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Carole Mikita reporting During a crisis, there is a short period of time when a person can change the outcome of that situation. That's the premise in Pioneer Theatre Company's latest production, "The Vertical Hour."
Meeting her prospective father-in-law for the first time, Nadia Blye, an academic, was once a war correspondent.
The actress now finds herself intrigued by the real ones. "The risks they take, the passion they have, how they find it fascinating--not only terrorism, but kind of a call to justice for human rights," actress Caris Vujcec said.
"The Vertical Hour" is not anti-war. The playwright puts discussion of world conflicts as a mirror to the human themes. "The questions are about, you know, what does it mean to be a good person?" actor Antony Hagopain said. "Especially in today's world, in which things are so much different than they've been in terms of human relations, whether it's person to person or nation to nation."
The playwright says his title, "The Vertical Hour," was created from the idea of combat medicine--when a person, a surgeon, only has a certain amount of time in which to make a difference.
"It refers, in this play, to a moment in these characters' lives where they have choices to make, or choices are forced upon them, that will change their lives forever," explained Charles Morey, Pioneer Theatre Company artistic director.
The ads for his play include the question, "In a war-torn world, what defines a good citizen?"
The theater has posted signs that this play contains some strong language. "The Vertical Hour" performances run through Jan. 26 in Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre at the University of Utah.
