During his years in theatre performing on stage Jeff's studies focused on The Meisner Technique. As he transitioned to film & television his education expanded to Stanislavski's 'Method' while studying for nearly 5 years at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Conservatory. He continues to train and study at Strasberg, the American Film Institute, the SAG-AFTRA Conservatory and multiple studios in the Los Angeles area.

His current work and projects have earned him major roles transporting him to international movie sets and Cannes Film Festival Screenings. His indie feature film 'Parallax' (which he starred in and produced) has been making the festival rounds for the last several years with 11 awards as of December 2021- including multiple winners of Best Actor, Best Producer, Best Short Film and Best Thriller.

A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Ty was the son of a career Army warrant officer who went on to became the first black state trooper in South Carolina. Ty himself served 13 years in the Army National Guard rising to the rank of Captain in the Ordnance branch.

Corban is now living in Atlanta, Georgia where he creates full time, working on a variety of projects in different mediums, from painting to woodworking. He also leads a creative agency with his wife called CALM Collective, where he works as a creative director and cinematographer. His camera work has attracted top companies and non-profits from around the country, who have hired him as a director of photography on national ad campaigns and commercials. Moving forward, Corban's dream is to use his creative gifts to serve others and Christ. 

Corban's website

Larry was born in Canton, Ohio.  Since his father was an officer with the United States Air Force he grew up on many Air Force bases across this country.   After graduating from High School at Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico, he attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.  He graduated in 1968 with a degree in mathematics and a concentration in finance. He joined the U.S. Army and served one tour in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division as an Infantry Officer and a CH-47 helicopter pilot.  He is the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal, with 10 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star, and various other military service medals.

Upon release from active duty in 1973, Larry returned to civilian life and pursued a career in the Financial Industry.  During his professional career, he continued his education earning graduate degrees in Management and Banking.  He worked for 29 years in the banking business with Trust Company of Georgia, Citizen and Southern Corporation, now Bank of America, and Wachovia, now Wells Fargo.  After retiring from banking he worked as an independent financial consultant for 3 years in the Atlanta area and then worked as an instructor for 6 years with Lanier Technical College in their Management and Leadership Development Program.

Larry is now retired and lives in North Georgia with his wife Linda, a retired school teacher.  They stay involved in various activities, most notably those associated with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Veterans related organizations.  They also enjoy traveling together and spending as much time as possible with their two daughters, three grandsons, and two granddaughters.

Lit of War

You can see him live at VetRep's performance of Savage WonderGround: Three Strangers at @principlegallery on April 13 at 6pm (savagewonder.com)

Fay has also had solo exhibitions at the Farnsworth Museum, where he was the target of a protest group. His artwork has been published in Leatherneck Magazine—the official magazine of the Marine Corps Association—and the New York Times. The Guardian called his work "exceptionally moving and thought-provoking", and said, "Over the past decade, Fay has seen action as a war artist with US troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but his latest journey was to a military veterans' hospital in Richmond, Virginia. In the resulting New York Times blogs, he relays his meetings with three young men severely wounded in Afghanistan. His account of their injuries and rehabilitation is gripping, but what really deepens the reporting are his drawings, reproduced alongside the articles."

Fay has also recorded wounded veterans recovering from their injuries. As part of this work he founded the Joe Bonham Project to document the experiences of the wounded. After retirement, Fay campaigned for enhanced recognition and improved working opportunities for war artists. Fay also uses sculpture. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration; his thesis was called The Boy Who Drew Soldiers.

From Long Beach, California to the mountains of the Pyrenees in northern Spain, Suicide In Slow Motion takes the reader on a voyage of discovery through Tristan’s eyes, while confronting the horrors of PTSD and delving into the philosophy of self-destruction. It also seeks to answer the question that many veterans ask once they leave the military... what the hell do I do now.

Neville currently resides in New Zealand with his wife and three children. He works at a high school as the Pathways Coordinator, assisting young people in developing essential life skills for their transition into the workforce. 

His first book, Sangin, Then and Now, is a stoic collection of poetry from a lifelong loyal subject of the Commonwealth. The verses within tell the story of a young man following in the footsteps of his father as we accompany him on a journey to war and back.

It is a rationale for the dangers we face in staying in a toxic relationship with professions and landscapes trying to swallow us whole.

He was on the staff at George Mason University’s Community Business Partnership; and served as Director of the Business Incubation Center (2012-2013) and Director of the South Fairfax Small Business Development Center (2013-2015) before founding and serving as the Director of the Veterans Business Outreach Center for the Mid-Atlantic region from 2015 to 2019. The Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) program (a program of the Small Business Administration) is designed to provide entrepreneurial development services such as business training, counseling, and resource partner referrals to transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard & Reserve members, and military spouses interested in starting or growing a small business. In 2016, he was named Boots to Business Instructor of the Year; and in 2018, the VBOC at Community Business Partnership was named the Veteran Business Center of Excellence by the Small Business Administration.

Charles is also active in the broader community; serving as a learning lab partner for the Dog Tag, Inc., Fellows program. He is also an avid storyteller, writer and artist; and has been a mentor with the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP).

