The ancient Roman poet Virgil wrote his epic poem, The Aeneid, as a tribute to the Roman Empire. He took a defeated character from the ancient Greek epic of war, Homer's Iliad, and made him the center of that empire building. That character, Aeneas, has represented to centuries of Western Civilization's readers the heroic ideal of military action: Aeneas is brave, loyal and determined; he looks death in the face and scoffs. He has no false notions about manliness. Like other epic heroes, Aeneas cries at the death of his closest friend. His tears do not unman him; they are proof of the depth of his loyalty and love. His deeds are the proof of his heroism.

Virgil's epic poem begins with the words Arma virumque cano, which, translated, mean "arms and the man I sing."  In 1894, when George Bernard Shaw's play was first produced, most men and women attending the play had been schooled as children in classical mythology and in Greek and Latin literature or at least in its rudiments. The Latin language was part of the curriculum. Even the worst students would have encountered Virgil's opening words, perhaps in crib sheets in translation. It is fair to say that "arms and the man" was a phrase as familiar to most people then as, say, "have fun storming the castle" is to most Americans today.

Thus, when the opening night crowd entered the theatre, only those already in the know could have anticipated Shaw's full frontal assault on a heroic ideal that was older than two millennia. But on opening night there were many in the know. Michael Holroyd, Shaw's most thorough and successful biographer, points out that Shaw fattened the opening night crowd with many, many friends—literary types to be sure. They gave him such a cheer after the final curtain that Shaw took the stage to give a speech. One viewer, however, was highly annoyed at the play, so he loudly booed the playwright. Shaw gave a small speech, directed to the unhappy viewer. "My dear fellow, I quite agree with you," Shaw is supposed to have said, "but what are we against so many?"
   
A less school-related context for the play resides in its arrival less than two years after a British celebration of the heroic ideal. Kipling, Britain's most pro-colonial poet, scolded England for not taking care of its war veterans by updating the very popular "Charge of the Light Brigade," which Tennyson had written some forty years earlier.  Kipling's poem, "The Last of the Light Brigade," reminds England that every child in school is made to memorize "The Charge of the Light Brigade” even while England now ignores the men who survived that memorialized battle. Those men are wracked by poverty and neglect. The original Light Brigade poem was written in 1854 immediately after England's poet laureate, Alfred Tennyson, read an account in the newspapers. Tennyson made something noble and tragic, heroic and patriotic, out of what seems to be a rather needless and foolish attack.

        Cannon to right of them                  Back from the mouth of Hell,
        Cannon to left of them,                  All that was left of them,
        Cannon behind them                      Left of six hundred
        Volley'd and thunder'd;                 When can their glory fade?
        Storm'd at with shot and shell        O the wild charge they made!
        While horse and hero fell,              All the world wondered.
        They that had fought so well          Honor the charge they made,
        Came thro' the jaws of Death,       Honor the Light Brigade,
        Back from the mouth of Hell,        Noble six hundred.
        All that was left of them,             
        Left of six hundred.

Shaw parodies these noble sentiments with a presentation of realities that are at odds with such heroism. Shaw gives us a wizened military veteran who is more interested in grub than in bullets. This veteran is so war-scarred that he cries merely from being scolded. More 'noble' military men in the play are incompetent or merely silly enough to be fooled by a girl. One of them, now deemed a great hero, led a misguided attack that surely should have rendered him and the soldiers under his command to the same fate as that of the Light Brigade, but for the enemy's own incompetence. Bumblers all!

It was on the second night of performance that the controversy began. How could any self-respecting citizen present such an untrue and unflattering portrait of military men? In response, Shaw showed that every military event and character in the play was based on something or someone real.

After Shaw and after the next generation's great anti-war poets, poems like Tennyson's and Kipling's begin to seem more like propaganda pieces than attempts to understand the horrors, the ravages, the downright stupidity of most wars.

Anna Antaramian (Director) has been a member of NEIU’s theatre family for the past nineteen years. She is the Managing and Artistic Director of the Stage Center Theatre, Thymely Theatre, and is a past president of the Illinois Theatre Association. She holds an M.F.A. from New York University and has worked in various theatrical venues across the country, the most recent being the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre. Special thanks to H-S-A-N-T and, as always, Mr. McGuire.

Laura Gryfinski (Stage Manager) is a “work in progress” in that she is in pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree in both Elementary Education (with a minor in History) and CMT--both of which are her true passions in life.  She has performed onstage and worked behind the scenes in a number of  productions here at NEIU from set-building to Assistant Theatre Manager to Sound Board Operator and now as Stage Manager for Arms and the Man.  She thanks Anna for this new and challenging opportunity and is proud to be working with such an amazing cast!   She truly hopes you will enjoy the “fruits of their collective efforts.” Now……”on with the show!”

Brandon Wardell (Scenic Designer) is a freelance Lighting/Scenic designer and technical director in Chicago. He received his MFA from Northwestern University in 2007.  Recent Lighting credits include: On An Average Day (Backstage Theatre Co.), The Arab-Israeli Cookbook (Theatre Mir), and The Robber Bridegroom (Griffin Theatre Co.).  Recent scenic designs include: Maria’s Field (TUTA), In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Steep Theatre), and Dracula (The Building Stage). Teaching credits include Northwestern University, The University of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and Illinois Wesleyan University.  www.wlightingdesign.com/bwardell

John Rodriguez (Lighting Designer) joined the theatre faculty at Northeastern four years ago and has been teaching courses in technical theatre as well as working as a designer on Stage Center productions.  This past season he designed the lights for the four main stage productions: Charley’s Aunt, Electra, The Illusion, and Lettice and Lovage, and for the two Thymely Theatre productions last summer: Stage Door and Taking Steps, as well as The Stage Center’s recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Jana Anderson (Costume Designer) Jana has designed numerous productions at Northeastern Illinois University over the last five years. A native of Czechoslovakia, she can not be more excited to work on this production, where she will try to recreate folklore costumes from the Balkan region. A Graduate of Textile Design from Fine Arts University in Bratislava, Jana loves to create elaborate costumes from past centuries. During the school year, she works with students at Roosevelt University in the costume shop and designs shows for various theaters in the Chicago area.

Alex Useted (Technical Director) is happy to be joining The Stage Center this summer. Alex serves as the Technical and Facilities Director at American Theatre Company. ATC productions include The Peoples Temple, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the upcoming Yeast Nation (the triumph of life.) He also works with Crosstown Scenic, where he has contributed to projects for theatres throughout the Chicago area, including Timeline Theater, TUTA, Next Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, and the House Theater of Chicago


The Department of Communication, Media and Theatre Faculty and Staff, Katrina Bell-Jordan, Colleen McCready, Laura Gryfinski, Becca Raven Uminowicz, Justin Berry,  the Department of Acounts Payable, Budget, and Purchasing and North Park University.