Not About Heroes

100th Anniversary of
the World War I Armistice

In November 2018, the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Hero Now Theatre presented Stephen MacDonald’s Not About Heroes, a play about war, truth, and two artists’ evolving self-awareness.

Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were officers in the British army who met in a psychiatric hospital–where one was admitted for shell shock, the other for speaking out against top army officers’ callous attitude toward British soldier’s lives. As the older Sassoon, an established poet, nurtures Owen in his first poetic attempts, their admiration for each other deepens, but Owen eventually decides he must return to combat, at a cost to their relationship.

Supported by a
Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant
through the Minnesota Humanities Center

Hero Now Theatre was awarded a grant by the Minnesota Humanities Center to allow us to invite veterans of U.S. armed forces to attend performances for free. After each performance, audience members were invited to hear veterans who have turned to art–poetry, drama, visual art–to help them deal with their own experiences of war.

Gallery and Clothing Drive

Hero Now Theatre invited the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance to turn the theatre lobby into a gallery of masks created by veterans with traumatic brain injuries for the Alliance’s Unmasking Project. Alliance representatives were present at each performance to talk with audience members about the masks.

We also encouraged audience members to bring clothing to donate to Every Third Saturday, an organization that helps homeless veterans achieve stability.

Cast