New solo show ‘Ghost Town Bardo’ to examine guns, violence and American individualism through the eyes of a US veteran

A Haines playwright and actor has produced an upcoming one-man play at Chilkat Arts Center exploring America’s passion for guns. KHNS’ Corinne Smith spoke to Aaron Davidman about his play “Ghost Town Bardo” which examines complex themes of violence, guns and individualism in America through the eyes of a US veteran. 

 

KHNS: What drew you to that persona, or that experience?

Davidman: “Well, I feel like of all the people that I’ve interviewed the veterans feel to me, like they have the most moral authority to speak about violence and to speak about firearms. They’re professionally trained, they know weaponry, inside and out, they know the damage they can do. They’ve experienced the damage that they can do. They understand their power. They understand their lethality and they understand what training and safety is all about. They have a kind of respect for firearms that I think gives them a level of moral authority to speak to the complications around violence and gun violence and the history of it in America, and what’s uniquely American about it. And so, through this particular veteran story that I’ve created, I’ve tried to weave together a handful of the threads from the research that I’ve done over the last few years, into what I hope is a compelling 90 minute narrative of this one character telling his personal journey.”

KHNS: Um hum. Wow.

Davidman: “And it’s brand new, I mean, this will be the first public reading. So it’s not a finished performance. It’s not a finished text. It’s really raw, it’s the first draft, I’m ready to air it out, it’s sort of part of the playwriting process.”

KHNS: How do you feel about presenting in Haines at this time? There’s a lot of political division, and a lot of division right now around guns nationwide, how do you feel about presenting in this political climate? 

Davidman: “So art, the role of art in our culture, or in our society, is to try to elevate the public discourse, and to deepen the public discourse around difficult topics. And so, I’m trying to humanize what is often a very kind of policy oriented or politically charged issue. And, by humanizing the issue down into one person’s story, one person’s narrative, maybe we can have a different kind of conversation about these issues. I wouldn’t say it’s a play with a particularly overt political stand. I would say that it’s a work of art that reflects on the issues of the day. And that means that it opens up conversations and it opens up questions, it asks more questions than answers. So people coming, thinking, like I’m going to solve this problem with a play there, they’re going to be disappointed, I’m sorry to say, but hopefully it stirs the pot, you know… And maybe that’s really the invitation and sort of what just happened in this room to you? You know, by experiencing this journey, what journey did you go on and where are you now? Not tell me what you think about gun rights, or gun safety legislation. Like, we can read about that, or we can argue about that at the bar. I’m interested in something different. And what that is, just depends on who’s in the room that night.”

KHNS: Great, thank you.

Davidman: Thank you.

Aaron Davidman will be presenting a first reading at 7:30 p.m. Thursday July 8th at the Chilkat Arts Center in Haines, followed by a discussion with Haines author and Alaska Writer Laureate Heather Lende. Suggested donation is $5-10, and doors open at 7pm.