Fire!

This ten-minute experimental play concerns the trauma experienced by soldiers who kill during war. The action centers on four soldiers who conduct reconnaissance, discipline each other when the stresses of war become too great, and briefly tell their war stories about avoiding actual kills.

These soldiers are supplemented by a Captain, who repeatedly orders them to fire, a Medic who struggles with the ghostly legacy of his killings, and members of a firing squad who wrestle with the uncertainty of whether they have taken a life. The play ends with a question, asking why so many soldiers – trained to kill by profession – have refused to fulfill that duty on the battlefield.

Play Structure:	1 Act: 10-minute play
Cast size:	4 - 10
Gender:	Mostly male, although all roles may be alternatively cast female
Period:	The nether time of mental anguish
Location:	War zone.
Set:	A bare stage.
Technical:	Working gun.

Production History

Fire! received its premiere production by Two Bit Productions at the Odd Duck Studio in Seattle, Washington, on January 6-17, 1999, in its festival “Dimebag: An Evening of Ten Minute Plays”. The play was directed by Monique L. Kleinhans, with the following cast:

Man #1, Firing Squad	Justin Irish
Man #4, Medic, Prisoner	Julia Leichman
Man #2, Firing Squad	Ariadne Shaffer
Man #3, Firing Squad	Brock Walker