Before Sabrina Waller enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1998, her recruiter assured her she’d never set foot on a ship. A year later, the now 36-year-old was one of only 500 women on a 5,000-sailor aircraft carrier stationed in Southeastern European waters as NATO troops dropped bombs during the Kosovo conflict.
“I didn’t even know where we were on the map, let alone what conflicts were going on in the region that we were going to support, and what that had to do with the American lives we were supposed to be serving and protecting,” said Waller, who now lives in Oak Park.
Waller’s experience as a female U.S. veteran—one of more than 1.8 million in the country—left her with complicated feelings about her service that she says many women suffer through, often in silence. It’s why she shared her story with Edgewater’s Rivendell Theatre for the company’s latest production, “Women at War.” The drama, which runs through Dec. 6 and is based on the real-life accounts of more than 70 female veterans, aims to give an authentic voice to what it’s like to be a woman in the military.
The first inklings of the project struck Rivendell artistic director Tara Mallen more than eight years ago when she befriended a military advisor for one of her shows.
“At that time, we were in the midst of Iraq and I felt like somebody had ripped the bandages off my eyes because of how unaware I was, and how I just didn’t pay any attention to the fact that we were at war, and how much I just allowed it to be somebody else’s problem,” Mallen said.
Since Rivendell focuses on work by or about women, Mallen was inspired to put together a season that focused military service through a female lens. But when she set out to find scripts, she could only locate works from the perspective of the women who were left home during times of war, not women as warriors.
Using a piece adapted from the 2009 book “The Lonely Soldier” and other shows as a jumping-off point, Mallen enlisted the input of veterans’ organizations like arts therapy group VetCAT, with which Rivendell partnered in 2012 to secure a $50,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust that the groups split to fund what would become the “Women at War” project.
From the handful of veterans they found who were willing to talk about their service, the project’s writer Megan Carney was tasked with collecting stories in interviews and group round-tables, framing the talks around two main questions: “What motivated you to enlist?” and “What’s it been like since you’ve come back?”
They gathered stories of sexual abuse and desperation, financial troubles, suicide and shame. But they also heard about family pride, breaking glass ceilings and personal triumphs. One of the most important aspects of the process, Mallen said, was capturing a full picture.
“[If the play] only focused on [the dark side], it didn’t tell the whole story,” Mallen said.
With their funding running low and still too few contributing veterans, Rivendell mounted a staged reading in November 2013. Though Mallen says the piece needed work, the crowd and conversation the event created showed the company it was on the right track—and calls started flooding in from veterans groups and others who wanted to be involved. One veteran was even cast in the show.
As the show’s debut run purposefully coincided with Veterans Day this year, Mallen says the finished product’s ability to spark those important conversations, in post-show panels and beyond, has been what is most satisfying.
For Waller, seeing her story blended with her fellow veterans’ on stage, has been powerful as well.
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“I went [to the show] on Sunday and I brought another female veteran with me that wasn’t part of the project and she was just blown away,” Waller said. “She was like, ‘That was me up there,’ even though it wasn’t. But there were those common stories that many women face in the military and she saw herself up there, and she was ecstatic that people were taking the time to listen.”
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‘Women at War’
Go: Through Dec. 6 at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Ave.
Tickets: $25-$35. 773-334-7728; rivendelltheatre.org. Post-show town hall discussions follow each Saturday performance.
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