The War Within Us

PHOTO BY MELISSA SNYDER AND JEREMY ROUSH OF VIBBLE

Gospel According to the First Squad makes its debut.

PHOTO BY STAR FOREMAN

LATE leaders (clockwise from top left): Yael Itzkowitz, Danika Sudik and Tom Burmester

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More About

• Tom Burmester
• Joseph Sudik
• Danika Sudik
• Theatrical Plays
• Theater

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Burmester tells of the night Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks came to see the early version of Wounded: "Afterward, Tom gave feedback to all the actors, and Rita spent a good 45 minutes explaining to me how the play had the potential to be the Coming Home of our generation. In front of the entire cast, she told me that it should be developed into a screenplay, and that this was what happened with [My] Big Fat Greek Wedding. Over the next several months, I had meetings with Rita and others at Playtone [Tom Hanks' production company] as we attempted to convert the play into a screenplay. I think my screenplay was just too dialogue-heavy, and eventually the meetings stopped without any meaningful progress toward production. And by that point I was already devoting my time to the next War Cycle project. It was an interesting journey, but these are meant to be plays."

The Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble presents THE WAR CYCLE: WOUNDED | By TOM BURMESTER and the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble | NATION OF TWO and GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE FIRST SQUAD | By TOM BURMESTER | Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica | Opens Aug. 19; in rep, Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m. | Through Sept. 11 | (310) 396-3680, latensemble.com