“THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT”

Iraq Play at REDCAT

Three hours before Elia Arce’s play about the Iraq war, “The Fifth Commandment,” was
to open at REDCAT in the Disney Concert Hall complex, we received a call asking for an
Arabic speaker to recite names of fallen Iraqis during the first moments of the play.

Samir Twair agreed to answer Los Angeles producer Debra Winski’s SOS call, and a few
hours later we arrived at the downtown landmark theater. The three-day run of “The Fifth
Commandment” was part of the International Latino Theatre Festival of Los Angeles. Its
title reflects military combatants’ dilemma with the biblical injunction, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Costa Rican-American playwright Arce interacted for three years with men training at the
29 Palms Marine Corps base, and much of her play consists of monologues by these
troops and the women who date them.

“After meeting some of the Marines, I wanted to know who these people were, as well as
understand why they had done and continue to do what they do today,” Arce told the
Washington Report.

“In the process, I found young people running from abusive family situations, wanting to
gain an education, health care, security and a regular paycheck. So they joined the
military wanting to protect themselves, mostly,” she explained. “But once they joined,
they discovered what they had imagined to be was far from it, and they became
disillusioned—broken in a sense—deeply regretting their decision.”

In addition to Arce, who not only directs but plays roles of women involved with Marines,
the actors include two Iraq War veterans, Cameron White and Mathew Howard.

The most powerful performance in the Los Angeles Times was by Nadia McCaffrey,
mother of Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey, the first soldier in his 579th National Guard unit from
Tracy, CA to die in Iraq. Sitting in front of a screen with a huge photo of her son,
McCaffrey states: “When Patrick came home in a coffin, the media contacted me. They
asked if I wanted the media to cover it. I knew it was forbidden to take photos of coffins
with flags on them. But I thought about it and said, ‘Yes.’”

“The Fifth Commandment” is scheduled to play in theaters throughout the U.S., so we

encourage anyone who receives a call to volunteer to read aloud names of Iraqi fatalities
to agree to do so. Winski told the Washington Report that she has had difficulty
recruiting Arabic speakers everywhere this experimental work appears.

Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journalists based in Los Angeles.