 with no insignia, a teacamp, and very dark military-spec sunglasses escort a male prisoner to the cell. He's in his 20s and wears only a very brief hospital gown. From an elevated window, control looks down at the theater space. Control smokes silently and watches a chaplain hesitantly approach the centered stage. The chaplain picks up a filed folder and begins to study its context. Suddenly, we hear the sound of a locking vault as if the house doors are sealed. Christmas music blasts and allows a severely redacted tailor. Perhaps a few? Yes, that information is not germane to the investigation. It's what? Not germane, sir! I'm sorry, I can't really... You were saying? The redacted information is not germane, obviously. Obviously most of this file is not germane. Yes, sir, not germane, classified. Classified? Yes, sir. I can't even find the subject's name. Yes, sir. How can I... Well, it's classified, sir. I can't counsel a man unless I know his name. What's your rank, though? Sir, our policies... You're going to tell me that your rank is classified, too, aren't you? No, sir, it's simply not germane. With all due respect, sir. Well, with all due respect, I know a shave tail when I run up against one. Like nothing. Come on, Lieutenant, you still reek of the Academy. Expect the anonymity of staff and other personnel, sir. My policy is to know a man's name. Yes, sir. And you'll find that the results of our policies speak for themselves. Results? I'm just prepared. Prepared poorly, I should point out, for a first session. Results are a long way off. Understood, sir. By the way, your name is Jim. My name's Jim. Nigga Jim. What do you do? We respect your anonymity as well, sir. And today your name is Jim. I don't want to be Jim. Deal with it, Jimbo. Shall we move on, sir? Jizzle Jim. What's your name, soldier? Soldier, I ask you a question. My apologies. The sergeant is new to the unit, sir. Now if I may direct your attention to the file. I ask that man, that sergeant, a question. I ask you a question. Yes, sir. Have you examined the photographs? They're all the photographs. Take me to your commanding officer now. Now. What kind of a place are you running? There is no here, Jim. Photos? Would you have a seat, sir? If you would sit down, sir, we can continue. Those across the table. You might find it helpful, sir, if you examine them closely. I examined them, I said. To understand this case, perhaps you should... Why don't you let me be the judge of how I should or should not do my job? Without looking at the photos, the chapel gathers them up and shoves them back into the folder. I regret the circumstances, sir, but as you were told in your briefing, the process carries a certain urgency. I can't do this on a deadline. It doesn't work like this. There's a war on the subject. I know there's a war. Yes, sir. If you would examine each of these photos carefully, you might find them to be germane to your assessment of the subject. Please, take another look, sir. I don't need another look. The sooner we're done, the sooner you can return home. See, your family loves one, but especially at this time of year, you're married, aren't you, sir? Offense matters. Thirty Santa Party tonight, Jim. 1,300. Don't make us miss it. The staff is one. Sir? Welton. Yes, sir. It takes a while to become accustomed. This is just a ride from a milder climate. Take your time, sir. Don't wait. You intend to go to the photos directed in front of the staff, but you finally glance down at them. These are all the days, Jim. What type of brown did this? M855. A saw, to be more specific. Are you familiar with this? Yes, I know the weapon. Outstanding, sir. This is the last one. He did this? Yes, sir, as the report states. Oh, my God. Big Daddy ain't here either, Jimbo. I don't know what you want me to do. If you agree, you can cover your assignments, sir. Look, bottom line, I'm a chaplain, a counselor. I'm not a... Of course, sir. And it takes the directors of a strong opinion that your background will be. My background? Yes, it's advantageous. Common circumstances are a basis for establishing reports, sir. A report? Look, I'm very open about my feelings regarding any further service to the military. Does your director know that? The director is quite aware, sir. Aware that I wash my hands of the likes of you. Listen, we're the good guys, Jim. Come on. Look, I'm done with any kind of double... The director chose you for a reason, sir. And is there a reason we're not under arrest? When I arrived here, I had... Sir? You took my personal facts. I need some things for my personal facts. Yes, sir. I'll look into it after your first session. Well, it would be good if I could actually... This way, sir. Lieutenant Croft is with us. As I said, there is some urgency, sir. Security reasons? I still don't understand that. National security, sir. Look, this is so far out of my pay grade. I have no experience of... Experience is why the director firmly believes that you're our man. I need my personal facts. Please. May I take this, sir? Certainly. Absolutely anything you need, sir. Well, in that case, I... Absolutely anything within operational parameters. The sergeant opens the cell door. We immediately hear Christmas music, which apparently has been playing inside the entire time. The director believes in a heightened environment to switch on the side of the cell. Silence. More to your liking, sir? Yes. How do I address him? There is no him. I'm Captain. My name is Jim. You're the talk about me, sir. Whatever you might want to share about the situation... or anything else... I got worms. Worms. That's what comes to mind. Worms. All right. I don't think it's all right. I got worms all over. It's under my skin, just a wiggling away. I feel them crawling in my gut, stealing what pitiful food they give me right out of my belly. When my belly's empty, they go and look for more. I feel them crawl up into my chest. They's in my lungs some days, choking me. No, it ain't all right. Not at all. So what's the deal with you? I don't know that I have a deal. Everybody's got a deal. Those people out there, they've been sending in a slew of fellas, one after the other. And each of them, he had him a whole deal going on. Talking like he was the best thing since Dr. Pepper and Rupar Pie. Going on about how he'd do this and that, short of sending me to Dollywood with a white woman. So what's up with you? And don't get no ideas about Dollywood because I wouldn't go anyway. White woman or otherwise. That was just one of them hypodermic situations. Son, I'm a chaplain. I'm here to listen, that's all. Like a reverend? That's right, just like a reverend. Nice. I've been asking for a drink of water for I don't know how long and all I get is a reverend in a uniform. So, one more time. What's your deal? I don't... Let's talk about your deal instead. My deal is I got worms. I'm thirsty. I'm locked in a box with you and people staring at us. That's my deal. Humph. A river. What kind? Hard shell? Free will? Hey, you ain't a Methodist, are you? No, son, I'm a Unitarian. Let's talk about what? Let's just say that I can relate to a wide range of beliefs. Utilitarian. Don't that beat all? I'd have bet you as a Methodist you hold your mouth all tight like like you ain't taking a proper dump in a few days. Shit. Look, I'm... Poop backs up the colors of man's world. Soldiers. When my granddad made too much cheese. Soldiers. I'm not here to talk about poop. I'm here to talk about this. It's not important to stack the photos in the folder. You okay? It's got some switches to photos back in the folder. Fine, I'm fine. Goodness. You reckon? So, we was talking about the weather. Is that it? Let's get you some water. It's hard to talk when we're parked. You're thirsty yet? It's got some stands and wraps. May we please have some water? Please? We need some water? Wrap again. Loudly. I don't think you want to do that. It's stifling in here. Open the door. Open the door. Now, I'll remind you that I'm an officer. Hey, that went good. I'll get straight enough. Sure. He's looking at my peek in there, Reverend Jim. I'm fine. Just saying. I've seen frogs' bellies with more color. Let's talk about you, shall we? Uh, what to say? Can we take a break? I'll speak to someone in charge. Like I said, you might not want to do that. It's simple decency. It's the right thing to do. I suppose to use a guy who always does the right thing. I try. Don't most people want to do the right thing? Most people, they's out for their self. They got an angle. Always an angle. Always wanting something. Dying for something. I hope to do better than that. I reckon you do. See, I got you figured for a do-gooder. A guy who aims high. Take it like this. Use the type who goes to whiz in the ocean and misses the water. That's what happens when you aim high. So you got me figured out in these few minutes? You should have my job done. Hey, I was just jarring, not judging. We ain't supposed to judge, see? Said so in the Bible last time I looked. You lived by the Bible? Sure. Always. I said, don't you? Of course. I try my best. Instead of trying, you ought to just do it. No offense men, Reverend Jim. Speak your mind son. Tell me about what's on my mind is that it's better when it goes both ways. Me, I like to hear stories even more than I like to tell them. You know, the old back and forth conversation. Conversation. That's what I meant. See, I ain't good at this business. I just ramble. But you use one of them fancy fellas that can pull $5 words right out of the air. That's not that a Shakespeare guy. Hey, what was his deal anyway? I don't know. But you can word too much. I don't mean no disrespect, you being an officer and all, but I'd take it as a kindness if you didn't call me that. Son, you haven't done it again. I'm sorry, I respect that. Let's start fresh. I'm Jim. What do I call you? I don't like to be touched, neither. Kind of sets off the worms. Forgot about them, fair enough. What's your name? Don't matter. What does it mean? Still don't matter, because I can't say it. Of course you can. Look, I ain't nobody. I ain't here. This place ain't here. The fact is, you ain't here. You just ain't figured it out yet. You're right in front of me. You have a story, you have a name, tell me your name. They said if I told you, they'd shoot somebody. Who? I deserve a drink of water, but that all means squad, doesn't it? A man deserves his name. A man deserves his name. You better sit down, Reverend Jim. It's liable to come in here if you don't. I wouldn't push him. You know what I can do with him. Ain't you I'm worried about. I ain't got all day, you know. Then fellas out there, they like their jokes. I mean, they've seen you in here. Utilitarian with the flop sweats. So funny, I forgot to laugh. I'm not part of any joke. Oh, Reverend. Come on. No offense, but I don't need no middleman. I saw a ride with God. He's been talking to me for years. Wait a minute. God's been talking to you? Sure. How does he? Suppose you told me at least once at first. Out in the country where I was raised, it gets still enough. So still that a cricket sounds like a chainsaw. Shoot the blood in your veins roars like a river in springtime. One night when I was just a small fry, I started to hear the Lord in that stillness. I'd hear him in the rustle of the wind, in the rain rattling on the shingles, a word here, two words there, a whisper that could snap an open tune. And later I'd even feel him like when a snowflake, a single one, would hit my cheek like a kiss just to let me know he was there. So, you're going to ask me about that elephant. So, you're going to ask me about that elephant in the outhouse, the whale in the bathtub, Godzilla in the pantry. What? What happened? The reason he's here, what's in that classified folder that's got you so bothered, the low down, the story I done told a thousand times and got to tell again just to get you out of my hair. You want to hear that? I'm trying to. You'd like to talk about it? If I'd like to talk about it. Crimean, are you sure you ain't no head shrinker? Is this regular army like you? Watching you fidget, I got my doubts. I'm surprised, so... You might be too. I don't understand. Shoot, there's only one him, Reverend. That day. The day had happened. Stuff in that folder, that was the day the Lord sent Jesus to me. He appeared and talked to me, full out. You should see the look on your face. You think I'm full of it. I'm listening, that's all I can do. I don't talk about this lightly. I thought you might understand. You supposed to be a man of God and all. Ain't you seen him? Literally? Of course not. In that case, I don't want to talk no more. Soldier. Look, long time ago when I was a kid, I thought I might have, kids look up into the clouds and see dragons and faces and, well, who knows what. In the end, though, it's just a paper and a lot of imagination. What's that supposed to mean? I don't know if it means anything. Maybe imagination is its own gift. Maybe God has revealed within each of us. What do you think? I think it means you don't believe me. Well, I want to believe you, soldier. I truly do. That might be the first honest thing I heard around 0530, aiming to hit the first lot when we got to our objective. Objective. That's army for where we's going. Yeah. Where we's going was a village about 40 cliques. I never get used to saying that. I got to think of them like short lines. 