre crew. I just wanted to make you aware that the Lift River Project is an ongoing project. We're looking for people who have stories to contribute. So if you know someone or if you yourself would like to contribute stories, please contact us. Our contact information is on your program tonight. We also have business cards over at the table. So yeah, we love to hear from people and we're looking for more stories because these stories are important to preserve as well as the stories of many, many others. So we are in active search for that. Please return any props you may have given. So as you know, there are also CDs for sale. They're $5. So if you're interested in getting a copy of the CD of our songs, you can do that. There was 10 songs throughout the show. So you can get a 10 song CD for $5. Thank you very much again for coming. Oh, please come talk to us. We love to meet you. Thank you very much.