Actor Under Fire

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:James Gleason
818-774-1690 [email protected]’

ACTOR UNDER FIRE
James Gleason brings funny and moving tale
to the Complex as part of the
Hollywood Fringe Festival

WHAT:
Actor Under Fire – Veteran actor James Gleason’s funny and moving solo show, a finalist at the 2010 Eugene O’Neill Theatre Festival. Following his enlistment in the Air Force, Gleason was cast in Star Spangled Girl. An “Actor under Fire,” Gleason came of age, as both a man and a performer, bringing Neil Simon’s comedy to base camps, hospitals, villages and the front lines during the Vietnam War. “Hilarious… peppered with colorful characters and wild situations.” – BlogCritics.co...

REVIEW ACTOR UNDER FIRE
SHERRY THEARE 11052 MAGNOLIA BLVD
NORTH HOLLYWOOD

I just saw James Gleason’s one man show in NoHo last night. It is not to be missed. James is great and this is acting at its best. James wrote this autobiographical piece and acts in it under the direction of Anita Khanzadian. We revisit VietNam as James, an enlisted Air Force “soldier”, ends up entertaining the troops as an actor in “Star Spangled Girl” and we experience the war through his “tour”. It is clean , specific, charming and James is mesmerizing as he morphs into all of his various characters he depicts.
Made me laugh – made me cry.

LH
Daily Stage News

On May 11th 1970 I boarded a World Airways charter for San Francisco and completed my tour of duty in Viet Nam. Whenever I told my stories about Viet Nam I would always get “You need to write about that.” Well it only took 38 years but better late than never. I am from a long line of New York Catholics. My family is populated with cops, fireman and priests. My father was a World War 2 veteran in Patten’s 3rd Army. He landed on Omaha Beach and fought through Europe until the end of the war. Growing up in America in the “baby boom” era gave my generation a witness to history that has influenced our lives to this day. The deaths of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were events that live in my memory to this day. But nothing affected the lives of the “Baby Boomers” like the war in Viet Nam. The war came into every living room in America and stole the greatest treasure our country had to offer, the lives of our young men and women.

“ACTOR UNDER...

Written by Robert Machray
Published December 07, 2008
Part of StageMagePart of StageMage

The wonderful actor James Gleason has written a one-person play about his experiences during Vietnam. It took him 38 years, but the result is an engaging study of what happens when art and war interconnect.
Gleason traces his early life when he was trying to decide what to do about being drafted. He had toyed with being an actor, and then a priest. His mom liked the idea of having a priest in the family, but his father’s attitude was more like “you have got to be kidding” only stated with more disdain. So Gleason decided to visit his local recruiter, who promised him he could do a touring show as an actor, so he signed up for the Air Force. He was sent to Vietnam as an MP but grabbed a chance to tour in Star Spangled Girl by Neil Simon.
Gleason’s adventures doing Star Spangled Girl are hilarious. Actor Under Fire is peppered with colorful characters and wild...