Veterans, civilians open dialogue with ‘Peace & Quiet’

A tent-like structure fills the quad between Powell Library and Royce Hall this week, a chance to create ties between two normally separate entities: veterans and civilians.

Entitled “Peace & Quiet,” the open dialogue station acts as a five-day lead-up to UCLA’s premiere of “En Garde Arts: Basetrack Live,” a program organized by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. The event is modeled after the original “Peace & Quiet” installation put on in Times Square in New York City, commissioned by the Times Square Alliance and designed by the Matter Architecture Practice. It serves as a place to share stories for veterans and civilians alike.

Tyler La Marr, an actor in “Basetrack Live,” said his story began like many children with an early love of acting. However, in 2004, La Marr did not enroll in theater classes but rather enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

After serving for six years while working as a cryptologic analyst for the Marine Corps, with two deployments to Iraq, La Marr came back home and faced an immersion back into everyday life.

“You go from this high-stress environment that your body is in every day back to normal life,” La Marr said.

La Marr said he believes every person has to find his or her own transition, but for him, that meant returning to old routines, as well as his old passion: acting. While still on active duty, La Marr began acting classes, and last May, he received his bachelor’s degree in theater performance from Marymount Manhattan College.

In 2012, La Marr co-founded the nonprofit Society of Artistic Veterans, or SocArtVets, to help create opportunities for veterans pursuing careers in the arts. Through his work with SocArtVets, he met the producer of “Basetrack Live” last year.

With the rest of the cast, La Marr will premiere in “Basetrack Live” at Royce Hall on Friday. The show, an adaptation of the One-Eight Basetrack Project tracking the deployment of a battalion of marines, combines aspects of media, music and technology. It centers on the effects of war both for the military veterans and the family at home, as a wounded marine returns from Afghanistan.

La Marr plays veteran Andrew “AJ” Czubai, who was at the premiere of “Basetrack Live” last month. La Marr said it was a surreal experience to play an actual person. Worried over Czubai‘s reaction, La Marr said he was relieved when Czubai was grateful for the way the production was telling his story.

“Now I know I have his blessing moving forward and telling his story across the country,” La Marr said.

Hoping for “Basetrack Live” to further its audience’s awareness, La Marr said the show humanizes the way war affects both those fighting and their families back home.

In 2013, Chancellor Gene Block launched the UCLA Veterans Initiative to highlight the programs available to veterans at UCLA. Elizabeth Boatright-Simon, the assistant director of public outreach at UCLA Communications and Public Outreach, said the initiative hopes to also increase students’ understanding of veteran experiences.

“(There’s a) role each of us can play in helping returning military service members to integrate into campus and community life,” Boatright-Simon said.

Meryl Friedman, director of education and special initiatives with the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, organized “Peace & Quiet” as a prelude to “Basetrack Live.”

Friedman’s job is to provide a larger context within the work being performed on campus, and in researching veteran awareness projects, she found most veteran art forms fell within the category of art therapy.

“I felt unqualified to (involve art therapy) because I’m not a therapist; I’m an artist,” Friedman said.

An active art piece, “Peace & Quiet” works as a temporary open dialogue station between civilians and veterans. There will be a tent-like structure set up in the quad, an area for civilians and veterans alike to exchange stories, shake hands and fill out notecards with their thoughts. Each day there will be a new question or theme posted on the outside of the station, such as “A hero is …” and “What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?” Throughout the week, notecards from visitors will be hung on the exterior of the structure.

Part of the success of the installation, Friedman said, is the nonpolitical way “Peace & Quiet” broaches the topic of service, which is why she felt the university stood behind the project. Next to the structure will sit an information table on the programs and support services UCLA offers to its veteran community.

“(‘Peace & Quiet’) is a nonconfrontational, peaceful way for people to reflect about something that is very often taken for granted,” Friedman said.