40 cliques north of the zone. Where much to speak of, really. A few shacks. Houses, if you want to call them that. A couple of days before, the troll took some fire around there. It's hard to say. Anyway, the squad rode in two Humvees. The idea was to roll by in a cloud of dust and see if we drew any fire. See if there was any threat to the convoy that was about a half hour to our rear. Standard. Shooter was probably long gone, so we was going through the motions. What was your job? Me personal? Don't say in them papers? I'd rather have your version. Sure. Turret gunner, up top the Humvee. I just saw M249. That's even the house they say. They usually don't have to ride up there. You got that right. Me, I was all set to be a mechanic when I joined up. Learned to trade like granddaddy said. And I guess wrenching runs in my blood. I always figured I'd open up a garage when I got out of the service. Call it Camaro City or something. You always want to be a reverend? You were talking about the turret? Yeah. I could shoot too good. Earned me a bunch of badges and what do you know? They set me up top of Humvee. You ain't never fired a shot, have you, Reverend? I had a few badges myself. Get out of here. Which ones? Let's get back to the turret. Yeah. Up there is the best place for spotting trouble and taking care of my squad. Best place for getting shot, too. But it was what it was. We made good time. Right on schedule, heading north by northeast. So the dawn broke bright and clear over the village. Light eased over the ridge line, but the sun laid back. Like it wanted another few minutes of shut-eye. Then it crawled out, burning red. Red is I'd ever seen it. I thought of that story. The one where God turned that river to blood. You know it? I know it. In them days, the angel of death, he went door to door. Like us sometimes, like your squad. I thought of it. The guys and me, we came up on this clump of houses. I smelled their cook fires. A sweet smoke, almost like the hickory back home. Made my stomach growl. And then this rooster commenced to crowing. Big ol' bird perched on this wall. His tail about six feet long seemed like. Feathers all aglowin' in that warm morning light. I said to myself, God is here. It was like he drew his finger across the sky. The land, that place. You know what I mean? You tell it well, I can picture it. That rooster crowed. And it crowed. And it crowed again. I heard a shot. Close. Loud. But I couldn't place it. Down in my Humvee, Sarge, he yelled, Gun, gun, gun! Squad all deployed, set for me. I stayed up top, swinging my saw this way and that way, looking for a target. That was the drill. The guys, they'd see cover advance, go house to house. I'm doing my bit, but I'm in this daze, you know? I can't find no target. Nothing. But everybody else, they's already blasting away. Then what? Don't know. Nothing's right, see? The shots don't sound right. The voices don't sound right. Weird, far off, like they's behind a thick wall. A firefight's going on all around me at the sky. I went out of the sun, Jesus. Maybe he was the sun. I don't know. But he filled the sky. 100 feet tall, maybe a thousand. His hair red, his beard red, his robe red. All soaked in blood. He bled. Bled from his hands and his feet. From his side and his forehead. But he bled fire, not blood. And he stood before me a flame but not burning. Do you know what I mean? Everybody kept shooting. The Lord filled the sky, but they kept on with their war. Like he wasn't even there. It didn't make no sense. Soldier, listen to me. What were you saying? Maybe he didn't touch them, but he touched me. Jesus? Yes, sir. Jesus Christ touched you. He reached down out of the sky and he touched me. Right here. And he whispered to me. He felt his warm, sweet breath in my ear. The war stilled. The world stilled. I lived in his voice and only his voice. And his voice said, Protect my sheep. Protect my sheep. Yes. And I did. Reverend? Reverend Jim, do you feel okay? I'm fine. Find my eye. You don't believe me, do you? That's what he said. Look at me. Look at me, Reverend. The chaplain rises, picks up his files, crosses to the door, and wraps three times. Reverend. The chaplain wraps again. Don't deny it, Reverend. You know it's so. It's the honest truth. A buzzer sounds. Calmly opens the door. Sir, I need someone to charge. You know it's so. This music immediately fills the cell. You don't look well, sir. That man... He's... I don't know. This is ridiculous, sir. I need to talk to your director. Occupied, sir. And my personal effects. I need my... Yes, sir. We're trying to locate... It's important that I have my personal effects. You know how things go on a long transit, sir. Things get misdirected, misplaced. They generally turn up, however. Generally. I need my bag. I... May I have some water? Is there anything else, sir? Him. There is no him. The soldier, for God's sake, he needs water too. I'll inform the director, sir. Cheers, sir. Fresh out, sir. A sprig of mint, perhaps. Look. That man, the soldier, whatever you call him, I can't do anything. He's out of his mind, amongst other things. Clarify? Didn't you hear what he told me? Talking with God, a bleeding Christ in the sky? No. The man is insane. Is that your diagnosis? It's my opinion as a professional in the army that he requires treatment. Aren't you? I have an MA in here. I looked into his eyes. It weren't right. I've seen it. I know. Look. You picked me, remember? So I'm not qualified. I'm someone who can do whatever it is you need. You'd like to bail, wouldn't you? Once a dessert or all? Will you remind this that I'm an officer? Regardless of the circumstances? You know that I resigned my commission. Ridley, yes, sir. I needed time to think. It's not illegal to cross the border. And email? You're kidding me, right? Email, sir. Rambling, incendiary, some might say... Oh, I rehash such unpleasantness. Do you have the agreement? Yes, sir. You need some help, deserter? Will you tell this man to... Please, sir, let's review. There's no excuse for that kind of behavior. Yes, sir. You'll notice that the terms we discussed previously... May I have your attention? Sir? The terms are listed here. Will you verify that everything is in order, sir? It doesn't matter what this piece of paper says. I don't know if I can help you. I'm going to explain. Upon your satisfactory performance of the duties listed... Are you listening at all? Your record will be expunged. You will remain eligible for full benefits and pension, including, of course, disability. You're about to have people better qualified. If you just need intel, I'm sure in a place like this you people have certain techniques. I don't know what you mean, sir. Yes, yes, I know. Trust me, sir. Your skillset is unique. It will be based on your theological training as well as your extensive fields and personal experience. For God's sake, building rapport takes weeks, months, years, perhaps. Can you give me that kind of time frame? As I said earlier, sir, we face a certain urgency. I assure you, sir, the director's methods may seem unorthodox, but they prove to be unusually effective. Unorthodox? What you're asking is insane. Man in the box! The agreement is contingent upon my performance, right? Fine. I won't perform. Tear it up. Take me back to the stockade, put me up for court, Marshall, see how far you get. Medical for life and an honorable discharge to take in your discretion, then your pension. For life. I'm already entitled to that. Don't you ever mind the chaplain that there's a war on? Yes, sir. There's a war on, sir. You think I don't know that? Read my file, you little shit. A deserter isn't entitled to any benefits. I'm afraid, sir. For the last time, I didn't deser- You have active duty in a combat zone, sir. I left your bullshit and your doublespink and your goddamn- It's a good deal, sir. All the director asks that you do this job. One final job and a grateful country will be done with you. And a promotion, of course. With your years of service moving up to an 04, means a substantial increase in your retirement package. That's all. Major? Beats indefinite detention, doesn't it? We need an answer, sir. Emergency, yes, I know. There is a war on, sir. So you say. Tell me. Tell me exactly what you need. No jargon, no bullshit. Just what? You've seen the file, sir. Eight men dead. The balance of his squad. Evidence indicates a single shooter. But let's just say if others were involved, others from certain factions, the current political situation would be complicated considerably. Do you understand? I understand that some people might be embarrassed. Embarrassment is not an option, sir. Do you understand? You're talking in- We know what? You're relying on you to find the one. You heard the story he told me? We all have stories to tell, sir. As a part of every fiction one can find fact, engage, listen, eventually everyone slips up. I trust everything here is in order. Sir, do you understand? Yes. Any luck with my items? The director is aware of your request. I need my bag. Yes, sir. Anything else, sir? The detainee needs water. We'll speak to it shortly, sir. It would help me do my job if you would do it now. Of course. Hey, Jim, does the Unitarian believe in Jesus? Get out of my way. You know what I heard? I heard you don't believe in shit. The door opens and we hear the loud Christmas music within. Finally, silence. Hope you like Christmas. They's just joshing with me. Most of them songs, they's all right, Jingle Bells and Candy Canes and Olly and stuff. It's the one about the snowman that gets me. I mean, think about it. He's got one day to get his business done before he melts and all that traffic I can do is hassle him. Like it's a crime to be made out of snow. Sad, man, really. What about you? You like Christmas? In army, doing what I do, it can be lonely. My daddy, God bless, he died around this time of year. I'm sorry, that must have been very hard. A lot harder for him. Every year, bless his heart. He'd haul in some scrawny old bull pine already half dead and he'd make me decorate it while he sat there and drank himself stupid. Opening those boxes of balls and lights was like opening a grave full of the dust of dust of dead memories that don't mean nothing to nobody. That was Christmas in my place. Good times. You see if I can get him to stop doing that playing the music? It ain't nothing. Just another joke. Like I said, them fellas out there is right funny. You want to help me out and give me some of that water I asked you for? I've seen you drinking your fill out there. I know they got plenty. I told them, they're working on it. There you go. Another joke. I'll get it done, soldier, I promise. That's all right. Honest. My granddaddy, the one on the wrong side, he was a big joke teller. What you call a comedian, I take after him. It's not a joke, I'll get it done. I love me a joke. Really. A good one makes a dark day shine like new. There's this one he liked to tell granddaddy, see. He was walking down the road and oh wait, this one's dirty. Soldier, we don't have to. Go ahead. So he was walking down the road and he came up on old John Gwynn. John Gwynn, see, he worked at the mines with granddaddy. Old Johnn was a sitting on this pile of slag just staring at nothing and looking like he didn't have a friend in the world. Granddaddy walked by and old Johnn looked up and he said, Pete, that's granddaddy's name. Pete, I've seen this old dog the other day and he had a butt hole the size of a half dollar. Granddaddy, he was some kind of man. Kind of postmodern, I guess. Oh. He's kidding, right? Right. Now you tell one. I don't know any jokes. Oh come on. Don't have to be as funny as mine. I mean, a dog's butt hole, that's comedy gold. I don't feel very funny right now. Besides, granddaddy, he said life's nothing but a joke. We just take it too serious to see the punchline. I don't trust a man who ain't got a funny butt. Look, I'll tell you. I'll tell you one later. Promise? Of course. You gotta promise, like you did about the water. I promise. For heaven's sake. I love jokes. You used to laugh all the time me and the guys. You're squab. Yeah. There's this one fella called Fast Freddy. Funny