 Charles told his first story on stage in 2017 as a graduate of the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) Storytelling 101 class; and has since gone on to perform at ASAP’s Service to Stage performance (DC Improv in 2018), Story District’s annual OutSpoken show (9:30 Club in 2019), and Story District’s TopShelf performance (Lincoln Theater in 2020). His first short story (fiction), “Dancing in the Dark,” will be published in a special literary issue of the Journal of Veterans Studies in Spring 2023.

Kacy's debut memoir, Freaks of a Feather, has been reviewed and excerpted by Task & Purpose, The War Horse, The Big Smoke, KHQ, and others. Previously, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Zero-Dark-Thirty literary journal, as well as the SOFLETE website.

See it here.

Francisco’s work has been featured in The Line Literary Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Iron & Air (Issue 41), Wrath-Bearing Tree, Consequence, BULL, Hobart, Construction Literary Magazine, Split Lip, The War Horse, River Teeth: Beautiful Things, Collateral Journal, and the Dominican Writer’s Association. He is also a contributing co-editor in the second volume of the Incoming series Sex, Drugs, and Copenhagen. 

As a Writer/Producer, through his production company, SPOKEN WORLD ENTERTAINMENT, he wrote, produced, performed, and marketed his perennial Spoken Word Film, “The Deadly Ms. Susan Aside.” His latest Spoken Word song, “The Night-Mare” is available here.

David has taken classes through (TRU) Theater Resources Unlimited. He has taken The Producer Development and Mentoring Program (PDMP and PDMP PLUS), developed to help self-producing artists to advance in the creative arts.

As a teenager, David hosted, produced, and wrote for a segment on the legendary FRANKIE CROCKER RADIO SHOW on WBLS. His segment increased the show’s listenership by over 3 million, over the course of 18 months. An iconic voice during “The Golden Age of Hip-Hop” in 1982, he was a trailblazer and Master Storyteller. He was also one of the original producers for Def Poetry Jam.

Stamps is the Artist-In-Residence, for Senator Leroy Comrie’s Veteran’s Advisory Board, in St. Albans, Queens. He performs his poetry at events for Homeless Veterans and fundraisers on the Senator’s behalf.

 Arianna was one of four playwrights selected for the 2019-2021 Miami-Dade County Council of Cultural Affairs Playwright Development Program, moderated by Kia Corthron.   Two of her full-length plays developed in the program have gone on to have readings and workshops across the country and awarded finalist status in many playwriting competitions. She was a 2022 participant in the Kennedy Center Playwrights Intensive and the William Inge Theatre Festival Playlab.

 Edge Media Network  lauded Ms. Rose’s  play FAMILY BY NUMBERS, calling it “One of the best plays” with a “powerfully haunting conclusion”. The world premiere was at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, NY in April 2019 with more than 20 productions across the country. It’s been selected twice for Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine Program.  It is published in the 2021 Smith & Kraus Anthology of Best 10-Minute Plays and Theatre Odyssey Best Plays Anthology, joining her other winning play SEX, LIES & STYROFOAM.  Arianna also has monologues published in Applause Books “Best New Monologue Anthologies “ 2019 and 2020.

 Full-length plays: TOUCH THE MOON. Selected by HRC Showcase Theater New Works Festival and Fantasy Theatre Factory’s New Year, New Works Series for staged readings in 2021-2022.  Semi-finalist, Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival 2020; Honorable Mention, Panndora’s Box 2020 New Play Festival. A one-act version was produced at the 2020 Windsor Fringe Festival UK, The Know Theatre 2019, and selected for the William Inge Theatre Festival New Play Lab 2020.

 THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION has been developed at the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council PLAYWRIGHT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.   It was one of five plays selected nationwide for the 2021 Finstrom Festival of New Plays at Zoetic Stage in Miami Florida. Readings followed at the Sandrell Rivers Theatre in Miami. The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis held a workshop and reading of the piece in June 2022, followed by a zoom reading by VS Theatre Company in Los Angeles.

 Full-length musicals:  THE LOST GIRL musical, written with  Jonathan Larson and Fred Ebb award winner Ben Bonnema, was selected for the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, Viterbo New Works Festival, NYU Steinhardt’s School of Music, the year-long CDP workshop, the 2021 Florida Festival of New Musicals, and JetFest 2022 in Michigan .  It is regularly featured on Musical Theatre Radio.   A musical version of  her play THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION  entitled A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is in development with director Clayton Phillips and composer Amy Engelhardt.  A CHANGE OF HEART is currently in development with composer Tom...]]>Arianna Rose is a professional Playwright, Musical Theatre Writer, Dramaturg, Visual Artist and Educator. She is the recipient of the MAC Song of the Year Award,  the York Theatre NEO Award,  and various best play/playwright awards from Theatre Odyssey, Tree City Playhouse, Mixing It Up Productions, the Know Theatre, Studio 1 Theatre, South Baldwin Theatre, Veterans Repertory Theatre and Clocktower Theatre Company.  Her plays and musicals have been presented to date in twenty-seven states and seven countries.  She was selected 4 years in a row for Theatre Lab at FAU’s New Works Festival readings, 3 years in a row for Theatre Three’s One-Act Play Festival, and selected twice for Theatre Odyssey’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, winning best play there for FAMILY BY NUMBERS. Arianna was a 2020 finalist for the Edward Kleban Lyric Writing Award. She was one of the three finalists for the 2020 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing in the UK, which included a production of her one-act version of Touch The Moon at The Windsor Fringe Festival. 

