a play by H.R. Long
Matinee Sunday, September 13 at 2:00pm
Fishtrap, 107 W. Main Street, Enterprise
Tickets
$15/ $12.50 Fishtrappers
$5 Students
Veterans/Service members: FREE
Learn more about the history of the North Platte Canteen:
About the playwright
Harold R. “Hal” Long (1942–2015) was born in Detroit, Michigan, an only child who enjoyed summers with his cousins on his grandparents’ farm. After high school graduation, Hal enlisted in the USMC, where he did three tours in Vietnam, plus calls to other duty. He returned to graduate from University of Michigan in mechanical engineering. He also studied at The Actors Studio in NYC. He moved his family to Oregon in the mid-seventies where he became involved with Lumiere Players, a troupe he later nourished in Newberg and in Tualatin.
Hal lost his sight in the late nineties. He then gave writing his full attention. He wrote and directed numerous plays, many performed by the Lumiere Players. He moved to Tigard, married Lynn Docekal Wolf in 2001. They grew Lumiere Players from their home in Tualatin, performing for years at The Tualatin Heritage Center and later grew a branch of Lumiere in their new home in Joseph.
The Writing of North Platte Canteen
The idea for this play came from an article written in Parade Magazine in 2002 that my wife read. Upon hearing the story it became lodged in my mind. It was about an isolated town in Nebraska doing wondrous things during World War Two. It had all the makings of a great mystery tale. I contacted the author, Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene, asking him to grant permission to adapt to the stage his book that was the basis for the article. He said that I didn’t need his permission, that all information in the story had been public record for 60 years. He gave me names to contact for more information. With each contact, I was drawn further into a time and place that seemed magical, yet was forgotten, or nearly never known, except to the soldiers and volunteers who experienced it. I found myself armed with photos, words and fantastic data. It wasn’t difficult from that point on to tie the elements together into a story about what it felt like to live through the warrior in this place. All people mentioned in the play lived, and the events portrayed are real, to the best recollections of those involved.
The questions that nagged me through the writing of this play were what drove the child people to do it, and would we do it again today?
I still wonder.
H.R. Long