as all get-out. Old Freddy, he should have been on the TV. He was better than that table guy. Leno even. Every squad needs a Freddy, see. Unless everybody cut loose, blow off steam after patrol. Even during patrol sometimes. Hey. You know why we called him Fast Freddy? He could, you know, whack all of us done in like 15 seconds. We called him FF for shorter. We did at least until Sarge found this pocket pussy in Freddy's foot locker. You know what we called him after that? No. Pocket pussy. Pee-pee for short. What happened to Freddy, soldier? What happened to Freddy? I ain't ready to talk about that. You ain't ready to hear it. You know what's in this file, soldier? My permanent record, I reckon. That and photos. Photos of eight dead men. You act surprised. There's a war on, ain't there? It's your squad. Your squad, soldier. Eight dead men. And you. There you go. Showing your whole card. What's your play, Reverend? I'm not playing. Everybody's playing. You ain't no different. Shoot, use I and me like a starving man. As I said, I'm a chaplain. I'm here to listen to help. Let's see. First guy they sent me said he was a lawyer, came to help. Next one claimed to be a psychologist, came to help. They was full of beans. They sent me a preacher and a uniform. Tell me. Well, let me ask you, Reverend Jim, what can the likes of you do for me? It don't even matter if you's legit or not. The Lord talked to me. The Lord touched me. I don't need nobody to stand between me and God. I respect your faith, soldier. He pulls the photos from the file and places them in front of the prisoner. He doesn't look at them himself. But God did not tell you to do this. God never tells anyone to do this. Do what? Those men were slaughtered. How do you know? You won't even look at the pictures. Full of beans. I don't want to talk to you no more. I'm all you have, son. You've done it again. Look, talk to me. Let me in. Help me to understand. You can't understand. Look at you. Shaking like an old woman's teeny dog. You ain't been in it. You got no idea. I bet all you do is sit at a desk somewhere safe and listen to other people whine. You pretend to know God by reading a dusty old book and feeding folks the same reruns. Me, I ride on the turret. Nothing between me and some sniper but air. I'm the first to find trouble and I'm the first to take care of it. I'm up there alone, but I do it. I take care of my guys. Your guys. Your guys are dead, soldier. You go to... I want you to leave. Look around. I have nowhere to go. And neither do you. You don't know nothing. Not about guys like me. I was a guy like you. I know the stress. I know how hard it is to make sense of what happens out there. No disrespect, Reverend. But that's bull. And I know that at the end of the day a good soldier and honest soldier has to own his actions. And he's caught on someone else. He can't blame God. What God asks us to do ain't never easy. Not that last time. Not the first time, neither. First time? Let me get this straight. God told you to do things before. Sure. I done told you about the whispers, but there came a time when he told me exactly what to do. If that was when Daddy, he passed that Christmas. Lord Son, you're going to have to tell me. I was fixing to. And you called me again. Back then, we had what kind of passed for a farm. Mostly 40 acres of rocks and stumps. Daddy blessed his heart. He rode his tractor out to the far side of the property to get some sardy little pine to dress up like he always did this time of year. Before long, I heard him hollering. The tractor seeded keel over on this hillside. Half underneath, legs all mashed. He yelled and yelled about the rescue squad and the police and the army and the navy and the president told me to run to the house and call them all. And then God spoke to me. His voice came on the breeze, all gentle, like fingers in my hair. The Lord said, be still. Daddy hollered, get to the phone over and over and over. And quiet but real firm. Be still. I sat with Daddy all day, all night and all the next day. I prayed, prayed out loud so Daddy could hear and maybe join in. But he just yelled and screamed and cussed and threatened. God bless him. By the time Nott came around again though all he did was cry. He cried about my dead mama for a good long while and he cried about his legs. Near the second morning he let me be born. He didn't say nothing after that. God told you to sit there and watch your father die. Oh no, the sitting part of that just seemed decent. That was your father. Does God always tell you to do it? Do things like that? Like what? Jesus Christ soldier, violent things, horrible things. God wouldn't just tell us to stand by and watch something terrible happen to get confused. It happens. But I need you to grasp something. God doesn't talk to us soldier. You need to, what's your word, grasp this. You don't hear God because you ain't listening, Reverend. But you ain't a Reverend are you? You ain't a soldier. Your uniform don't even fit. I just want to understand what happened. It makes sense of what happened. Now, we can do this together. Together. You and me soldier, like a team. Team my eye. You can't even give me a drink of water. Full of beans, like all them others. You should use the worst of the bunch. Alright then. First things first. Guard, what you trying to prove? Just that I keep my promises. Guard, the water. Guard! I don't care because I've had enough of this. Guard! Just telling you the truth. The buzzer sounds and the sergeant unfolds the door. What the holy flipping fuck do you want? I want the respect that's accorded an officer, asshole. You will not touch me. You will not lay a hand on me or this soldier. Do you understand? Do you understand, sergeant? Sergeant. Yes, sir. Treat with respect. I'm not talking to you, Shade Tail. That man will be treated with respect. My duty is to him. To him? This country and God. And as far as this country and God are concerned, he is do a drink of water. A lousy drink of water. In this country. Which country is that? In my country, a man is still owed a drink of water. These lack rations personally. Thank you, lieutenant. And the other matter? Any minute now, sir. You've been saying that what on earth does it take to locate that? I'll notify you immediately when we locate it, sir. Tick-tock, Gimmarino. This is a joke. How do you people expect me to get any inrudes for a joke? I got one for you. Step aside. Ask me. What's the key to comedy? Tick-tock, remember, you're wasting my time. Come on. Ask me. Get out of my way. Ask me! What is the key to timing? The war. Sir, please. You don't like buddy hacking? Four closes. Meanwhile, Lieutenant puts a case of water on the rolling table, which he pushes down the stage. She hands out bottles to members of the audience. I told you they was jokers. Enjoy, sir. You sure? Of course. Take it easy. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not all at once. Oh, that was sweet. Hey, I couldn't hear nothing, but you looked like some kind of badass out there. Kind of hardcore for a chaplain. I do what I need to do. Let's talk. Right. So you can accuse me of killing my daddy? One bottle of water. Don't let you do that. I didn't do nothing. A daddy, bless his heart, tractor did. Okay. Talk to me about your squad then. Are you going to blame that on the tractor? Tell me what you meant by protecting my sheep. Ain't what I meant, it's what God meant. All right then, what do you think God meant? Lieutenant hands out buckets to the audience members. It took a while. The Lord means what he means. This conversation business, it goes both ways. Like I said before, maybe I don't want a job the whole time. Maybe I want to know where he's coming from. I have a job to do, soldier, and I don't have much time. That's the point. I don't know if he's doing the Lord's job or their job. I mean, I look at you and use all nervous and alien stuff. You got something going on there, ever, Jim? I'm your chaplain. No matter what else is going on, I have a duty to you, too. Uh-huh. Thought so. Always an angle. You want to tell me about it? I'm waiting. Like I said, I ain't God all day. Soldier? That last part was still a joke. Those people out there need help. Information. If you talk to me, perhaps everyone can get what's needed. Fair? Go back to the day. Uh, tell me about your squad. What were they like? You told me about friends. Come on, soldier, anything will happen. I'd rather know about the fancy pants officer I'm spilling my guts to. My story doesn't matter, soldier. Right. Or secrets. Not secrets, boundaries. I respect your issues, you should respect mine. My hind end. Boundaries is why we's here. That doesn't make any sense. And don't. The world, the way I see it, it's balanced. Perfect. Then you people, you go and try to carve it up, draw lines on maps. But for guys like me, it don't matter what side of the line we's on. We got the same buzzards looping over folks who's the same kind of dead. But we go on and on fighting over your boundaries that nobody can even see. It's hot in here. I don't like these lights. No, I don't feel good. What's wrong? You're lying, Snape! Good Lord. Medic! Medic! Easy. Tell you what, I'll get help. We'll get a medic in here. You don't touch me! You poison me! No, no, no, I wouldn't do that. Medic! That's some kind of joke. You're the best comedian of them all. It's them! They must... You sons of bitches, how can you do this? How can you ignore it? I have no idea. I'm so sorry. I've never been so sick in my life. Listen to me, please. Hard to believe. Anything in this war, it's this place, but if you talk, I promise that I'll listen. Thanks a million. Because maybe, maybe if I listen long enough, I can open the cynical art of mine, maybe I will believe you. Will you give me that chance? Yes. That seems like a real possibility for both of us. You know that I'm being straight with you. Look at that. You finally told the truth. The buzzer sound. The sarkin throws open the door. Out, asshole. We've got to clean up your mess. How can you do that? How can you treat a man like that? I will not stand down! Look up on charges, all of you. This isn't done. It doesn't happen here. Whoa! Told you, there is no here like your real delicate flower, Jim. The window is closing. What? The window of opportunity for you to fulfill our agreement for you to enjoy the benefits. I don't... Benefits? What? Able to continue? Yes, sir. May I help you up? We don't do this. We aren't like this. Of course not, sir. The prisoner makes eye contact with the sarkin. He seems startled for a moment. No. The sarkin hesitates, then rips away the prisoner's soil and possible gas. From outside the cell, we watch the struggle take place in silence. What's he doing? Just necessary clean up, sir. It's quite routine. Are you out of your mind? You can't just leave him like that. Don't like it? He says he stayed in Canada, Jim. Shall we get on with it? If you please, sir. I said you can't leave him like that. Fresh clothes are for plumbing, shortly. Come on, get inside. Don't you know Santa's on his way? God help you. God help all of you. I said inside! Please, sir. Don't you have something for the captain? Oh, yes, I do. You've been asking for this, huh, Jim? He produces a small prescription bottle from his pocket and rattles the pills inside. What do they call it? Atta boy or something? Atta man. For anxiety, addictive without proper supervision. Many thanks. That's all right here. Want some, Jim? I'm asking because... I don't mean you don't look so hot. Jim? What are you saying, Jimbo? Jimmy Jim, Jim of the... Thank you, Sergeant. Thank you, Sergeant. I apologize for the delay. Please enjoy them with the director's compliments. Yeah, that delay. Sorry. Anyway, here you go. Help yourself. With Santa's compliments. The captain stares at the floor. Then finally walks into the cell with pills crunching underfoot. Did you stay back? I just tried to... Get back! You're here! Passed mostly. Didn't have much to curd. Still put you on an IV. Yeah, I'm as dry as my grandma's turkey. You took a lick out there. You okay? How is it you know that stuff? What stuff? What was that word? What you said they used on me? A medic. They learned you that in creature school? Another boundary, huh? Another invisible line to fight over. That's alright. I was a medic. Medic? Well, I think that's the kind of thing. Some kind of thing. You remove this jacket and toss it before the prisoner. You'll be out of uniform. So, take the damn jacket. Medic, huh? Shoot. Soldier, I need to ask you something. I wasn't intending to look, but I saw those marks on the legs. Ain't nothing. Ain't nothing. Did they do that to you out there? Those people out there? Who did that? Don't you call me that! I'm sorry. You know it's not going to stop