 Arianna was one of four playwrights selected for the 2019-2021 Miami-Dade County Council of Cultural Affairs Playwright Development Program, moderated by Kia Corthron.   Two of her full-length plays developed in the program have gone on to have readings and workshops across the country and awarded finalist status in many playwriting competitions. She was a 2022 participant in the Kennedy Center Playwrights Intensive and the William Inge Theatre Festival Playlab.

 Edge Media Network  lauded Ms. Rose’s  play FAMILY BY NUMBERS, calling it “One of the best plays” with a “powerfully haunting conclusion”. The world premiere was at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, NY in April 2019 with more than 20 productions across the country. It’s been selected twice for Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine Program.  It is published in the 2021 Smith & Kraus Anthology of Best 10-Minute Plays and Theatre Odyssey Best Plays Anthology, joining her other winning play SEX, LIES & STYROFOAM.  Arianna also has monologues published in Applause Books “Best New Monologue Anthologies “ 2019 and 2020.

 Full-length plays: TOUCH THE MOON. Selected by HRC Showcase Theater New Works Festival and Fantasy Theatre Factory’s New Year, New Works Series for staged readings in 2021-2022.  Semi-finalist, Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival 2020; Honorable Mention, Panndora’s Box 2020 New Play Festival. A one-act version was produced at the 2020 Windsor Fringe Festival UK, The Know Theatre 2019, and selected for the William Inge Theatre Festival New Play Lab 2020.

 THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION has been developed at the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council PLAYWRIGHT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.   It was one of five plays selected nationwide for the 2021 Finstrom Festival of New Plays at Zoetic Stage in Miami Florida. Readings followed at the Sandrell Rivers Theatre in Miami. The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis held a workshop and reading of the piece in June 2022, followed by a zoom reading by VS Theatre Company in Los Angeles.

 Full-length musicals:  THE LOST GIRL musical, written with  Jonathan Larson and Fred Ebb award winner Ben Bonnema, was selected for the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, Viterbo New Works Festival, NYU Steinhardt’s School of Music, the year-long CDP workshop, the 2021 Florida Festival of New Musicals, and JetFest 2022 in Michigan .  It is regularly featured on Musical Theatre Radio.   A musical version of  her play THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION  entitled A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is in development with director Clayton Phillips and composer Amy Engelhardt.  A CHANGE OF HEART is currently in development with composer Tom Sivak.

Arianna is an Adjunct Theatre Professor at Broward College and was awarded Adjunct Professor of the Year for 2022-2023.  M.F.A., NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program; B.A. in Theatre from Bucknell University; BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop.  A proud member of ASCAP, Literary Managers & Dramaturges of the Americas, Musicians Local 802, SEIU, New Play Exchange, The South Florida Theatre League, and the Dramatists Guild of America, where she has served as Regional Ambassador since 2020.  She is the founder and moderator of the Plays on Purpose/Miami New Musicals weekly writers group.

A native New Yorker, Arianna moved to South Florida in 2016 and has been making a name for herself in the vibrant South Florida Theatre community.

Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, and Women in the Arts & Media Coalition’s Collaboration Award. Her play GREAT WHITE was an Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award and her play ATLAS, THE LONELY GIBBON was a finalist for the 2021 National Playwrights Conference. Deborah is a 2021-2024 Core Writer at The Playwrights’ Center and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow.

Deborah is the winner of VetRep’s latest full-length playwriting competition for her play TECTONIC MELANGE. Her play THE CALM BEFORE is currently in development with VetRep.

ment-35. As a Chief Warrant Officer, he has served with 3rd Supply Battalion, Marine Corps Systems Command, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and as an LDO he currently serves with Marine Forces Special Operations Command. A veteran of OIF, OEF, and OIR he has done his share of creating unit t-shirts and coins, but took a more focused approach to creating artwork in recent years.

“A few years after transitioning to the Warrant Officer ranks, I volunteered to assist the annual Warrant Officer Basic Course at Quantico, Virginia. I was was teamed with Staff Platoon Commander and Marine Corps Combat Artist, Captain Charles “CJ” Baumann where I rediscovered my passion for art in working with him and studying his work.”

Mike's passion for creating artwork stems from the idea that art should tell a story, and the stories of the GWOT demand to be told.

Check out Mike’s work here.

His work exudes a level of spirituality and an organic connection with the human condition. This reflects his experiences growing up as the son and grandson of preachers. Angelo’s creations invite the viewer to participate in a physical, mental or spiritual dialogue with what they experience. Deep vibrant abstracts, joyous colorful mixed-media portraits, and majestic sports pieces are brought to life using vivid colors and bold compositions.

