OPENING NIGHT: War in Pieces Theatrical Production
the 5th annual festival of one act plays
The Virginia War Memorial Foundation is pleased to announce the return of War in Pieces, a festival of four one-act plays written by veterans and the spouse of a veteran. The production will be held April 10 – 19, 2026, and will be professionally produced and performed at the Memorial in partnership with Firehouse Theatre.
This production is made possible by generous grants from The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts, with support from Kenny and Melissa Janes.
War in Pieces will be presented in VMI Alumni Hall at the Virginia War Memorial, which seats 90 people for these performances. There will be 10 performances, each of which includes all 4 plays together.
Valid and Authentic, by Randall L. Lanning, Directed by Andrew Gall – Two young Air Force officers are on duty during the last days of the Cold War on the night they receive a coded message, valid and authentic, that the USSR has fired a missile at the United States. In their concrete capsule 60 feet underground, armed with keys and codebooks to unleash a nuclear holocaust of their own, the young officers face their existential dread, and their duty.
72 Days, by D.M. Thompson, directed by Daniel Moore – Six years after leaving the Special Forces branch of the US Army, a husband and father is tempted to re-up in the Army Reserves by a recruiter with a rare and coveted Special Forces Team Leader slot. The man is reluctant, as is his wife and father-in-law/boss, until his desire for adrenaline, as well as every Vietnam veterans’ desire for “another shot,” gets the best of him, but not without cost.
Witch 55, by Marcelyn Atwood, Directed by David L. Robbins – In the first, formative days of women flying in frontline aircraft, a young navigator finds herself in the cockpit of a giant refueling aircraft on a pivotal intelligence mission over Cuba. When a lightning strike knocks out her plane’s avionics, she steps up to save their crew and plane from a panicked pilot and an overzealous co-pilot. Along the way, she endures taunts and a lack of trust until, finally, the men in the cockpit alongside her realize she’s the one who saved the day.
Ready, by Gene H. Pearson, directed by Grace Labelle – A Vietnam War veteran wrestles with his inability to talk about his combat experiences throughout his life. We follow through four pivotal moments in his journey to finally testifying about his combat experiences: the day he was awarded a Silver Star; a conversation that didn’t – couldn’t – happen with his troubled Marine veteran brother; a birthday party where he was publicly called out by another veteran for his stoic silences, though he wears a Vietnam Veteran hat; then, the breakthrough when he can at last speak, through the written pages in a Mighty Pen class.
TICKETS:
Tickets are $35.00 per person (General Admission) and $15.00 for Military Veterans and Students. Tickets are on sale at FirehouseTheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at (804) 355-2001.
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Performance Schedule (curtain call subject to change):
Friday, April 10 (7:30 PM) – OPENING (SOLD OUT)
Saturday, April 11 (2:00 PM and 7:30PM)
Sunday, April 12 (2:00PM)
Wednesday, April 15 (7:30PM)
Thursday, April 16 (7:30PM)
Friday, April 17 (7:30PM)
Saturday, April 18 (2:00PM)
Saturday, April 18 (7:30PM)
Sunday, April 19 (2:00PM) – CLOSING
