Stu Richel Brings VIETNAM...THROUGH MY LENS to Metropolitan Playhouse This Month

In honor of Vietnam Veterans Day, Metropolitan Playhouse welcomes Stu Richel for one week only March 29 - April 2, 2023, presenting his solo-journey into and through Vietnam as a combat photographer. Performances in person at the Playhouse: 220 E 4th Street.

VIETNAM...THROUGH MY LENS is Stu Richel's poignant and thought-provoking play exploring his journey as a combat journalist and photographer to, through, and beyond his military service in Vietnam. VIETNAM...THROUGH MY LENS is one soldier's intimately personal and unique tale about friendships, trust, and tenacity that travels from jungles of South East Asia to the "jungle" of Manhattan.

The long, costly armed conflict in Vietnam pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Culturally and politically divisive around the world and increasingly unpopular in the US, the war ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, were killed during the conflict.

Stu Richel first performed his stirring and searching play in 2014 at the Dorothy Strelsin Theater and has toured it across the country since. The production has earned praise far and wide: "absolutely engaging, realistic, yet primarily light-hearted.... a great tale, no matter what your age" (Karen D'Onofrio, Electronic Link); "Stu can make the ordinary seem extraordinary and the everyday seem heroic" (David Lally, NY Indie Theatre Now); "real, honest, moving and a particularly American work." (Constance Rodgers, Front Row Center).

Protective Masks are optional at this performance.

STU RICHEL has written and performed three other solo shows: "Mortal Decisions, a Diary of the Donner Party" ("a true work of sublime genius," - The NY Observer), "Theodore Judah and the Transcontinental Railroad" and "Everyone's War" (which The Village Voice praised his characters as "deftly described" and called his performance "riveting"). His other plays include "The Same Cloud" and "The Bugs Don't Call Me Nigger" (Northside Theatre Company). Mr. Richel has had principal roles in 17 feature films, 20 short films, and dozens of Regional, Off Broadway, and other shows in New York City. On stage he has appeared in "Proof" (Redhouse), "Twilight of the Golds" (Shadowland), and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (San Jose Stage), and in film and tv he has appeared in "Death in Love," "Hiding Divya," "One Life to Live," "30 Rock." Stu served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970. In 1969, he was a combat correspondent with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam.

Linda S. Nelson's (Director and Dramaturge) directing credits include: "Toast, Boast or Roast - A Tribute to Austin Pendleton" (featuring Olympia Dukakis, Louis Zorich, F. Murray Abraham, etc.), "Missa Solemnis or The Play About Henry" (The Barrow Group Theatre, Downtown Urban Theatre Festival), "The Necessary Disposal" (Scripts Up!) and "The Choice" (Shotgun Productions). As a dramaturge, Ms. Nelson has worked with dozens of writers, including playwright/novelist Cailin Heffernan, screenwriter Michael Lee Stever and playwrights Cyndy Marion, Roman Feeser, Bob Ost and Phil Olson, and is the Resident Dramaturge for White Horse Theater. As an actor, Ms. Nelson works frequently with Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Boomerang Theatre Company, White Horse Theater Company, and New Jersey Repertory Company.

TIMOTHY BABCOCK, stage manager, has worked with Retro Productions, Boomerang Theatre Company, Counter-Productions Theatre Company, and the Well Strung string quartet at 54 Below.

Hosting VIETNAM...THROUGH MY LENS is a further extension of the mission of METROPOLITAN PLAYHOUSE: to explore America's diverse theatrical heritage through lost plays of the past and new plays of American historical and cultural moment. The theater's latest presentation was the trio of Eulalie Spence plays: SHE'S GOT HARLEM ON HER MIND. Metropolitan received a 2011 OBIE Grant from The Village Voice for its ongoing productions that illuminate who we are by revealing where we have come from. Called "invaluable" by the Voice and Backstage, Metropolitan has earned further accolades from The New York Times and The New Yorker. Other awards include a Victorian Society of New York Outstanding Performing Arts Group, 3 Aggie Awards from Gay City News, 21 nominations for NYIT Awards (3 winners), and 6 AUDELCO Viv Award nominations.