Yellowtub Creative

We wanted to do a cool, year-end episode to talk about the highs and lows of VetRep’s first calendar year - and we did that. Star, Dex, and Lilla were great - funny, moving, poignant even - but, well, it just sucks to do a four-person Zoom podcast. Everyone’s muted when they’re not talking so you don’t hear the laughing or crosstalk that makes it seem like, well, four people talking. Instead it sounds like we’re each in our own little pods speaking in isolation. I was dangerously close to scrapping the whole thing. But I didn’t. There are some wonderful memories that are worth sharing and remembering. Hopefully those will outweigh the technical blahs. But if you haven’t listened before - don’t let this be your first episode. We’re so much better than this. Have I undersold the episode enough?

Thanks to everyone who has listened this year, not to mention our outstanding guests. It’s been a privilege to bring you the stories of so many veteran artists. We can’t wait do it again next year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Fred was co-editor-in-chief of National Lampoon along with Sean Kelly, under the pseudonym L. Dennis Plunkett. He left the Lampoon in 1984 to join Late Night with David Letterman, where he worked as a writer until 1990. While at Letterman, he wrote several unproduced screenplays with Kevin Curran (who also edited National Lampoon).

In 1990, Graver worked for Norman Lear's production company Tandem Productions. He left a year later to join the staff of In Living Color, where he worked until 1992, when he joined the staff of Cheers as a writer and eventual co-producer.

In 1994, the Northridge earthquake convinced Graver and good friend Charlie Rubin to return to New York, where the two wrote for The Jon Stewart Show.

In 1995, Graver leapt into the internet as executive producer of convergence programming Disney and ABC Cable. In 1999, he began work as an executive at MTV Networks and VH1, where he joined their MTV Networks Online division as head of VH1.com and Sonicnet.com. He then went into television programming as the head of VH1, and created the show Best Week Ever. In 2010, Fred was named SVP of Programming for the Travel Channel. In 2012, Graver joined Twitter as Creative Director of Media Partnerships.

Most recently, Fred served as Chief Judge of VetRep’s playwrighting competition.

Follow Fred here.

Read some of Chris' poetry on the Savage Wonder literary blog here.

Chris tweets here.

Follow Chris here.

Battles graduated with a BFA in Painting from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in December 1991, and earned his MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford in September 2013.

Originally serving as a Marine Reservist from 1986 until 1996, Battles became a Marine combat artist after reenlisting in 2006, and deployed to Overseas Contingency Operations several times to create art for the United States Marine Corps, serving in that billet until 2014. 

From 2014 until 2019, Battles served as a civilian combat artist for the Naval History and Heritage Command at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Battles is currently the Marine Corps Artist in Residence, on staff at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA.

His work has been featured in publications and art venues across the country, including the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. as a part of the art show “Fly Marines! The Centennial of Marine Corps Aviation 1912-2012” from January 2012 through January 2013.

Battles’ work was featured on the cover of Leatherneck magazine, March 2008, December 2009, and August 2020. His illustrations for the “Sharing the Courage” series were featured in Marines magazine, Oct/Nov/Dec 2009, and in a Marine Corps Times article “Heroics illustrated, comic-book style” by James K Sanborn, March 22nd, 2010.

Battles was featured in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section on July 18th, 2010, in an article by Carol Kino entitled, “With Sketchpads and Guns, Semper Fi”. 

Battles has been invited to be a guest speaker and artist for many events and organizations.  He was featured at USS Constitution Museum, Boston, MA during Marine Week in May, 2010, and his work was also on display May 5th 2010 in the John F. Kennedy School of Government for Harvard University. Battles was also guest speaker at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, January 28th 2011, and was forum speaker at The Army and The Navy Club in Washington, DC March 2nd, 2011.

Battles was featured in ABC ‘s “Persons of the Week: Combat Artists” with Charlie Gibson, September 2007, along with fellow combat artist and Hartford MFA alumnus Michael Fay, and combat artists Charles Grow and Col Charles Waterhouse.

Battles is a 2008 and 2010 recipient of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s John W. Thomason Award for excellence in combat art, and the 2010 and 2011 recipient of the Marine Corps Combat Correspondence Association’s Merit Award for Combat Art.

Follow the Marine Corps Combat Art Program here

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Follow Stephen here

David received 2016 GAP funding for Smoke, a project where he interviews, photographs and videotapes members of Ebola burial teams as well as medical personnel who combatted the disease, an Ebola survivor, and staff on the Dead Body Management Teams in Liberia. His intent is to capture this challenging time in West African history by creating a theatrical work that weaves not only dialogue based upon these interviews, but also black and white photographs and video footage of the Liberian people and the locations in which these events took place.

David has also been creating fine art and documentary photographs since 1980.

His photographic series, The Human Landscape, explores the human figure in studio and natural environments. In 1995 he began DANCEWORKS, collaborating with ballet and modern dancers to capture the transitory beauty of dancers in motion. He continues to explore and add new images to each photographic series.

The images in DEPLOYED: Haiti, Kosovo, Iraq were taken from 1994 - 2004 while a member of the U.S. Army.

Tucker has exhibited and sold his photographs at a number of galleries and museums throughout the nation, including the Springfield Art Museum, Blue Sky Gallery, Photographic Center NW, M.I.A. Gallery, New York Center for Photography, Lightbox Photography Gallery, the DeMatteis Gallery, Silver Image Gallery, PhotoZone Gallery, Lumina Gallery and Photography West Gallery. His works may be found in several private collections.

