Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
In WE GOT YOUR SIX, extremely powerful, sad, and devastating truth is told by former Marines of the horrific bombings at the Kabul Airport during the American evacuation on August 26, 2021. The show is developed and produced by six US veterans whose memories take us back into the horrible war zones. And we see a brutal firefight with the Taliban a decade before in April of 2011. With strong voices and with the help of their Afghan interpreter, the recollection of the grossly ruthless events could not be portrayed more strikingly.
Lightning Rod Theater's premiere of WE GOT YOUR SIX, at the
2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival, is different from anything else I've seen. The story, told by Shawn Dickens, Rob Rain, Matt Stevens, Anonymous, and Paul Hoan Zeidler is drastically effective. War stories are always hard to watch, but these memories of brutal firefights told by real veterans and portrayed by a collection of monologues, surely bring tears to the eyes.
The powerful ensemble of actors is Charles Pacello (Captain Lindsay), Derek Ocampo (Combat Corpsman De Rivera), Mueen Jahan (Farjaad), Christopher Wood (Sergeant Stowers), Cameron Gregg (Corporal Kimbrough), Demetris Hartman (Private 'Geardo' / State Dept. Employee), Brittany DeLynn (Lieutenant Jessica Foss / Southern Woman). Great job everyone!
Written, adapted, and directed by Paul Hoan Zeidler and produced by Paul Hoan Zeidler and Charles Pacello (Executive Producer, Captain Lindsay), this production is presented at Theatre Asylum with the incredible team of Andrew McQuade as the (Assistant Director), Aaron Lyons (Lighting Design), the original Music and Sound Transverse (Jason T. Lamoreaux and Matthew Richer) and with Joe Jordan as the master of the Artwork. The play is electrifying!
This Production of WE GOT YOUR SIX is dedicated to Marisa O'Brien.
We Got Your Six opened on Sunday, June 4th at 5 pm at Asylum @ McCadden Theatre - (1157 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA 90038). The other performance is on Saturday, June 10th at 7 pm, Saturday, June 17th at 9 pm, Friday, June 23rd at 8:30 pm, and Saturday, June 24th at 1 pm. The run of this production will include a show with free admission to veterans, followed by a talkback with our veteran support group partners. A special performance for Veterans, with a Talk back with their Veteran Support Group Partners will be presented on July 22
nd @ 2:00pm with free admission for Veterans.
Ages: 14+ Tickets are $15 and available at
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9672?tab=tickets
"I hated myself. Hated the world for not allowing me a moment's grace for all my hard work and sacrifice. Hated those who cheered me on with the empty head-nod of, 'Thank you for your service,' as though they already knew my story and they didn't really need to hear it."
- US Marine, WE GOT YOUR SIX