Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "9 Circles" in English language version.
Jesuit playwright Bill Cain S.J., has penned a new and searingly powerful play. Just a year after his earlier successful play about the gun powder plot, Equivocation (see my review), Cain portrays in his new play, 9 Circles, a character, Daniel Reeves, as a disturbed 19-year-old snarled in the web of war. Cain's drama mirrors, through a fictional adaptation, the 2006 Iraq slayings and, subsequent, gang rape of a 14-year-old girl by United States troops. Like the real life Pvt. Steven Dale Green who, partially, serves as the prototype for Cain's Reeves and now awaits life prison without parole for his war crime, the fictional Reeves displays an 'anti-social personality disorder'.
Playwright Bill Cain's story is set in 2006 Iraq but it could as easily be 2013 Syria. The play's underlying questions of 'what is the USA doing? And why?' are timely to today's government debates. Cain plots a soldier's persecution for horrific war crimes as the 9 circles of Dante's "Inferno." A troubled nineteen year old is recruited by the military. His stint is marred by extracurricular war activities. Now, he is the focal point for the rage of the nationS. He is *the* enemy, both foreign and domestic.
Or maybe that should be what a man can do to a war. "9 Circles" revolves around a central character, Private Daniel Reeves (Andrew Goetten), who already has been in plenty of trouble before he walks into the office of a recruiting officer looking for soldiers to go to Iraq. Cain's point, surely, is that Daniel, who goes on to commit horrible crimes that appall even the judicial system set up to process and try him, is precisely the wrong kind of man to be allowed to carry military-grade weaponry. The stresses of war, the play argues, could send anyone over the edge. When starting with a guy wound tight enough to burst his own blood-vessels, the smart leader would anticipate trouble.
Private Daniel Edward Reeves, played by the astonishing Julian Elijah Martinez, stands accused of heinous crimes in Iraq. Reeves is trapped onstage in a concentric limbo of military tribunals, therapy sessions, and jail cells, dressed in stark white scenery by Klyph Stanford and lit in harsh tones by Dan Covey.
"9 Circles" is based on the infamous case of former 101st Airborne Division Pfc. Steven Dale Green, convicted in a federal court in 2009 of raping and killing an Iraqi 14-year-old girl and murdering her family. (Green's sentence, life in prison, was different than that of Reeves in the play.)
9 Circles is inspired by an actual case, that of former 101st Airborne Division Pfc. Steven Dale Green, convicted in federal court in 2009 for raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family.
In Bill Cain's "9 Circles," a contemporary morality play inspired by Dante's "The Divine Comedy," the psychic damage of war does not belong to Reeves alone, and neither do the responsibilities of conscience.
War is psychologically damaging and like parking tickets or speeding tickets given out just to make their quota, recruters should not pad their numbers with psychologically unfit people and not expect criminal activity.
With all the action of the show staged on a claustrophobic circular plinth, 9 Circles takes us through a wretched year in the life of an Iraq War vet. We follow Private Daniel Reeves through a series of holding cells and psychiatrists' offices, as he is indicted for a war crime he allegedly committed while in Iraq. Amanda Collins and Will McGarrahan play a slew of lawyers, military personnel and other authority figures who come to vie for possession of Reeves's soul.
From that point on, Reeves is on a downward spiral. He ends up in jail, accused of raping a 14-year old Iraqi girl and killing her along with her entire family. As he waits for a judge to decide his fate, he encounters various people who allegedly want to help him, from an enigmatic army lawyer (William Bolz) to a pastor with a penchant for internet porn (Whitney Derendinger). In a way, they play the role of Virgil to Reeves' Dante, and each one of them helps guide Reeves along the path to self-discovery.
The intense tete-a-tetes — which offer occasional moments of humor — tease out provocative questions about war, justice, guilt and America's possible exploitation of its troops.
Jesuit playwright Bill Cain S.J., has penned a new and searingly powerful play. Just a year after his earlier successful play about the gun powder plot, Equivocation (see my review), Cain portrays in his new play, 9 Circles, a character, Daniel Reeves, as a disturbed 19-year-old snarled in the web of war. Cain's drama mirrors, through a fictional adaptation, the 2006 Iraq slayings and, subsequent, gang rape of a 14-year-old girl by United States troops. Like the real life Pvt. Steven Dale Green who, partially, serves as the prototype for Cain's Reeves and now awaits life prison without parole for his war crime, the fictional Reeves displays an 'anti-social personality disorder'.
Or maybe that should be what a man can do to a war. "9 Circles" revolves around a central character, Private Daniel Reeves (Andrew Goetten), who already has been in plenty of trouble before he walks into the office of a recruiting officer looking for soldiers to go to Iraq. Cain's point, surely, is that Daniel, who goes on to commit horrible crimes that appall even the judicial system set up to process and try him, is precisely the wrong kind of man to be allowed to carry military-grade weaponry. The stresses of war, the play argues, could send anyone over the edge. When starting with a guy wound tight enough to burst his own blood-vessels, the smart leader would anticipate trouble.
"9 Circles" is based on the infamous case of former 101st Airborne Division Pfc. Steven Dale Green, convicted in a federal court in 2009 of raping and killing an Iraqi 14-year-old girl and murdering her family. (Green's sentence, life in prison, was different than that of Reeves in the play.)
Playwright Bill Cain's story is set in 2006 Iraq but it could as easily be 2013 Syria. The play's underlying questions of 'what is the USA doing? And why?' are timely to today's government debates. Cain plots a soldier's persecution for horrific war crimes as the 9 circles of Dante's "Inferno." A troubled nineteen year old is recruited by the military. His stint is marred by extracurricular war activities. Now, he is the focal point for the rage of the nationS. He is *the* enemy, both foreign and domestic.
From that point on, Reeves is on a downward spiral. He ends up in jail, accused of raping a 14-year old Iraqi girl and killing her along with her entire family. As he waits for a judge to decide his fate, he encounters various people who allegedly want to help him, from an enigmatic army lawyer (William Bolz) to a pastor with a penchant for internet porn (Whitney Derendinger). In a way, they play the role of Virgil to Reeves' Dante, and each one of them helps guide Reeves along the path to self-discovery.
9 Circles is inspired by an actual case, that of former 101st Airborne Division Pfc. Steven Dale Green, convicted in federal court in 2009 for raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family.
Private Daniel Edward Reeves, played by the astonishing Julian Elijah Martinez, stands accused of heinous crimes in Iraq. Reeves is trapped onstage in a concentric limbo of military tribunals, therapy sessions, and jail cells, dressed in stark white scenery by Klyph Stanford and lit in harsh tones by Dan Covey.
I was ambivalent about seeing Curious Theatre's regional premiere of Bill Cain's 9 Circles, whose plot tracks very closely with Green's known actions and experiences.
With all the action of the show staged on a claustrophobic circular plinth, 9 Circles takes us through a wretched year in the life of an Iraq War vet. We follow Private Daniel Reeves through a series of holding cells and psychiatrists' offices, as he is indicted for a war crime he allegedly committed while in Iraq. Amanda Collins and Will McGarrahan play a slew of lawyers, military personnel and other authority figures who come to vie for possession of Reeves's soul.
I was ambivalent about seeing Curious Theatre's regional premiere of Bill Cain's 9 Circles, whose plot tracks very closely with Green's known actions and experiences.
