Seven middle-aged men – veterans of the only war the United States has ever lost – gather at the gravesite of a comrade, recounting their military service in Vietnam. Exploring the American soldier’s participation in the war and its lasting effects is the premise of ‘the weight…a vietnam experience’, a play written by Sid Holmes and based upon 60 hours of one-on-one interviews of 10 local Vietnam veterans. Centering on the troops’ arrival in Vietnam and engagement in a combat, the play will be staged on Saturday, January 19, at 6:00pm at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 2nd and Market Streets, Philadelphia (Old City). Featuring nationally renowned poet and Pew Fellow, Lamont B. Steptoe, who dropped out of college to join the army after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., plays himself. A
sergeant who served one tour as a dog handler, Steptoe walked ‘point’ during patrols, in front of his fellow troops as they searched for the enemy. A town-hall style discussion with the actors and the audience follows the reading.