As both a fine art and journalism photographer, his images have been published in numerous publications including Black & White Magazine, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, The Seattle Times, American Theatre Magazine, Dramatics Magazine, InTheatre Magazine, and the book, "Theater in America."

James will appear as one of the two leads in the upcoming feature film Sirens as well as Gareth Edwards' science fiction blockbuster True Love, releasing in 2023.

Follow him here.

Mr. Jory has directed professionally in nine nations, and in the United States has directed productions at many regional theatres including Washington's Arena Stage, San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, Hartford Stage, the McCarter in Princeton, Guthrie Theatre, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has received the National Theatre Conference Award and ATA Distinguished Career Award. For his commitment to new plays, he has received the Margo Jones Award twice, the Shubert Foundation's James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, Carnegie Mellon's Commitment to Playwriting Award, and the Special Tony Award for Achievement in Regional Theatre. He currently teaches acting and directing at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

Books by Justin Eggen

Stand To: Change the Narrative

Matt Rendar Twitter

Matt Rendar's Etsy shop

Ava is a passionate supporter of U.S. Veterans, Active Duty Military, Fire, Police and First Responders, as well as animal and humanitarian causes.

Born and raised in upstate New York where she was classically trained, Ava draws from a broad range of influences from Frank Sinatra and Doris Day all the way to the Goo Goo Dolls. Ava's latest release along with all her other music is available on iTunes. 

In addition to performances at the White House Christmas Celebration, the Grand Ole Opry, Ava has sung the national anthem for the New York Mets, Giants, Rangers, Knicks, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Lakers, and Nashville Predators.

Listen to Ava on Spotify

Jason's military-themed drama BRAT won VetRep's inaugural full-length playwriting competition. BRAT is the story of a mother and son - both veterans of the forever war in Afghanistan - as they struggle to reintegrate into the civilian world and mend their broken relationship. Jake signed up to follow in his mother’s footsteps, but doesn’t get what he expected when he returns home to confront everything, and everyone, that’s been waiting for him.

Our judges said the following about BRAT: "Mysterious, emotionally sound, haunting — it’s also clearly a very personal piece. The language is lean and spare, the opening is terrific, and the last scene is gripping."

Follow Jason here

Stage Partners website

Lindsay Partain is an internationally published and produced Oregon playwright and member of the Dramatists Guild. She holds her BA in Theatre from Pacific University and is a resident artist of Theatre Viscera. She was selected to be part of the Ashland New Play Festival's 2022 New Voices Cohort, her 10-minute play, "Cookie Cutter Christmas" was selected as a top-10 semi-finalist for VetRep Theatre's 2022 Play Writing Competition, her 10-minute play, "Last Dance with MJ" was selected for the 2022 Lanford Wilson New Plays Festival, and her new full-length play, "The Light Keepers" will be part of Willamette University Theatre33's 2022 Summer Reading Pop-Up Series this August. Recent publications include: "The Way You Made Me" and “Siren Songs” (Next Stage Press). Her body of work can be found on New Play Exchange.

Find Lindsay on the New Play Exchange.

Follow Lindsay here.

Follow Katie here.

Leilani is the winner of our inaugural 10-minute playwriting competition. About her play 15 DEAD SOULS, the judges said it was “poetic, touching, powerfully written.  Earnest — which is good — but also not sentimental.  Haunting and affecting.”

Leilani Squire is a writer, certified creativity coach, and works with active duty, veterans and their families to help them tell their stories through the written word. She is founder and CEO of the nonprofit Returning Soldiers Speak and an associate member of EST/LA where she is also part of their playwrighting unit.

Follow her here.

Phanésia Pharel is our third-place finalist in our inaugural full-length playwriting competition for her drama LUCKY.

About her play, our judges said, "Beguiling, moving, deeply satisfying — and genuinely original. Her theatrical devices were both enchanting and extremely credible. She offers a fresh look at Creole and Haitian cultures and how both have been affected by wartime. The pacing and dialogue are terrific, and the end of the play delivers a richly-earned gut punch."

Phanésia is a playwright from the great state of Florida and even greater city of Miami!! Grounded in poetry and Afrofuturism she often writes about the divine metaphysical dilemma of colored girlhood. Her plays span revolutions, islands, and explores futures built on love by centering women's pleasure, safety, and joy. AKA hopeful and magical survivor stories for the young, poor, women, colored, and those audacious enough to be all of the above. Full lengths; LUCKY (developed at New York Stage and Film) . BLACK GIRL JOY (Frank Moffett Mosier Fellowship for Works in Heightened Finalist Prize, Jane Chambers Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist, O’Neill Semi-Finalist). Other Honors include City Theatre National Short Playwriting Finalist and Blank Stage “Future of Playwriting” Semi-Finalist. Phanésia is a member of the Obie award-winning EST/ Youngblood group. Commissions include City Theatre Miami, the Latinx Playwrights Circle & Pregones/PRTT Greater Good Commission and Thrown Stone Theatre. Residencies include New York Stage and Film, Echo Theater Company of Los Angeles, the Playwrights Center Core Apprenticeship and the Inaugural 068 Magazine Thrown Stone Theatre Fellowship. Publishing: Concord Theatricals, Smith and Kraus Best Plays of 2020, Reset Coalition 2020 Anthology and the City Theatre Anthology. BA: Urban Studies, Barnard College of Columbia University.

