Fragments, a collage performance created and directed by Jenifer Alonzo, is most significant for two reasons:

(Left to right) Justin Moreland, Rene Montague, Kwaku Assiamah, and Shela Maung in Fragments.

It is a studied meditation on one of the more important humanitarian issues of our time, and it is sure to resonate with people who are close to military life. Using text largely culled from Greek tragedies, Alonzo and an ensemble of talented young performers explore the duality of modern warfare. As soldiers are forced daily to confront the hell of battle, modern American life goes on unaffected. Soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan face a difficult transition back to daily life.

Focusing on several military and civilian archetypes, Alonzo’s script intelligently and movingly explores this transition. Soldiers and wives, girlfriends, and boyfriends confront the pain of absence and reunion in a series of scenes that take place not only onstage, but all around the theater. This immersion in the performance goes a long way to drive home the impact of the emotional issue being analyzed. Christopher Spiel’s lovely, simple set spans the length of the auditorium, giving the evening an environmental feel.

I refer to Fragments as a collage performance because it is created from the work of several writers. The credited authors include Sophocles, Homer, Euripides, Christopher Logue, and Charles Mee. Mee, one of America’s most important if lesser known playwrights, encourages the use of his plays for just such a purpose. Mee is the creator of the (re)making project. He publishes his plays to his website. Producers wishing to produce the plays in their entirety must pay Mr. Mee a royalty for the privilege. However, enterprising theater artists may use the plays for free if they dismantle them to create new pieces. Fragments is exactly the kind of performance Mee had in mind, and his sharp, violence-drenched text is perfectly suited to the traumatic humanity at the heart of a soldier’s experience.

Brittney S. Harris and Corey Boggs

The young cast is overwhelmingly effective. Lindsey Carey, an ODU alumnus, gives perhaps the finest performance of her burgeoning career, movingly portraying a wife unable to recognize the husband she knew before he left for the war. Neath Williams, who plays her husband, is thoroughly believable as the scarred veteran. René Montague sounds eerily like Holly Hunter, and is memorable as a young marine. Josh Knepper, Conor O’Brien, and Sha’Nita Benitez emerge as young artists worth following in the coming years. Perhaps most effective is Kwaku Assiamah, who leads the Greek chorus of soldiers, largely due to his ability to command the stage and the audience’s undivided attention when he speaks. The appealing physical production features not only Spiel’s set, but nice costumes by Claire Garrard, and an impressive sound design by Jonathan Pominville. The lighting design by Elwood Robinson is customarily beautiful.

The piece works well, but is not perfect. Sometimes it is unintentionally sententious, and even at a relatively brief 75-minute runtime it feels a little long. But Alonzo and company have created an innovative and effective theater piece that is perfectly suited for our community. The performances are followed by a talkback with veterans and their family members, and if you do not wish to stay for it you’d better have your coat in hand when the performance ends. You will not be given much opportunity to escape. These are relatively small complaints, however. Fragments is bound to have more adherents than detractors, for it is what all good theater ought to be: heady, searching, eloquent, and poignant.

Fragments runs at ODU’s University Theater through February 27. For more information visit the ODU Theatre Arts website. Tickets can be purchased from the box office at (757) 683-5305.