URBANA — Andrew Carroll traveled across the globe collecting wartime letters — exchanged between soldiers and their loved ones back home. He visited almost 40 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and from the artifacts he found, Carroll crafted a story about the war letters.
Now, his nonfiction book, “If All the Sky Were Paper,” will be brought to life on stage by Twin City Theatre Company at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, starting Nov. 7.
Director Marshawn Bingham said war is often portrayed as glamorous, but the book, and the play, reveal the harsh realities.
“We’ll pay for college for you, you’ll be set for life, you’ll get money, all those positive things,” Bingham said, “but yet they’re not talking about how you may come home with PTSD, the life that you once knew is not going to be the same.”
Two years ago, Bingham said he was reviewing theater scripts as he was looking for a new show to direct.
Before reading the play, Bingham said he was anti-war and didn’t understand why people joined the military to fight against others. While the play didn’t change his perspective toward war, it helped him realize that soldiers often don’t have a choice: Once deployed, survival becomes the priority.
Through this understanding, he said he gained respect for those willing to put their lives on the line to serve their country.
According to Bingham, the idea for the story came from Carroll’s cousin, who had sent Carroll a letter that he’d written to his wife while in the military.
In the letter, Carroll’s cousin explained what it was like to walk through an internment camp.
Bingham said it made Carroll wonder: “How many people are throwing these things away?”
“He calls it the world’s greatest undiscovered literature, and it’s like the first drafts of our nation’s history,” Bingham said.
From there, over the course of eight months, Carroll started traveling and began what he called “The Legacy Project”— preserving war letters that veterans sent back home to their families, and vice versa.
Narrator Reese Armstrong said the play focuses on the overarching theme of universal emotions.
“The biggest point of these letters is that no matter the name, date and address — if you took them off, it would be almost impossible to distinguish different wars, different nationalities,” Armstrong said. “Because the emotions are all the same.”
Armstrong’s role as the narrator involves playing Carroll, weaving together all the letters and reflecting Carroll’s development throughout the journey.
Bingham said the stories are sure to resonate with audience members on an emotional level.
“I think it has a great compassionate view of every aspect of warfare,” Bingham said. “You wouldn’t expect to read some of these letters of different nationalities and different wars and feel such sympathy. But with the emotions being so similar, it’s so easy to put yourself in others’ shoes.”
The play will be at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center from Nov. 7 to 16.