Follow Phanésia here.

From 2010 to 2014 he wrote the immensely popular military cartoon strip, "Power Point Ranger", poking fun at military life in the tradition of Beetle Bailey and Willy & Joe.

His books range from Military Sci-Fi to Space Opera to Detective to Fantasy, with a lot in between, and in 2017 two are finalists for the prestigious Dragon Awards.

In 2018, he launched Cannon Publishing, (www.cannonpublishing.us) specializing in anthologies and works from up and coming authors.

J.F. Holmes has published over eighteen books and two novellas.

Feel free to join The Command Post on Facebook, and get a chance to influence the course and plot of his next book!

Listen to the Savage Wonder podcast

Follow Combat Hippies here.

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Follow Keith here.

Our judges said the following about LOCAL GODS: "Authentic, panoramic, fascinating. Lots of terrific detail and dialogue and chock-full of story and characters. A haunting story about the interaction between the services and how humans can and can’t show care for each other."

It is a promising start for a playwright only two plays into his career. But then, Anton has been a promising writer for a long time. 

Anton is a combat-decorated Marine Corps veteran based in Queens, NY. His second play, LOCAL GODS, won the 2020 Bridge Award from Arts in the Armed Forces. Sattler’s first play, THE BOROUGH, was a semifinalist for the Bridge Award and the Theatre 503 International Playwriting Award in 2018.

Anton grew up in Monroeville, PA. He studied film and fiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh and was the first student to win both the Taube and Montgomery Culver awards for a trilogy of short stories in 2002. After graduating In 2002, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps, deploying twice to Iraq with Third Battalion, Seventh Marines. After leaving active duty, Anton produced the critically-acclaimed Korean War documentary CHOSIN, among other film, TV, and digital projects. He now works in the tech and media space in New York City in order to fund his writing habit. Anton lives with his wife Jacqueline Kittivarakul in Forest Hills, Queens.

I couldn't have had a better time sitting down and talking with Anton. It hopefully won't be the last time. I think there will be plenty more reasons to talk as his career progresses...

Follow Anton here.

A character-driven piece, NOW DEPARTED is the story of a chance meeting by small-town natives Rhonda and Clayton. They learn who have in common and compare notes on parenting, drinking, and losing a partner.

Our judges described the play as a "subtle and effective slice of life mini-drama. Realistic dialogue and a well-constructed story — not easy within such a short form!"

Arthur Boatin is a Michigan native who since 1985 has lived in Maine, where much of his writing is set. His employment history includes proofreading, newspaper reporting, foreign student advising, and teaching high school and college English. He worked as a guide in the American pavilion at the Brussels Worlds Fair. In 1959-60 he was a soldier in the U.S. Army.

Arthur’s one-act plays have been produced (2015) and stage read (2017, 2021) in Portland, Maine. His first full-length play, THE DAUGHTER OF THE RULER OF THE SEAS AND TIDES, received a Zoom reading by Maine Playwrights Festival in March 2021. His work is included in the Smith and Kraus publications THE BEST MEN’S STAGE MONOLOGUES 2020 and THE BEST WOMEN’S STAGE MONOLOGUES 2020.

Arthur has published short fiction in literary magazines, including Worcester Review, Whetstone, Anastamos, and Western Humanities Review. His essays and journalism have appeared in the Boston Phoenix, Technology Illustrated, and the Downeast Coastal Press.

Please join us in congratulating Arthur on this outstanding accomplishment!

Learn about Arthur's wife Elaine Ford here.

That said, I knew we needed to come roaring back with a kick-ass guest. We got one.

Phillip Kennedy Johnson is an Eisner-nominated writer and musician living in the Washington, DC/Baltimore region. His comics work has been published by DC, Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Archaia, IDW, Aftershock, and Scout Comics. He is the creator of comic series The Last God from DC Black Label, Last Sons of America, Warlords of Appalachia, Smoketown, and many more.

Outside of writing, Johnson has a full-time career as a soldier, trumpet player, composer, arranger, and teacher. As a Sergeant First Class in the United States Army, he regularly tours the continental United States with The U.S. Army Field Band and the Federal Brass of Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Army Field Band, he toured the world with the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 2004-2005, and has performed with the Moscow Ballet, the Dallas Opera, Washington Symphonic Brass, the Lexington Philharmonic, and the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Johnson is a devoted lover of American art forms, especially jazz, comic books, and mixed martial arts.

Follow Phillip here.

Derek Stoner's EP

Derek Stoner website

The best performance you've ever seen in a garage

But you can’t understand Scott as a warrior-artist until you really understand his warrior path. A career Army officer, Scott retired as a Lieutenant Colonel with most of his time spent in Special Forces. Also ten years after retirement, Scott found himself launching Task Force Pineapple to help evacuate Afghans, especially Afghan commandos from the country following our withdrawl. As a result, Scott has a real chip on his shoulder about the way the war was fought, the way we left the country and the way we abandoned our allies. He also carries a lot of love for the Afghan people and the Green Berets he served with. Now, on the cusp of potential US involvement in Ukraine, Scott still has skin in the game - his son is an Infantry platoon leader. In other words, there’s no way we could not spend the bulk of the episode unpacking Scott’s takeaways from his military, familial and humanitarian efforts. This was a truly unique episode with a truly accomplished warrior-artist who has managed to find the balance of his art, his moral obligations and his warrior path.