with this. They're operating beyond any code of authority. If we're going to get you out of here, is there anyone waiting for you soldier at home? Granddaddy and Grandma, they passed. God bless them. You, you Hitch? You're a good boy. Utilitarians can't go with women and stuff. Like we don't own them a lot. Like they're captors. No. Not like that, and I'm just not married. War change is going to stay. I reckon it does. Tell me about those marks. When you was a medic, were you in it? I mean, you know... So you know what it's like? Yeah. Wherever and I... I've seen awful things. Parable things. Things that Satan himself don't know. Things Satan couldn't think of. You know what I mean? Yeah. Tell me what it was like for you. It's older. It's not a battle. Tell me what it was like, soldier to soldier. You tell me and I'll find a way to tell you. I want to say it was idealism. Something about a new, better world. But it was a judge. The armier jail. Jail? What wasn't you done? Nothing. When I was 17, I hit back. The world caught fire before I was out of basic. Anything. Anybody. I walked up to my sergeant. I told him that I was a conscientious object. You didn't want to fight. Not anyone else, not them. Now? Long story short, they said they'd do me a favor and let me be a non-cabatin. Train me as a medic and ship me out to the hot zone. It was that 11. See you was under fire? The pacifist don't live long over there. It's all that lead flying. I got myself certified on every weapon they let me touch. It's all as your friend. An awful, awful friend with a temper. Tell me about that thing. It's just like, I don't know when you squeeze that trigger and cut loose on it, you feel the gun getting mad, didn't matter, didn't crazy mad out of its head and you're out of your head too right along with it. All I wanted to do was the right thing, you know? My job was to keep my guys safe. Sounds easy. Never was though. No. But you done good, right? Saved people I bet. Sure had to. Tell me. Tell me about what you did. I got to know that you're the one to talk to the one that understands. My story is not in force. Right now it is. Stay there with an exit wound as big as my fist. Extreme blood loss probably from renal art and screaming hand inside of me that there's really nothing suddenly as quiet. Don't take this the wrong way, Reverend, but you ain't a good liar. Then what? Pale green eyes like gemstones, they locked on me and this man said so calmly terrified me, frozen me. Tell me, tell me what it's like. What'd you say? Eyes dulled. Jesus, I don't understand a lot neither but when God, he speaks to me I get it. Maybe not before, maybe not even after but in that moment me and him like that, I get it. Maybe that's what I was looking for when I went to seminary. Soldiers, kids too young to drink but old enough to kill. Maybe giving them some comfort, maybe helping them make sense of the strength when they're so excited that and maybe I find the answer too and that it is. God not. Funny how God works. For this, I reckon he might not have talked to me in the first place. See these holes? And it was the worms that led me to the Lord. It's just when I think of this, I get sad. Real sad, like a chestnut burr under my ribs. Daddy, God bless him, he was bad to drink. I'm sad. Sad all the time I noted. Not mopey, not weepy, more like something turned all hard inside him. It was my fault. You can't say that. A child might think so but the reason a person is depressed sad, those are very complicated. It wasn't about ain't that complicated at all. Daddy, he told me flat out. He told me that mama a few months after she had me, he said the darkness came on her something fierce. He found her one day in this shed out back of the house. Said she hung herself with an extension cord. I weren't six months old yet. Daddy said it was because of me. She was fine before Friday's Easter morning the way he put it. Then I come along. No, no, no, no. You didn't cause that. She was clinically depressed. Had to be. No one was to blame least of all you. I know what he told me. That was abuse. Please understand. When I was a wee thing, I'd wake up in the middle of the night and their daddy would be bless his heart right by my bed looking down at me. I'd see his cigarette glowing red in the dark. Look there. It's the moon, he'd say. He moved around up, down, and I used to watch it laugh. I like that. Not those like, you know, our special joke. Then one night I woke up and seen him like always. Look at the moon, he said, and I followed it with my eyes ready to laugh. He pulled down the covers and told me sometimes the moon bites you and then he put his cigarette on my leg. He put me a lot after that. He pulled down the lights and let in the worms. And they crawled up my legs and then in my arms and my heart and my eyes and my brain crawling itching every minute, every day. My God. Poor daddy. Bless his heart. How can you say that? Bless his heart after what he did? Just being polite, Reverend. Jeez, where was you raised? How long? How long did that go on? One way or another until the day he died. Did you ever tell anyone? My God. Yeah. But first, you know, the way kids pray. Some little rhyme my grandma learned me about Jesus loving the little children. I'd say it every night, kneeling beside the bed. Every morning I'd wake up with bites on my legs and daddy's breath on my face. Because after a while I made up my own prayer instead. I asked Jesus why if he loved all those other children he didn't love me. Because if he loved me I wouldn't be afraid to sleep. I wouldn't have scabs on my legs and worms under my skin. You think I'm full of beans, don't you? No. I said my prayer and in the Lord he whispered to me. He said, he was the father who had never heard me. He said it a lot. He said he wanted to be real clear on that. That was the first message. Later he told me other things. What other things? That was his special servant here on earth. I would do something wonderful. And then after I did he would take me up into spaceship to be with him forever. All right, what? Nothing. It's just, it wouldn't be hard for a huge child to imagine the neverland father to be the one that told him that he was loved and told him special. You think I made it up? After all this, you think I'm full of it? No. I heard that too in my head. The way I wanted it to be, the way I wanted my old man to be, but it was in my head, so that's all. I heard the voice of God. He talks to me. He talks to you. He tells you to do the right thing. I know he does. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you've never been moved by God. You just lie to yourself, Captain. Protect my sheep. You think I'm crazy? Well, I'll tell you what. I think you look like you need one of those pills they dropped out there. What? Whatever you got going on, it's got a hole in you real fierce. Got its claws deep in your heart where the worms live. No disrespect, Reverend. There's a whole lot of crazy going on in this box. You sort that out, maybe we'll talk again. Watching your father die was not God's work. What happened to your squad? That wasn't God's work. Be still, Reverend Jim. Be still, and you'll hear too. No. Be still, and you'll know the truth. The buzzer sound. The sergeant and lieutenant charge into the cell. Hey, shithead, who said you could cover up? He snaps his job in his jacket from the businessman, then he kicks him. I said you could fucking cover up. You don't do that. Do what? This? You can't do that. He's sick, he's hurt. What the hell with your goddamn uniform? Please, sir, this way. Let me do my job, Lieutenant. Put on that uniform and get the hell out of here. You're fired, fuckface. Sergeant, again? Son of a bitch, leave him alone. I told you, there is no him. The lieutenant said you're fired. Don't touch that man again. This way, sir, please. Allow the professionals to take over. What? Or what? Get the fuck out of here. I'll knock your yellow ass back to Canada. Hang on, soldier. When the sergeant stops to secure the door, the chaplain turns, cocks his hand, and rides it under the sergeant's diaper. I'll never concede my country to you. Sergeant, my ass, went down like some lip-dip contractor. You stand down, kid. I said you stand down. Should I get out? Sir, I will shoot you. I'll be with you in a minute. Don't think so. I will shoot you, sir. I doubt it. You pointed a gun at my head before, so pardon me, Lieutenant, if I'm not exactly impressed. Fuck me. Did they teach you the first rule of modern urban warfare, Shade of Tail? Sir, I... Demoralize the enemy. Shoot their medic. The army shipped me out with a fucking target on my helmet. You ever pull the trigger on someone, kid? You got it or you don't? You ain't got it. You need me to get something from that man over there. The one that you're so intent on brutalizing. If you could get it yourselves, you'd already have it. If I'm wrong, shoot. Sir... Shoot me! Squeeze that trigger. Don't look there. Look at the target. That's right. Now we're all snatched. The gun falls to the floor. The chaplain retrieves it and points it at control. This ends now. Understand? Do you understand? Get out of there, soldier. We're done. I said get up, soldier. We're out of here. You broke my fucking nose. I'll shoot. I want passage out of here. There is no here. Are you listening? It respects fundamental law. It embraces common decency. It shows compassion. You won't do it. Come on, soldier. Get him to shake. He's going to piss himself. You're going to piss yourself, chaplain? You ain't got shit. Shut up. Sir, I don't think the sergeant is aware. Listen to God. He's speaking right now. No. Sorry, that's right. Use the force, nigga. I don't feel anything. Shit, look at him. He's got nothing. Don't you... I fucked this. The chaplain pulls the trigger. Oh, fuck! I'm a killer, sir. Me? The action's inspired many of us, sir. I commend you for your service. Sir, the silver star... It's a goddamn piece of tin. Sergeant, would you be bothered to secure the prisoner? Yes. Sir, yes, sir. You have my admiration and gratitude. If I am ever fortunate enough to serve my country in combat, I... Mother of God, would you please stop talking? Soldier? Is that what you call yourself, you little punk? Sir, I... I wasn't even supposed to be there, kid. It wasn't a soldier. It was a goddamn chaplain. Filling in for some Presbyterian with a bad gallbladder. 20 minutes out, an RPG took out the second vehicle in the convoy, shrapnel went everywhere, kid in front of me, pretty girl like you, got hit bad. I'm down low crawling, gagging on sand, trying to hear something other than the roar in my ears. Do you know what the dirt tastes like over there, Shade Tail? It's bitter. Alkali soil. Shut the fuck down, ricochet, inside your vehicle. When men, you let in prayer an hour before, bail out and catch it from both sides. When they're chopped into bloody meat and oozed into that bitter goddamn soil, I did was pick up some poor grunt's saw. I found myself shooting, pounding away, until I thought the barrel would melt. Grabbed extra magazines from this screaming kid, burned almost blind from the RPG hit, I think. I just kept firing. I knew that I'd get hit. I knew I'd go down, and I never did. Later my ears came back and I heard this shriek like a terrified girl throbbing in my head and it took a while to figure out what it is with me. Fuck you. You married a kid? That's not germane, sir. After I rotated home, I shoved my wife's face through a plate glass window. I carry that. So I shoot. I live with it every day. I still see who you're lying there on both sides. Other than mother, sometimes in a language that I don't understand, but still do. Displate with dirt or a round stock in bed, my round maybe. That's when I saw it for what it was. You, shared tale, they're fighting for their homes, the land that grew up on against conveyor and their places I'd have done the same thing. I hope the son of the bitch who killed me never truly slept to them. Banelist, with the death of your kitten now, or can we get back to work? That thug of yours. He was right. I have nothing for you. So what are you trying to tell me? Did you hear me? Jesus Christ, I had every intention of killing a man. I'm no good to you. No good to that soldier. Aren't you underestimating yourself? I don't think I can even get out of this chair. He's disturbed, damaged. He needs treatment, compassion. What should I care what a murderer needs? For God's sake, the man is just this side of deranged. Nothing you be from him will be remotely reliable. I don't know why you're bothering. I am. If your case is over to the inspector general and stop wasting my time. It would be a relief. Get me out of here. He jumps to his feet. In God's name, are you doing to him? I said, what are you doing? For