SMU Page Series presents ‘Letters Home’ Nov. 1

WINONA, Minn. — Letters written by soldiers serving in the Middle East will come to life during the next Saint Mary’s University Page Series event — “Letters Home”— on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

The event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Page Theatre, located in the SMU Performance Center.

This Griffin Theatre production — a powerful portrait of the soldier experience — is inspired by the New York Times Op-Ed Article, “The Things They Wrote” and the subsequent HBO documentary, “Last Letters Home” and additionally uses letters and correspondences from Frank Schaeffer’s books, “Voices From the Front,” “Letters Home From America’s Military Family,” “Faith of Our Sons,” and “Keeping Faith.”

These letters were written under the most difficult of circumstances: the disorientation of training, deployment, separation from family and loved ones and combat, and occupation duties in Afghanistan and Iraq. The production uses minimal props and set pieces to dramatize the letters. Photos and video used in the production are taken directly from actual soldiers’ blogs and websites.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $5 for seniors and students and are available online at www.pagetheatre.org or at the SMU Box Office, (507) 457-1715 Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Area schools are invited to a special matinee performance at 10 a.m. The play — 90 minutes in length — is recommended for those in grades nine through 12. Contact the Box Office at (507) 457-1715 to reserve seats for your school group. All seats are $2 per student, teacher or chaperone. A study guide is available online at www.pagetheatre.org/matinees.html.

Saint Mary’s is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Institutional Presenter Support grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2008.