Watch Last Out - coming soon to Amazon Prime!

Follow Scott’s Rooftop Leadership company here, The Heroes Journey here, or his personal account here.

Listen to Jericho Hill here.

Follow Jericho Hill here.

Listen here

Check out Gus’ website here.

Follow Gus here.

See Gus’ work live at the Savage Wonder Festival of veterans in the arts on May 29! Have you gotten your tickets yet?

The Savage Wonder Festival

Listen here

Buy Rock Eater

Support Mason here.

Come see Mason read Rock Eater live at the Savage Wonder Festival of veterans in the arts on May 29! Have you gotten your tickets yet?

The Savage Wonder Festival

Listen here

Stones of the Wooded Valley by Benjamin Fortier

Follow Ben here.

You can see Ben read his work live at the Savage Wonder Festival of veterans in the arts is coming on May 29! Have you gotten your tickets yet? Tickets are only FREE until April 1.

The Savage Wonder Festival

Have a listen here.

Follow him here.

Buy his debut album “L’Orologio” here.

You can hear Jesus Daniel Hernandez sing live at the Savage Wonder Festival of veterans in the arts on May 29! Have you gotten your tickets yet? Tickets are only FREE until April 1.

The Savage Wonder Festival

Stephan left a career in the military for a life in the theatre after seeing Shakespeare’s Richard III. Stephan Received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. On Broadway, Stephan created and directed the military segments for Twyla Tharp & Billy Joel’s Tony-Award winning production Movin’ Out and a character coach for Cirque du Soleil’s, Mystere. He also co-created a touring Shakespeare Company for Trinity Rep Company, directed and taught acting Shakespeare at Cornell University and at Antelope Valley College.

Currently, Stephan is based out of NYC where he is an actor and the Director of Veterans Outreach for the critically-acclaimed, award-winning off-Broadway company Bedlam. He is also the creator of DE-CRUIT®–a program to reintegrate military Veterans using Shakespeare, psychology and classical actor training.

For more than a decade Stephan has worked with two Native American theater companies: Native Voices in Los Angeles and Native Earth in Toronto, Canada. Stephan was also the Founding Artistic Director for: Shakespeare & Veterans, and the Veterans Center for the Performing Arts (V.C.P.A.) in Los Angeles. For his work with Shakespeare & Veterans, Stephan has received a certificate of appreciation from the City Council of Los Angeles, presented by fellow veteran and councilman the late Bill Rosendahl. He has been published in the fields of art and science for his work, and is also a member of the NYU think tank PACH (Project for the Advancement of our Common Humanity).

As an actor Stephan continues to perform his critically-acclaimed, award-winning, one-man show CRY HAVOC off-Broadway, nationally and internationally. His most recent off-Broadway productions for Bedlam were The Seagull, Sense & Sensibility, Hamlet and Saint Joan. His favorite Shakespeare roles performed include: Richard III, Richard III; Pericles, Pericles; Petruchio, Taming of the Shrew; Antony, Antony & Cleopatra; Cassio, Iago, Othello; Leontes, Polixenes, The Winter’s Tale; Antonio, Measure for Measure; Cassius, Julius Caesar; Mercutio, Paris, Friar Lawrence, Romeo & Juliet; Andrew Aguecheek, Orsino, Twelfth Night. His favorite Shakespeare plays he has directed are: Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, and an all-female production of Henry V.

Follow Stephan here.

Learn more about De-Cruit here.

Check out her work here.

But you can’t understand Scott as a warrior-artist until you really understand his warrior path. A career Army officer, Scott retired as a Lieutenant Colonel with most of his time spent in Special Forces. Also ten years after retirement, Scott found himself launching Task Force Pineapple to help evacuate Afghans, especially Afghan commandos from the country following our withdrawl. As a result, Scott has a real chip on his shoulder about the way the war was fought, the way we left the country and the way we abandoned our allies. He also carries a lot of love for the Afghan people and the Green Berets he served with. Now, on the cusp of potential US involvement in Ukraine, Scott still has skin in the game - his son is an Infantry platoon leader. In other words, there’s no way we could not spend the bulk of the episode unpacking Scott’s takeaways from his military, familial and humanitarian efforts. This was a truly unique episode with a truly accomplished warrior-artist who has managed to find the balance of his art, his moral obligations and his warrior path.

Watch Last Out - coming soon to Amazon Prime!

Follow Scott’s Rooftop Leadership company here, The Heroes Journey here, or his personal account here.