the love of God. What does that have to do with anything? Don't do it, please. He is mentally ill. In the name of God, just stop it. Yes, after what I've seen today. Yes, I can. I can cut him right in any way. We open journey outside. He is yours, sir. In between us, I wouldn't waste any time, sir. That thing strapped to him? Do not touch the apparatus at any time, sir. I ask you what he knows when you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake. Is he all right? So sorry. How can any of this... What? It was hilarious. It was more like it. Those fellas, they're real comedians. Yes, sir. A sergeant holds a device that resembles the remote control for a toy car. Soldiers, these men will stop it nothing. They won't think twice about it. It don't matter. I'm out of here. When I was on that table, the Lord whispered to me He said, you ain't long for this worth. No, no, no. God doesn't want you to die. I ain't gonna die. He's gonna take me up in a rocket ship. See, he leaves the earth to Satan and his slaves. We're gonna fly away, God and me. Anybody who'll come will land right on sun and live there forever in the pure light of the Lord. You can't do that, soldier. It's not going to happen. Give me one reason. Think about it for God's sake. You know you can't take a spaceship to the sun. You'd burn up. Well, I reckon so. That's why we're going to go at night. That's a joke, you know. Last part, at least. So, another one of granddaddy's when he told it the rocket was full Irishman or Polax or something. Once there was a... Look, do you have any idea how serious this is? Some naked cup, half drowned and probably got a couple of busted ribs. No, I ain't got a clue how serious this is. You got to lighten up, Reverend. Those men could come in here at any moment. You've got to give them something. Anything. Oh, they do. You can kick butt again. You gave that one what for? I ain't never seen a preacher throw more wicked punks. We need to talk about your squad. We need to talk about your soul. This is wasting what little time we have, soldier. He talked to you out there, didn't he? Please, for the love of God, you put yourself on the line because of me. I fought a good fight because of me. That's what the Lord does. He leads us to the right thing. Always. No one spoke to me. He's beside you right now. Let him comfort you. I have to be very clear about this. We need to talk about the here and now. About your squad. Any moment that buzzer will sound and those men will come in here and I don't know what they'll do. Do you understand? Do you understand? Eight men dead. Your weapon, your rounds. They need to know what really happened. No Jesus, no voices. They need facts, soldier. It's as simple as that. Ain't it, Reverend Jim? It's all this, I know you can feel me. That's what I had to find out. See, I needed to see if you got me. Silver star. Body count. Weas brothers, maybe, in another life. Brothers in arms. Brothers in the Lord. I have a damn myth. You know why? Because I was in a place where I needed to be. Because I did things no man should do. I saw the other side, soldier, and it was far from God as I ever dared to imagine. I think you've seen that place too. Now help me understand what it was like for you. There's one thing to see, something you ain't expected. What I carry inside, that's my burden. When I tell it, it ain't mine no more. That's right. You'll be free of it. Light us up that way. Maybe, but you won't. Once I tell it, it's yours, get it? I think so. No matter what happens. God has never loved you more than right now, Reverend Jim. Soldier, that's the truth. Uh-oh. Punchline. The sergeant pushes a button on the remote and a red light. Jesus Christ, what's wrong? They shot me. Because of you, soldier. I don't have any more questions, Reverend. Maybe you can get out of here at least. I don't have any more questions. I don't know where I am. I don't know who we are. I don't know how this could happen. Reverend, I have nothing for you. You won the Silver Star. You were strong then. You've been strong today. You've got to be strong now. Stronger than me. I can't do this by myself. I can't, Reverend. Look at me, Reverend. Jim, you've got to do this. It's your story. You already know how it ends. Tell me how it started. Started, I reckon, when P.P. You know, Freddie died. How did you know about Freddie? We was on neighborhood patrol, just outside the zone. Sort of like being the town cops, you know? We got to recognize most folks, and they knew us too. A little nod when we passed, that kind of thing. Casual-like routine. Freddie, he was up on point. He was looking back at us and telling the story about a horse and a bartender. I had my eyes up, scanning the rooftops when Freddie stopped talking. I waited a second, but he didn't pick up again. Then I heard Sarge yelling, Shooter, or gun, or something. I looked forward, Freddie was down, and Sarge, he was covered in red speckles like measles. He wiped it out of his eyes as he kept yelling. Somebody pointed to a house about 50 meters down the street. This guy out front, I kind of knew him, spoke English, said hello. It was a good morning when we passed. Everybody, everybody started shooting. Did you start shooting? Yeah. I don't know at what, I didn't see nothing, but the one guy living in the street. Everybody advanced on the house, shooting, kicked down the door, shot inside. I was the last in. Two males down, a female down. A female. I recognized her. She always smiled. The others, I thought I knew them too. The guns? No. No, no, no, I see. Go on. Be strong so that we can do this together. The woman, she was the mom, I think. Shot bad, but alive. She screamed. Sarge yelled right back. He told her to stop, but she kept on and on. And Sarge, he went all, shit like I've never seen him. Went on about Freddie and how she killed him. She didn't. I knew she didn't, and I think he knew too. But it didn't seem like he cared. Freddie was dead, and there she stood, alive, right in front of him. And then, so that's all. What did your sergeant do? Soldier, you have to go on. Sarge, he got purposeful with her. You know what I mean? He got his eyes, they watched some Pollard Edder, bad names, a few laughed. One, he took pictures while it went on. A movie, on his phone. They watched it over and over that night. They all sat and drank, talked about Freddie and laughed, and cried and drank. A movie. Yeah. You okay? You don't look so good. Wherever? Your sergeant, did he try to stop it? No. Did you try to stop him? Scared, I guess. Didn't know what to do, ashamed. Woman? Sarge finished with it. He told us all to get out and secure the area. He did a couple of grenades as he left. He blew the devil out of the place and he called for help to eat back Freddie. Said we was all in it, not to talk. You told no. No. I'm sorry. You're doing the right thing. She seemed like a nice lady. I seen her once or twice, just went about her business, like Norrell. Like somebody else's army weren't crawling all over her town. She may do, just like folks back home. It worked like they'd shoot at us. It don't make no sense. A couple of weeks later, we're back on patrol, same neighborhood. The girl comes down the street opposite side, goes into a house. She looks young, maybe 12, 13. Sarge goes, I see a gun. Did you see a gun? Did you see a gun, soldier? No. Sarge split us up. Took six with him. When he kicked in the door, left me and another guy, this Mexican guy, Raphael, left us outside to watch the street. We were shooting and yelling and I heard this girl scream. I thought it was a cat or something for a minute, but it was a girl for sure. I don't like talking about this. You have two soldiers just laying a burden in my feet, it's alright. It's as far from alright as I can picture. Did you see what happened inside the house? I think did. You looked in and Sarge saw him on her like with that other woman. The man and his older woman was laying on the floor, killed, the guys laughed and cheered while Sarge, you know, and the same guy, he stood there making another movie of it all. Lord, he don't got nothing to do with this business. So, tell me his name. Which one? Shooting the video. Lester, Lester Atkinson. Tied with Freddie with Sarge too. You okay Reverend? Reverend? Just go on. The guys, they took turns with her. All of them, Raphael too. After a bit, they stuffed a rag in her mouth to keep her quiet. Wrapped a belt around her head to keep it in. I didn't do nothing though, I held back. I fell off of Reverend. I should have done something. Reverend? Reverend? In that room? The wall? Something on the wall? I don't follow Reverend. There was a picture on the wall. Did you see a picture on the wall? It runs together. A white horse at full gallop? Yeah. Maybe I've seen that. How did it just finish your story? That day, when I got in trouble, it started the same way. We rolled up and I'd never seen it. There's a parcel of kids outside running doing what kids do. An older girl came up, teenager, maybe, and she shoot them into the house. We got close. When I heard Sarge go, I see a gun. The guys rolled out of the Humvee and double-timed it toward the buildings. Me, I was up top with my saw. Right before everybody took position that Sarge, he looked back at me. He grinned. I still see his teeth. The rest of it happened, like I said. They all hunkered down. Sarge and Lester and the rest. And they opened up on the plate. And then, in the middle of the shooting and hollering, I seen the Lord in the sky. A hundred stories tall, like I said. And I heard the voice of the Lord playing in his day, like I said. Protect my sheep, like I said. Each of them felt like they're my own stern to water. I couldn't miss, seem like. The whole time, the Lord had his hand on my shoulder. He whispered in my ear, I felt his breath. He said, soon you will be with me. Do you believe me, Reverend? I believe you, Shodan. I believe you had your reasons. Do you believe me? I believe you had no choice. Do you believe me about the Lord? A couple of months ago, when I was still in the country, an officer came in with a count. There was a young guy attached to the Inspector General's office. He was troubled. He couldn't say the least. Do you know why? The video card turned up in the effects of a KIA and enlisted men. And on that car, children, the brass did what he expected. Nothing. Not with another goddamn surge on the way. Not with public opinion ready to do rail with one more horror story. Those images would sink at all in the political nightmare. We need men who know that a horrible reality still trumps a gift wrapped alive. And that officer went up. Maybe you are too. He switched out the card before anybody had a chance to wipe that. He put it on my desk and said that he trusted me to do the right thing. A man that he'd never met before. You didn't, right? I know you didn't. I named the family emergency and how to first transport home. I went up to Canada trying to buy some time to figure out what to do and then he grabbed me and I came back across the border. He's in this because of me. I was stupid enough to believe it was all because I went AWOL. I'll never make a desertion charge stick. This is Christ. I just wanted to do this. He said you'd do the right thing. You are, right? My God, I don't even know your name. Hey, Reverend, likewise, do you believe me? Do you believe that God spoke to me? He speaks to us all, Reverend. He spoke to you today. He spoke to you back when that soldier came to you. He whispered in your ear, be my servant. Didn't you hear it? I didn't hear anything. You're the same, the two of us. He said it to you to protect my sheep. I know you did. I didn't hear anything. He told me that God doesn't want us to stand by. God, see, he gave you the power to make this right. You can get that video to the world. You can stop these men. All of this, the Lord spoke to you. Look at me, Reverend. Look at my eyes. The Lord spoke to me. He spoke to you. Look at my eyes and tell me if you believe me. I don't know. You do. Tell me what you know. Look at me, and you tell me what's in your heart. Praise God. He's giving you the power. You know that, right? I don't know if he spoke to you. I just wanted to do what's right. Reverend. Yes. You know where that card is, don't you? Reverend, you know where it is, right? Are you going to protect his sheep? Reverend. Are you going to protect his sheep? Yes. In the name of God? I'll publish it. In the name of God. Can you speak the truth? Hallelujah. Light on the prisoner's device. Ah! The buzzer sounds. Out. He talked. He told everything. Why would you... Out. Now you're done. I believe in you, Reverend. Based on what? I spoke in my capacity as a chaplain. It was privilege communication. I'm being in charges. No, you can't shoot