SHOW TITLE

MOTHERS SHALL BUT SMILE by Ara Barlieb

SETTING

Bien Hoa, Republic of Vietnam July 1971 to March 1972

SYNOPSIS

     "Mothers Shall But Smile" enacts the collision courses of two young recruits, Andrew and Troy, during the conflict in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972.

      Arriving as unseasoned and untested newcomers to the trials of war, they quickly find themselves at fierce odds with one another when a report of the death of a civilian at the hands of U.S. troops is assigned to Andrew for a thorough investigation.

      A Vietnamese woman has claimed that her son, a farmer, was wrongly killed by a helicopter gunner who believed him to be a Viet Cong soldier on his way to attack a U.S. military installation.

      This comes in the wake of the My Lai massacre and reports of other alleged atrocities that have severely jeopardized America's strategic position in Southeast Asia, as well as alienating much of the American public that has grown weary of a growing number of American casualties from the war.

     Andrew is schooled in his assignment by his clerk, a Stanford University trained engineer, Quan, who has returned home to Vietnam after being conscripted by the ARVN.

     But there is relentless political pressure on Andrew and Quan to dispel any possible faith in the accusations and to clear the case as quickly as possible.

DIRECTOR

Ara Barlieb (arabarlieb@hotmail.com)

PRODUCER  

Crowded Kitchen Players (ckplayers.com)

SHOW DATES

Oct  6-7, 13-4, 20-21 @ 730PM

Oct 8,15,22 @ 200PM

TICKETS

All tickets $20

VENUE

The Charles A. Brown Ice House

56 River Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018

CONTACT

610-704-6974 or ckplayers@outlook.com