Shairi first came to my attention when I saw she won AITAF's Bridge Award in 2019 for her play Tampons, Dead Dogs and Other Disposable Things. In judging Shairi's work, some guy named Tony Kushner called it "...a tough, disturbing, enraging, consistently surprising, smart, very funny and ultimately moving and revelatory play. It's a powerful, unsparing exploration of the nature of traumatic memory that fully and bravely confronts intractability while discovering within despair an ambiguous but possible opportunity to hope. The writing is rich and vivid, the characters are original and unpredictable, and it's propelled dramatically, through conflict and action, with a deeply serious purpose. Central to the play is a device that almost never succeeds; I won't specify what the device is, because flat description can't do justice to the deft way Ms. Engle handles it or the theatricality and meaning she derives from it. The play is marvelously stageworthy, but it's also literature, written to be read - that understanding of playwriting is rarer than it should be, and encountering a playwright who gets it is an occasion to rejoice."

Clearly, not an impressive piece of work.

But even more impressive than her work is her story. I had no idea what an emotional reservoir Shairi draws from until she spoke honestly, transparently and with unsparing self-awareness and compassion. This is a great one.

Follow Shairi Engle on IG

Everything Shairi

Follow Anthony here.

Pigtown by Anthony Roberts (Pushcart Prize-nominee)

The Clearing Barrel by Anthony Roberts

There are a lot of reasons I couldn't wait to sit down and talk with Brad. For one thing, he embodies the warrior-artist characteristics we like to celebrate here. I've listened to Silence & Light's debut album a lot. We both spent time in Somalia - his was a lot more eventful. And like him, I was greatly influenced by a lot of early 90's bands. So I had high hopes for the interview. They were all surpassed. There are not a lot of rock band founders who can discuss military culture with any real authority or insight. There are not a lot of former Delta operators who can nerd out on open choruses and Barry Manilow. Between the military and the music, we manage to cover so much ground. And even so, I had enough questions and follow-ups for another few hours. Do not miss this one.

A Delta Operator Transitions from War to Music by Brad Thomas

Follow Silence & Light

Follow Brad Thomas

Silence & Light merch page

Marine Raider Foundation

Warriors Heart

Follow Amy Sexauer here.

Show Notes

Follow Neville Johnson here.

Sweeping Leaves in the Wind, Good Soldiers Don’t Cry, and Alone in a Crowded Room by the Veterans Collective, featuring selections from Neville Johnson.

War...& After The Anthology of Poet Warriors Collection 2 by Dead Reckoning Collective, featuring selections from Neville Johnson.

Shop Sarah’s work here.

A lot of veterans have experienced a significant amount of trauma that cannot help but infuse their art. That is certainly the case with Lani, but this episode felt a bit different. For one thing, Lani is an artist in many media – publishing books, poetry, starting a blog, hosting a podcast and creating visual art. But her art – so far – revolves around three significant traumatic events: the sexual assault she suffered upon arriving at Fort Riley after basic training, the suicide of her battle buddy, and the domestic abuse she escaped in her first marriage. Her art has purpose beyond therapy, I would say it gives voice to experiences that most would not share. There is something humble, hard and healing in the Savage Wonder of Lani Hankins.

Show Notes

Bottled Away: Confessions of a Struggling Veteran by Lani Hankins

The Gaslit Heart: A Story of Service and Survival by Lani Hankins

Eased Pain: Poems About Surviving Domestic Violence by Lani Hankins

Kruse Corner

Follow Lani here.

Show Notes

Follow Buck here.

Buy “Sober Man’s Thoughts” here.

Veterans Repertory Theater

Show Notes

Follow Dex here.

Veterans Repertory Theater

Show Notes

The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre

Max Martini

Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

The First Marauder

Luke Ryan author page

Veterans Repertory Theater

Get tickets to live shows at VetRep’s Parlor here.

Exit12 Dance Company

Veterans Repertory Theater

Exit12 Dance Company

Veterans Repertory Theater

Doc Oliver

Doc Oliver on Instagram

Welcome Home

Veterans Repertory Theater

Show Notes

Support Mason Rodrigue here.

Follow Mason Rodrigue here.

Savage Wonder literary blog

Veterans Repertory Theater

@veteransrepertorytheater

Have a listen here.

Show Notes

Nicholas Luchenbill Photography

Nicholas Luchenbill on Instagram

Savage Wonder literary blog

Veterans Repertory Theater

@veteransrepertorytheater

Show Notes

Veterans Repertory Theater

@veteransrepertorytheater

Savage Wonder literary blog

Show Notes

Code Red Fallujah: A Doctor's Memoir at War  by Dr. Donnelly Wilkes

Veterans Repertory Theater

@veteransrepertorytheater

He served seven tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq and over the course of his career was assigned to units including the 101st Airborne Division, the 2nd Infantry Division, the 5th Special Forces Group, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and the Joint Special Operations Command.

Widely published in a number of blogs and professional journals, his most recent publication is co-authorship of the book Violence of Action: The Untold Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror.

His views expressed here are his own, and are not necessarily reflective of the policy of the US Army or the United States Government.

Show Notes

Violence of Action: The Untold Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror

The Havok Journal

Veterans Repertory Theater

@veteransrepertorytheater

It is produced by the Veterans Repertory Theater, a creative hub for talented veterans and world-class performers to create compelling live theater and events.

Show Notes

Veterans Repertory Theater

@veteransrepertorytheater