him. You won't do it. Thank you, sir. The post office on Rue Atford. About 15 or 11. The sergeant hopes that his weapons will be immediately to the telephone. He pundits his numbers and stays on the line. Well, Captain, you know, you're a major. Yeah. Easy. Seriously. You didn't really believe that psychotic's hogwash, did you? Yes. You're a decorated combat veteran, aren't you? You have a swing-shaped tail. You know. Not remain, sir. Yes, sir. ETA 90 seconds. Sure you did. You probably had the work, sir. Fancy swing set and slide. Am I right? Respectfully so. Old man Rick won for me. Just a loop of rusty chain and a board hanging off the old apple tree. I'd go to town on it, though. Thought if I stretched out far enough for 60 seconds, much better than I don't know. Nine or ten looked past my toes into the blue and I watched this cloud, this big billowing of summer cloud drift over the sun. Soon as it did, boom, these beams of light burst through my kid's eyes. They looked like a crown in the sky. In the middle of it, in the middle of it all, I saw a figure, a blaze with light part of the cloud, really, with all white mist. For a moment it looked like a man without stretched arms and I thought to myself, it's Jesus. He's going to come down right here in the backyard and then I let go and I flew out of the swing and ran inside as hard as I could because I figured that Jesus would be pretty scary and I didn't want to be scared. Stand by. Once in a while, even now, I think that wasn't a cloud. What if it was really Jesus and I blew it? What if I'll never know? Who are, yes. Yes, sir. Good guys win again. Jesus in the sky. I mean, is that dumb of what? It's not your name, sir. Today it is. It's your name because today it's the promise of man that the mystery of grace will be revealed in a common soldier that the least of us can touch the divine. What do they call you, kid? Shall we wrap this up? Our policy, sir. It's germane today. Excuse me. The lieutenant begins to unroll a nine by twelve carpet and position it against a bare wall in the rear view of the audience. A gunshot. Very loud. What was that? What in God's name was that? The soldier. He's dead, Jim. The sergeant and the lieutenant finish positioning the carpet. They then hang a makeshift flag on the wall just above. Private? In decidable symbols as well as the English word truth. Private! A man deserves his name. The lieutenant approaches after the hanging of the flag and points to a document on the table. A man deserves his name! May I direct your attention to the document in front of you? Form 93 quite standard. Do you wish to update your beneficiary? The director wants to be thorough and fair. In my country, a man has his name. A man! Please, sir. My father, he lives. Very good, sir. He shaved tail. Why did he agnostic cross the road? Sir. Just tell me. A simple question. Why did he agnostic cross the road? I don't know, sir. What's that? Your father, you've forgiven him? Yeah. And your wife is she? I don't know. Please, tell me her name. You're someone's daughter. Someone's sister. Someone loves you. You have a name. She leaps out and removes her sunglasses. Thank you for your service. We could get out of here. She wavers for a moment. Then stuns her right hand before clashing her. However, she produces a stun gun in her lap and shocks him with it. No! You have to leave the chapel in the carpet where his dropping force comes from. I believe in the inherent goodness of man. That the mystery of grace can be revealed to a common soldier. That the least of us can touch the divine. I believe in the inherent goodness of man. I believe in the inherent goodness of man. I believe in a common soldier. Father knows me and I know the father. my sheep. The executioner drifts in a blood in a blue hood, sets up a video camera and presses record, then approaches the chaplain and hears a loud recording in a strange, unknown language. The executioner shuts off the camera. The house lights come on, and the lieutenant removed their hoods, grabbed the chaplain's body in the rug and lifted off to the gurney. We hear the sound of a vault unlocking, followed by the strains of frosty the snowman and the loudspeakers. The lieutenant gathers herself for a moment, dawns her sunglasses and wheels the gurney through the house door into the lobby. And I'd like to tap that. Shit you're not there. Anyway, so much for the goddamn Christmas truce, huh? I feel another surge coming on! Ho-wah! It's a kind of day. Fuck me, runner. You know, I gotta admit that guy was okay. Come on, I think I owe you an eggnog. The executioner removes his hood. It's the first time. Don't you ever touch me again, sergeant. Yes. Sir, director, sir. And turn off that fucking noise! End of play. Conversation about the play. And if we have anybody watching on the video and would like to participate in the talk-back as well, we'll get your comments in here. So I know this is one of those where, you know, you kind of have to process and sort of take things in a little bit. And maybe not. But I'd like to share, sort of, to start off, share what you're feeling right now. And I realize that you might not want to talk, you know, but can somebody just be brave and kind of tell me, like, what you're feeling right in this very moment? And the actors can participate in this as well. I'm tired. I'm tired. I want to support my rare. You want to support my rare? I know every time we get to the last thing and he's saying, you know, I laid down my life for my chief, I'm like, I have your asses! He's sort of like... I feel dead inside. Disillusioned, unhappy, miserable. Yes. So it was a comedy, though. Yes. Tell me a little bit about maybe some of the images or things that stuck with you, you know, like what you'll be thinking about later tonight. Well, the various images that we talked about, there are various events. I mean, we've all seen some footage. And now this is something like being able to see more footage. Yes. None of the very pleasant. Yeah. The descriptions of those events. Yeah, absolutely. Even for me, the stuff about the rooster, you know, and the big bird on the wall crowing, and all the stories are really well illustrated for me. Like, you know, the chaplain has the line, I say, you know what I mean? He says, you describe it well. I can picture it, you know. There's a lot of footage of this evening in these tiny little slipped moments. It's a whole thing. I come into this now after reading it the first time. I came into it every time after that. The first image in my head when I'm on stage of the picture of the white horseman. That is the most stunning thing in the whole flight. And it's a glimpse. Because it finally passed them together. It did for that. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about what you experienced in the moment where you kind of realized there was more happening. When that piece of information about the white horse, you know, full gout. Can you describe what was happening for you there? I mean, where were you in the story? Yeah. For me, when the white, the good shepherd was taking care of the sheet line, that's when it happened. I was like, oh, there's some other connection here between the two of them. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's when it happened. Protect my sheet. Protect my sheet. Yeah. Other places for you all? I mean, did it happen earlier for anybody? Hi, Lauren. Yeah. I'm really slow on picking up stuff like that. Sure. My wife gets it like an hour before I do. When I found out the prisoner was the director, it really, it was effective, but it caused me to reprocess everything. Everything. Because, and so that's still happening at this moment. Yeah. But before that moment, which is the last thing that happens, my main focus was the relationship between the chaplain and the prisoner and what they had in common and how, what was connecting for them. But when I had to suddenly realize that that wasn't a real relationship, I was like, whoa. Yeah. So I'm trying to get the rug out from there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, did anybody else have other, I mean, did you, did you form a bond and then can you talk, I mean, can you describe, you feel like the rug was pulled out from under you? And, I mean, other people have similar expectations. There are some earlier, like foreshadowing, I guess it was, you know, that there are just a sentence here and there, the man that killed me, you know, that doesn't sleep at night or something like that. And then the prisoner would reference this as about you. And I started feeling like, really, I started thinking they were the same person, that the prisoner was really his conscience. Yeah. You know, that he was struggling with early on. Yeah. My character's line, there is no him. Yes. Exactly. They're being more. He's going back and working on it again, you know, I thought of my character. Sure. Watching it all as if, you know, even that time I was sitting through and going, guys, making this up as we go. Right. He's just crazy. I gotta smack around a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even a lot of that is just so, so well done for me because every time I get to the end of this play, I kind of, like you said, I process everything in retrospect. And everything, there are hints here and there. And there are even lines that I don't know if this really tickles me, but the director is occupied. Yeah. And I would do takes and look at him whenever they said that. He's occupied. Yeah. Those of us have been in lab and kind of working with it. It's, you know, we spent a lot of time trying to track backwards through it, you know what I mean. And then we're in the rehearsal process as well. Trying to, what are the tactics that the prisoner's then taking to get the reason out of it. There were two moments, and I don't know if there were more. It's just, I'm sorry to pick up on. And I didn't know if it was a directorial choice or if it was in the script first. But when he gets the water, and then the officer starts drinking water as well. I mean, one, it makes me want to get my water out. Yeah. But I noticed that the trio happening, and then there was another one when everybody was scratching their chins together. Is that something that was directed that way? Well, the water thing is in the script. Because the water thing, at the moment where he starts drinking the water, bottles of water have been passed out to the audience, you know, in the reading situation. But, and so the, I think the intent of the playwright who's silent right now, but we'll come up here in just a minute and answer any questions. Is that, that then, you know, you all have been given bottles of water and you see this guy retching. And so, you know, what is that? The chins scratching must be a climb. Yeah, I know. The chins scratching, I did not. Do you remember when that happened? I'm curious, after the water. I do, it was on 67, like we agreed. You know, it's what it made me think, are there, right, what are the, Sure, sure. And in a, in a full staging, that might be something that's certainly like, you know, we talked very briefly about sort of the guard's looks, you know, when they're not in the, you know, but there would be all those things to explore in the, I'm really gullible. Yes. You know, and, and it was really, you know, I really liked the prisoner. And then to find that he turned on me. I mean, it just, it was just like, at the end, everybody was clapping, I was like, what? Don't clap for him. That's a dare. Yeah. So, I mean, there's that hollow, Yeah, there's just that hollow feeling. Yes. I feel duped. I feel betrayed. I'm mad at you. But I can't help but wonder, even being faced with all the, all the things that these people are doing, did, did you all have a connection still? Did you, did you have to, were you touched? I think totally. Because I got that impression, but it's still worrying me a lot. I totally think so. And that came through an evolution of the script. There was a, oh, sorry. Yeah. Is that a comment or? Yeah. It's really funny. Someone just believed it. Really powerful, really duped folks. I feel betrayed. Yeah. They're having that thing going. Yeah. Well, before you go any further, I'm interested to see what other people thought. Did anybody else feel at the ending with, with the, you know, that, that the prisoner felt remorse for what he had done? Did anybody feel that? Or, or not at all? I did kind of just because of what he said to him. No. What do you say? Don't touch me. Don't you ever touch me? Don't ever touch me. Okay. Cool. No, I was just, I'm just curious, you know, if you felt like, you know, if, if there was anything on his side. Some of you're saying no. Maybe. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like there totally was, but he's still the director of this organization. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that line, that line is so bitter. You know, and when I first read it, I was like, he got waterboarded. But that was part of the script. You know, that was, that was something that was planned. It's not like he's mad at his subordinate for following out the orders. Okay. And so that, that, this time it really came across to me as like, I don't, I'm not ready to go drink eggnog with you and, you know, ogle the other soul. Yeah. I really like, I really like just that, that thing that was, that evolved from it was the, the director, one of my favorite things about the evolution of the script. Was that before it was like, turn that noise off. I'm out of here. I hate Frosty the snowman. That was the true part. And then, but then it has evolved into he lingers. And I think that that there is a, even if it's just a, you know, small genuine connection, there's still some connection. I was like it when no one gets off you. Yeah. Well, it's the, the person that killed me never slept again. I want to ask one more question before you bring the play right up. And then I just want to hear, maybe really briefly what you think this play is about. Like if you go home tonight and you say, I saw this play and it was about blank. What would you say? I wouldn't because it would, there wasn't more for, I was like, am I getting a message? And then, and then you start to find the twist. And then it raises all these questions. So be very exciting with the technology, making the experience, raising even more questions so that when you walk away, you're not, yeah, you don't have, that's not what you're thinking about. Well, I think it's about honor. Honor. Because it seems to me the director has made the decision that the chaplain is a traitor, but he's also a hero and he doesn't want him to die as a traitor. He wants him to die as a hero. And he goes through all this rigmarole to bring the chaplain to his point that he can die as a hero and not as a traitor. The thing that always sticks with me, I'm a part of left so I've experienced the play many times. The most powerful thing for me is I agree, I don't know that I would say this is what the play is about because it's so loaded. But the thing that always sticks with me that I always, always question and think about and wonder over is that declaration that the chaplain has at the end when he says I believe in the common grace that I believe he's just experienced the most horrific experience anyone could ever experience and yet he still has come to this conclusion that the inherent goodness of man and that the common grace can be revealed to the soldier, I'm always questioning like what does that? And how does that happen? And in many ways that's what the play is about for me in terms of reaching grace through what? Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Holly, did you have your hand up? You had your hand up? I really agree with what you were saying. But for me it was also the message of those individual decisions that we all make from many times during the day of sort of like an ethical dilemma. Do I do what I know is the right thing to do or even though it may be perilous to me, therefore do I just let it go? There are just a lot of those not necessarily as big as this but that we all face every day. I'm very upset. But I kept feeling when the chaplain was speaking and saying this is not who we are, this is not who we are, and this is not who we are, whatever. And as my daughter knows, we've got a lot of other stuff mixed up with this and this is why she did not want her brother to come see this show. Yeah, he's getting ready to go to the neighborhood anyway. And I'm just like, this is not who we are and I know that this goes on but the darkness of it made me believe, I have to tell you, that the playwright's message is this is who we are and that there's no light. And so it was very hard for me because I felt like it was a statement about the darkness that's totally overtaken. And there is no, and so while you felt it was about honor, I felt like it's about honor is going to be snuffed out. Everywhere, what? We killed it. We killed it. That's what we killed it here. And it's going to be snuffed out and it was, it's very hard for me. Yeah, that's a very quiet message. Yeah, absolutely. It's a shiny spark but there's almost kind of a potential of that spark managing to get back on the director but at the end he's not going to be able to do this again with the same kind of a lack of, that's one of the only things that I have found that has, that there's any real redemption apart from the chapter of personal redemption is the idea of if there's something moving forward and someone's gotten petrified or can't shake off, it's very small. To me, there was a confusion too. A struggle you're having with a lieutenant the whole time too. And you're like, well is she being affected by this, you know? Is there this like growth that's happening in her and then she stun guns him? No! In a certain sense, it seems to me that the key line is one that repeats all the way through about we were at war. Yeah, there's a war on you. There's a war on. And it's very specificity to, I assume, the war, the wars that we are in but it's a much more generalized sense too and that this is maybe what you can expect when a war is on. And if a war is always on... who am I? And especially because of how you set it up and describing when we walk in that we're given things badges or papers, psychology papers or military papers or something. And so immediately I thought, okay, who am I? We're being forced to participate now. And then with the water bottles being passed out along the buckets, it's like asking that continual question who are you in this play? I think that's certainly something that would be in the actual production. The coldness. Of the speaker. You did a great job. I mean, we really hated you. And I turned back and I saw this beautiful girl there I thought. That's why we had her out of place. It was sometimes so soft and loving and other times it was just so cold and the description is something like she's a cat waiting to hounce on her prey or something like that. So the chaplain, he bought it all. I mean, he bought everything that the prisoner said. He bought everything that the voice through the microphone was saying. But he didn't believe about the communication with God. Nobody talks to God. God doesn't talk to anybody. That's just an odd for the chaplain. Absolutely, that's a huge difference to some point. Well, by the end, he talks about... But then it was in the innate goodness of man. Not so much in God. Not so much in God. And at the end too, he also said when he was trying to make them stop torturing a prisoner, he even said, take me or Let him go and after you had read the section that the quote from the Bible about the good shepherd lays down his wife or his sheep. And I thought that was exactly what you were trying to do. Well, see, one of the things that I'm the most about this role after the god has come back to me is something that there's this lovely dichotomy of a man who is on a specific path. He has seen enough and done enough that if he had faith at some point he'd often find it again and he's actually taking on this job in order to find it. And he's going unitarian because he's not entirely sure how to do it. But it's still, you know, it's still, he's hard into that journey. He wants to, and then he gets this visit. Okay, he's proved that there is no God. And at the same time, in the name of God, this much more. Yeah, that's very, very important. You have something learning and then I've got to tell you. Well, I'd like to, I'm so rehearsed to do this, but I've been chatting with a guy on the internet for several years now. He's been at home with him for five years, feeling like a big boy in his life when he should have been out being his own self. He locks himself in the room sometimes because he's afraid his mother will kill him. He told me about a week ago that his father had tried to kill him and choke him to death in one of those episodes. The word he always uses when he says who he is is that he has honor. And that when he promises to do something, he will keep his promise. Yeah. This is real life. But it makes me see the play in a whole different. Sure. Serious life. Because this is a real person that I know about. Yeah, absolutely. And what we all bring into the space, certainly. I'd like to bring Kinley down just so that you guys can have a chance to hear a little bit from him and also give him a chance to ask him some questions and create a response. So Kinley, will you come up and tell us a little bit about where this play came from, this very briefly kind of the genesis of this play? Well, it's a very different kind of piece for me. I mean, there are a lot of the same themes of faith and identity coming from it. But I guess when you accept me into the lab this year, you kind of call me a bluff. Because I had this notion, this idea that I want to do something a lot more political, a lot more topical. And honestly, as of September 1st, it didn't exist except in some dose. And so for the next 30 days, the first draft came together. A lot of pros in it, just a lot of ideas, big ideas, and trying to figure out where we're going to go. And originally, the first notion was it was going to be pretty much a straight interrogation. And about halfway into that first draft, you had one of those 1-if moments. 1-if the director is really, and I decided to plug that in and see how it worked. And I really liked where that took it. I mean, it took it to an incredibly dark place. I mean, very clearly the darkest thing I've ever, you know, dealt into. And also because of that twist, it has been the most difficult thing. Because then I had to engineer everything in almost from the back end to make it all work. And that was a lot of the work in lab is to make that consistent, to eliminate those lingering questions. And the biggest problem, when you're looking at even the normal beats in the play, the real objective is submerged. Everybody's real objective is something else. They're overtly doing this or that, but then there's something else going on. And I had to make that honest and realistic as much as possible. And look at, in every moment, what is the prisoner's tactic here? Why is he taking the conversation this way or that way? What's that strategy? What's the Chaplin strategy? I mean, he has a goal, too. I mean, he's looking out for that tension trying to make all this good again and live the rest of his life with some kind of quality. So everybody has this ulterior motive. And it's been a challenge. It's been a lot of fun. It's been a while ago. Do you guys have any questions for Kim? Well, my question is, I didn't see that the Chaplin had that goal at all. I didn't see that he was all that impressed. The idea that he would get the pitch and that he would do this. I missed that part, sorry. Oh, no, that's a good comment. I think he evolves very clearly all the way through the foot. And of course he has to. I think that's the carrot they give him. That's the whole idea. Hey, we can make this hiccup go away on your record and so forth. But he really becomes involved with this man in the box. And I think he sees his own darkness, the void within. And he's really doing the work of a Chaplin again. And maybe that moment he described where he couldn't say anything to this dying soldier. He had nothing to offer. He kept looking for that answer. Maybe this is his final chance to do it. I have a question that has occurred to me on several occasions over the past three, four years with the lab and with all the playwrights. But it struck me especially denied. When you're writing, do you concern yourself at all, especially in this phase of development with what I would just call reproducibility? I mean, we know that it's all magic and we can do any number of magical things on stage. Blood, vomit. We had a lot of vomit this year. Tennessee Rep. We don't know how to do that. Boxes, plexiglass boxes, all of those kinds of things. Do you have any concern that the play is maybe limited by what you would most like to have in terms of being able to be produced? Yes, I think as it's described now, I'm sure a lot of theaters would consider it perhaps a daunting possibility. Get past the subject matter and you'll be able to get this technical aspect. I'm involved in a New Works Theater in Rota, Virginia. And whenever I write anything, I always like to have some idea how this might actually be predicted. I know a lot of writers just throw it out there and say, well, I'll trust the crew and they'll make it happen. But I don't put it in unless I have a solution. And particularly when I think about my own situation, we're a 60 seat black box in our biggest configuration with a minimal budget. And in my mind, yeah, I know how we can do this. We could conceivably do it well and economically. So every little bit I've gone over in my hands. I don't believe I'm asking too much for even a small theater company to make this happen. Would the male nudity be of launchage? It simply depends on the theater and what kind of risk they're on the take. I know that's a big stretch for anybody. And I know this is not a play for everybody. It's not a play for every theater company. It's not a play for every audience, clearly. But that's what came out in this moment. And we'll see. Do you want to add? Shane, did we have any? I think you had your hand up back there a week. No. