For more information on De-Cruit
DeCruit.org
Amphibian Stage Productions
120 S. Main St.,
Fort Worth 76104
817-923-3012
www.amphibianstage.com
Stephan Wolfert and many other veterans know what it’s like to be recruited into the armed forces. They are also sadly aware of the many veterans who have trouble leaving war behind once they return to the United States.
Wolfert figured that since veterans can be recruited into the armed forces, they can also be “de-cruited.”
“DeCruit” is a therapeutic theater program created by Wolfert, a trained Shakespearean actor and Army veteran. It helps veterans work through their personal struggles and assimilate back into society through theater classes.
“We believe that 20 veteran suicides a day is too much, and that number can be reduced,” Wolfert said, explaining why he created De-Cruit.
Wolfert’s program recently concluded a two-week run at Amphibian Stage Productions in conjunction with his own one-man play, Cry Havoc! The outreach program, which is also held in numerous places around the globe, ended on May 26 with a free production performed by the veterans.
“We make the course free for veterans [or their family], and in communities with a lot of support we’ve even been able to pay veterans a stipend to attend,” Wolfert said. “The only qualification for the veteran workshops is that you are a veteran.
“We’ve held all-woman classes and classes for family members. We are still growing and developing.”
Wolfert, 51, from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, said the show and the program came from wanting to figure himself out after he returned from the military. Why was he was so changed after his time in service, he asked himself. He created De-Cruit, believing that something he discovered that helped him might also help other veterans.
“De-Cruit evolved after decades of trying to answer ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ ” He said.
It was that question, asked time and again by Wolfert and other veterans, that was the basis for his work. He believes that veterans are recruited at a psychologically malleable age and are wired for war – to respond to a threat with violence, to respond to orders without thought – but that at the end of their service they are not de-cruited, or “unwired.”
In Wolfert’s real-life story, he was temporarily paralyzed in high school due to a wrestling accident and joined the Army after he recovered. He camped out for a week on the doorstep of the Minneapolis recruiting officer, who rejected him at first due to his high school back injury.
Wolfert left the Army after his best friend was killed in a military training exercise. He received his master of fine arts degree in acting from Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. Wolfert said he found his own path to healing when he walked into a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III and felt connected to the characters so deeply the he decided to become an actor. And not just an actor, but one who would dedicate much of his time to bettering the lives of veterans just like him.
When he researched the statistics on returning veterans he wanted to do something to address the higher incidents of divorce, violence and suicide, longer prison sentences, post-traumatic stress disorder, and military sexual trauma experienced by veterans. He said he saw a gap in knowledge in the civilian community about the kind of support actually useful to those veterans and their families.
To address the problem he turned to something he knows well, theater.
“Countering the military’s intense indoctrination and training, De-Cruit uses routinized techniques derived from principles of classical actor training (for example, experiential analysis, symbolic representation, spoken verse) to transform military camaraderie into camaraderie among treatment group members to communize the process of healing from the trauma of war,” Wolfert said.
During the show Wolfert speaks at length on the subject and how it has helped him. He worked with Native Voices in LA and Native Earth Performing Arts Theatre in Canada, and both companies solidified the idea that theater is medicine. Combining his own story of leaving the army and pursuing a career in the arts with Shakespeare’s writings on war, he created the solo piece Cry Havoc! which he has performed around the world. “Cry ‘Havoc’ and let slip the dogs of war” is a line spoken by Mark Antony in Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
“Sophocles was a veteran and so were his audiences. Shakespeare wrote during England’s war with Ireland and Spain,” Wolfert said. “Theater and storytelling/listening were always entwined with warriors and their communities.”
During the De-Cruit program veterans interweave personal writings with veteran-related texts from Shakespeare, applying stage skills for life skills.
Wolfert said the De-Cruit program has been scientifically evaluated by Alisha Ali of New York University and Bruce Homer at City University of New York, both of whom hold doctorates and are now on the De-Cruit team. He said the data that have been gathered and evaluated thus far have been published in four scientific journals available on the De-Cruit website.
“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We can’t grow fast enough,” Wolfert said. “The need is great. Connecting veterans to themselves, supporting families and communities is the best part of the work. We could not continue the work without the support of veterans, their family members and concerned, committed community members.
“We work with communities to create De-Cruit in their area. Amphibian theater has stepped up, donating time, resources and money to start a De-Cruit Fort Worth. Ideally, we’d have a De-Cruit in every place that needs unwiring from trauma and/or war. Right now we use our website calendar to list performances of Cry Havoc! and De-Cruit sessions available. Interested parties may contact us there.”
This is not Amphibian’s first veteran outreach program. Managing Director Linsey Retcofsky teaches drama classes to veterans at the Tarrant County Jail’s Green Bay facility in Fort Worth. That program also uses Shakespeare’s plays.
“Amphibian’s vision is to create a space where our community members find a home that discovers and supports their creativity,” Retcofsky said. “DeCruit is the perfect program to establish our theater as a cultural home for veterans in Fort Worth. Its blend of personal narrative and theatrical text nurtures the participants’ path to finding their own voices. It also gently invites them to take a step outside of their comfort zone and try something they may have never done.
“The methods of DeCruit establish a space where risk taking isn’t so scary, and I’m delightfully surprised by the bravery we see in every class. In DeCruit there’s freedom to make mistakes, and this is what home means to me. Home is the jumping off point and the place to land whether you fail or fly.”
And Wolfert said plans have already been made to bring De-Cruit back to Fort Worth. He hopes it will be a recurring program.
“That will depend on the support in the community that Amphibian Stage and Fort Worth veterans receive. We’re already planning to return for a longer period of time next year,” he said. “In the meantime, we will continue to work with veterans throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands.”