The premier screening of the documentary film “The War Shirt: A Dialogue with The Ancestors” will take place 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 19 at The Marjorie Luke Theatre.
Tickets are free but must be reserved at www.luketheatre.org.
An onstage discussion with the filmmakers will follow the screening. The film is open captioned – the post discussion will be sign language interpreted.
The seed for the creation of the 45-minute documentary was planted in 2022, when Santa Barbara based actor-dancer Michael Downey wrote and performed a one-person play titled “The War Shirt.”
His story explored his circumstances as a gay man, his relationship with a disapproving father, and the reconciliation that occurred hours before his father’s passing.
Downey sensed something larger had been set in motion that needed to continue beyond the play to fulfill itself. “The War Shirt: A Dialogue With the Ancestors” is the result. It brings new light to various historical and cultural events that were suggested but not explored in the original script.
Various Downey ancestors were born into slavery, and the documentary examines the horrors of the Middle Passage — that trans-Atlantic voyage that carried millions of captives from West Africa to the North American continent.
The film is particularly focused on the continuing influence of those African ancestors and the significance of honoring them.
Rod Lathim, director/producer, views both the play “The War Shirt” and the documentary as direct results of intangible influences he thinks are guiding and impacting events in the physical world.
Lathim asserts that these influences enhanced his intuitive sense as a director and illuminated the development of the play script and subsequent documentary. Both Downey and Lathim acknowledge a guiding presence of African and Native American ancestors and believed the film needed to be made to honor them.
The film includes perspectives that draw from American Indian belief systems and South African Zulu healing practices.
Featured personalities include Dr. Jeanne Eder, a Dakota Sioux and adopted member of the Crow tribe; Dr. David Cumes, a South African surgeon and Sangoma practitioner; Davies King, UCSB distinguished professor of theater/dance; and Aaron Jones, director of UCSB’s Educational Opportunity Program, and a former participant in an interfaith pilgrimage that traced the trans-Atlantic transport of West African captives to the Western Hemisphere.
“The War Shirt: A Dialogue with The Ancestors” is a companion piece to the play “The War Shirt,” which is currently streaming as a part of the Marjorie Luke Virtual Concert Series at www.luketheatre.org.
The film is sponsored by the SBCC Foundation, Michael Downey, Claude Raffin, Marjorie Luke Theatre, and Pacific Pride Foundation.