By Cynthia Citron, Santa Monica Daily Press
Having seen and been blown away by “Tracers,” the powerful play by John DiFusco about Vietnam, I couldn’t wait to experience DiFusco’s follow up, “The Long Way Home: Reflections on the ‘Tracers’ Journey.”
DiFusco
Accompanied by singer/percussionist Al. Keith, DiFusco tells the story of his experiences in the war, his disorienting return home, and his meeting with other veterans who were feeling as displaced as he.
“We were shadow warriors, always in two places at one time,” he says. “We came back, after Nam, inside ourselves.”
He talks of hanging out with his buddy, Big Edgar, and their pledge to keep in touch after they returned home. “Of course we never did,” he says.
He tells of a sexual encounter with an especially kind Vietnamese girl whom he spent one night with and never saw again, but whom he still remembers with affection.
And he reminisces about meeting Lupe, his “Aztec princess” to whom he has been married for 43 years.
Having received the United States Air Force Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service in Vietnam, he returned home to begin his professional acting career with L.A.’s Odyssey Theatre Ensemble. Over time he has won a New York Drama Desk Award, as well as awards from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, NAACP Theatre, Drama-Logue, and others.
But his experiences in “the Nam” continued to color his life, and eventually he felt the need to do something about it. Placing a small ad looking for actors who were Vietnam vets, he was amazed by the response he got, and so he began a long series of auditions.
Projecting their photographs on the back wall of the United States Veterans’ Artists Alliance (USVAA) stage at the AMVETS Post II Building in Culver City, he introduced each selected participant to the audience, reciting tidbits of information about each of their personalities and quirks. Then together, he and the seven men he had chosen fashioned the play “Tracers” from all their combined experiences in the war.
Read the full article by Cynthia Citron from Santa Monica Daily Press.