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I have a question that occurred to me during the reading. Textually, they refer to the voice in the back as serf. And it's played by a woman. And then we have the woman lieutenant. I'm just wondering about gender specifications and sort of just to hear your thoughts on why they refer to her as a serf. I went with that really hard military protocol. And for this particular situation, it may not be realistic in a true military situation to you, sir. I just like the sound of it. But in the later versions of this script, I think maybe from March or April on, originally, I mean, the sergeant and lieutenant developed more than any characters in the show. When we started out, it was really more of a theater of alienation piece, a very complicated and the guards are interchangeable. They were just number one and two, and that was it. And as it went on, I got really more interested in creating defining characteristics for them. They were not gender specific at the beginning nor was controlled. But after seeing women read some of these parts and read them very well in the lab session, I really decided, you know, I like what's happening here. And I like playing with those ideas of gender and femininity and putting it in this really, really harsh environment and seeing how it works. So the play now very much specifies, Lieutenant is a woman and that's been very much incorporated in the script now. And as is controlled, because I love, especially what Robin did with it, in terms of the voice, where it could be very feminine, very soothing. She can just wrap that voice around every word and then the claws come out and it cuts right to the quick. So when we talked in rehearsal about how, that's almost a clue for you as the audience, because the control is really just the stand-in for the director who's otherwise occupying. So really when they ask a question, you know, what do my orders serve? I mean really asking him, I'm just, you know, substitute teacher in that moment. So it's almost a respect thing that they're saying, sir, to him, but I'm just the voice. One of the nice things about that is that is an undercurrent of the play as sort of a study in duplicity. I think really helps to capture it, the whole idea of people not being what you expect or not what you think they are. And that's true, I believe, of almost every character on the stage in terms of being a sort of study of duplicity women. Did you intend, I guess, to put the audience on the defensive to make the audience have that sense of being complicit in that, you know, the audience is, you know, with the clipboards and all that stuff. So the audience is part of the interrogation. So the audience is automatically coming from a much more defensive sort of view of what's going on rather than being able to, you know, just be an audience and view and take in and think through. You put them in a position where they're, you know, on the defensive. Was that intentional and important? Yeah, very much. Particularly I've been really interested in environmental field and really breaking down the barriers between the stage, the audience and so forth. And as I see it, you know, there's going to be no platform like this, no stage. If there's any formal seating, it might be just two high risers, maybe in a half or three-quarter thrust around this box, and you're right up there close to the action. I didn't want that separation. I didn't want the audience to feel safe and removed. I think as a society when we, it's very easy to distance ourselves from the harsher things that might maybe occurring in our names. And I think about myself, you know, how complicit am I in some of the things that might be happening, many things that I may not agree with, and yet, you know, what am I doing? What is my role? You know, am I actually allowing it to happen by not taking any action otherwise? I don't expect this to be anybody's favorite play ever. I expect it to be a play that should be, don't forget. The experience should be one that should be, frankly, I hope it's powerful. I hope it's honestly disturbing on some level. I hope it engenders that type of discussion and thought with everybody looking within. And I've had to do that process as I've written. I mean, I went to some very, very dark places in it, and places I didn't think I would actually write about. I mean, my work has been very, very dark, but there's always been something at the end where there's a little up kick, there's a little, you know, chance. And on this one, even if the chaplain has that moment, he's rediscovered, you know, his purpose, his faith, and his eyes meet the prisoner at that last moment. But it's bullshit. Can I really write this? I don't need to wrap up here. Well along those lines, if I'm the lucky audience member who gets to use the remote control, what images do you have in mind that go up? Well, again, I thought, how can you do this economically? So I was thinking really small, like webcam-type cameras that would be positioned on the four corners of the cell, then a few places around the space itself. So essentially, you would get just a video switcher, and you would be able to select whatever view. So from inside the cell, you could shoot over the chaplain's shoulder and get a close-up of the prisoner or vice versa. You could look at yourselves, and it would vary performance to performance. Click, click, click. So it's more of a camera operator than seeing anything. I should have probably described that a little bit better. That's a late addition to the script. I just like the idea of that type of interaction. And two, Lauren brought this up in actually directing this, where you have two people in a box on stage. How do you make that dynamic? Well, here you can actually get close-up. The audience can vary it as they need, so it's another tool for viewing, and it might very well be something that observers would want to use for whatever, if you're a psychologist out there, if you're another interrogator, you're trying to take notes, and about which ones are you taking to? What's your real role? What a great challenge for an actor in that you've got a question-glass wall in front of you, literally creating a fourth wall. So you want to kind of play past that wall. I know you said the plan had to be a huge house, but regardless, you want to play past that to get to the last person in the last row, and you also have a camera capturing a close-up, which means you need to rain it in a little bit, and make it a little smaller, so who are you? Yeah, it's playing for the state and the state at the same time. I know you need to wrap up. You have one. Well, I don't know if this is as much a comment or a question. I bought the prisoner so much, I felt like he was the most well-developed character in the entire thing, and so the reason I really felt betrayed at the end was I was like, there's no way the controller could make this guy up. Do you understand what I'm saying? I mean, I was so with him, and I just felt like all the little idiosyncrasies and all the little... Then when I went back and reflected afterwards, I was like, really? Really this guy could have this, you know, and I mean, I don't know, he was doing a great job with the character. But I was just all those little lines of dialogue, and I was like, wow, that is a really well-realized character. All these things about him, it's so believable. Then I find out, this is the controller. So you're just intentionally doing that to mislead us on this thing, or it makes it maybe not be as believable to me at the end because he's so... I don't know, he was such a idiosyncrasy. You know, he's a character I will remember for a long time. We talked about that a little bit, if I could jump in. We talked about that a little bit, just the why, this tactic, right? And it's because the chaplain has nothing to lose is pretty much what we decided at this point, because the point where he enters the play, he has nothing to lose. He's a man without faith, right? He is the... He actually has a line at one point about if he says his name, he'll shoot something. And the chaplain says, I'm not willing to talk about it. When the chaplain comes into the play, the chaplain doesn't really have someone that he's going to lose. He's not imperil. So they have to give him someone to be imperil for in order to make him betrayed to take it away from him. Also just really quick to further that. What's so fascinating about having to backtrack about the twist, and I agree with her in many ways, it's like, oh, it makes you negotiate that. Consider also his sort of truth. He obviously has physical abuse cards in his legs that they're there. So that story probably is real. So when he's doing this character of prisoner, what's he negotiating? And what's he leaving out and what's he telling? And that's what's so fascinating to me. Yeah, I've always kind of wondered, like, what is he... I mean, he is making up these stories, I'm assuming, but what of it might be from his own experiences? And he has scars. Did he just put those there for more as a preemptive measure? Or was he... If I were one of the, you know, the sergeant or lieutenant in the background, knowing that he was making the step up, I'd be kind of thinking like, huh, is he making this up? That's really interesting. I'm wondering how much of this is true about my boss. For the playing the prisoner, I had to make a lot of those decisions. We had to make a lot of those decisions of why am I using this tactic? Why is the conversation going this way? And if you look back on it, it's all very close to home for him. So everything is very planned and detailed because he had an abusive bond, right? He was in the military. He killed people, he knows what it's like. I say, I keep prodding him, you don't know what it's like, do you? You don't know what it's like, do you? Well, you do know what it's like, and then it's like, you can trust me, right? And then the faith thing. That's the, you know, it's giving him his faith back so that he'll have something to fight for. That's to me, I just had to, we just kind of had to make those decisions of this is why I'm talking about my father now, and this is why I'm talking about the military. One last thing? Oh, yeah, and I was just going to say, when I was thinking about that as well, it sort of came to me like, it feels like we just have a really sick writer genius as the director. You know, like, yeah, if Ken Lee can think of all these things, then we just have somebody who has that writing gift who's using it in a really, really sick way. Well, not Ken Lee, the director. Ken Lee wanted to answer that. What's that? Well, he never talked, I dressed it. Oh, he never dressed it? Do you feel like everybody else covered my comment about it? Well, yes, I think it's very true. We talk about this a lot in lab. How much of these stories actually are drawn from some of his personal truths? And if you would see it in production, I think a lot might be shown, especially at the end, with not necessarily the script, but the physicality of the prisoner. He does have the same tics. You know, he's kind of itchy with the worms, perhaps. And there's that moment of reflection at the end that was added in that I think does betray some of his emotional toll that this has taken on him, perhaps more than he would imagine. So, yeah, anybody in this kind of role, yes, he's playing off everything that the chaplain gives him, but the easiest thing to do with that circumstance might be to go to your own past, maybe divert it here or there, maybe embellish it. But I believe there's a germ of truth in many of the things that he brought up. Well, we really appreciate you guys participating in this conversation. Thank you, actors. You did a wonderful job. Hey, man, how are you? Do you mean it? Do you mean it? I've heard that. I've got it. I've got it. It's a real life, though. It's a really good job. Oh! Good. Good. I know that.