KAREN SUNDE

~~~~~When you begin to love~~~~~~
what you passionately misunderstand~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~the world turns

"...IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA, a drama that grew out of the abduction and subsequent death of U.S. Marine Lt. Colonel William R Higgins, who worked for the U N peacekeeping force...."
Susan Brooks, Independent Press

"...Ms Sunde had traveled to the Middle East to research a play about the U N's peacekeeping forces--a body she considers to be an evolutionary step forward for mankind. However, an attempt to stage her work, IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA, at the United Nations was aborted. From the high in the hierarchy came the suggestion that the play might be too `controversial'...."
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER

originally performed at National Theater Colony
Post UN venues: CUNY Graduate Center and the Ralph Bunche Institue.

Scroll down for EXCERPTS from script.

WHAT STUDENTS AT STANFORD say about...
(Sociology of Terrorism) IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA

"I understand better than I ever have before" DB "extremely time pertinent, both Lebanon and Iraq are 'kingdoms by the sea' --powerful" RC

“…Theories must be grounded in the brutal realism of terrorist acts… That is, we must not only talk about terrorism in the language of numbers, but in the language of emotions as well. In IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA, we are treated to a in-depth look at how war and terrorism affect one soldier. …Hogan, a Marine, of whom the audience could say, “Hey, I know him!” …is the cocky, brash American we love…and his character helped the audience relate to the situations going on in Lebanon. I feel I understand the emotions surrounding terrorist acts and their victims better than I ever have before.” --David Baron

“IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA relates to terrorism in the most poignant way by representing the struggle both sides face to determine what is right and what is wrong. … The way Sunde juxtapositions these characters causes the audience to ponder who is in the right. …the human side of terrorism…a valiant commentary magnifying the intense cultural differences and barriers in the way of resolving cross-cultural conflicts. --Anna Strohl

“…provocative…suspenseful…volatile the climate of confusion, double-crossing, and secrecy that characterize terrorist activity and the strategies of network groups working next to each other… IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA exposed the fragile and tenuous relationships between opposition groups, who balance a distant respect for each other’s missions with tit-for-tat strategy.” --Tori Babin

IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA is extremely time pertinent today, as the United States is besieged by the incessant insurgency in Iraq. …(incidentally, both Lebanon and Iraq are “kingdoms by the sea”). The play powerfully conveys Sunde’s central message that war is far from what it is idealistically believed or claimed to be… To my enormous surprise, I found [a reading of KINGDOM] powerful in a unique way. --Ronald Chan

IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA is a haunting and multifaceted view of the consequences of occupation, extremism and idealism through the eyes of the both the perpetrators and victims of terrorism. …Sunde’s power of characterization emerges…subtly heart-wrenching, telling a story of individual lives and emotions, as well as their place in a stark environment of conflict and violence. …This play questions the nature of heroism, the politics of peacekeeping and the values which have shaped both the societies that have condemned terrorists and those that have created them. -- Yuanxin Zhou

EXCERPTS from IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA:

1. (Lt. Colonel Hogan relives the explosion of U.S. Marine barracks)

HOGAN
Sunrise. It's on Beirut, golden wash, gleaming, pastels...astonishing. And Sunday. The boys are nested, having a last dream, an extra half hour. (Beat) I saw his grin. Like he was sharing a secret. Dark beard, dark blue shirt, blurred past the gate. His big truck, yellow, sitting alone in the lobby, looked silly. Then came the orange white flash, too loud to hear, glued skin to my cheekbones, wind...lifted the rooms, pulled out their air, set four stories down in one pile.

Some boys woke with their ceiling in bed, and the floor above and its ceiling and the next, too strange to believe. They said God, oh God help me. Now I lay me down to sleep. The boys covered in ash, scattered, parts without arms, without heads, caught in trees, never woke, but were found by boys who never slept after. And the boys with head and arm hanging free, bodies crushed between slabs, dripping slow...red on grey ash, when they woke, those were the worst.

2. HOGAN (introducing himself - To audience)
You want the key to America? One word? Football.
So I'd say to Laurel, (Dramatic) "I can see them coming...right up the field, barreling, every single one over 300 pounds. They'll crush me, punc-tuate my sweet body with their brutal cleats. I'm gonna hurt sooo much. They're gonna kill me tonight!"

Then she'd hang onto the locker, double over laughing-- "Hogie, you un-regenerate, un-mitigated dumbhead! Why do you do it?! Don't go out for team. Be the mascot. You could waddle out there just the same." (Picks up football) What could I say to her?

Should I have asked her what she sees? Jumping up, shrieking...her dimpled knees red as cheeks? What's she see that's so goddammed exciting in some muddy heap sprawled and grunting on the ten yard line? If she can answer me that, then I'll know why I do it.

3. (A Shi-ite and Sunni discuss resistance)

HAJJ: This Lebanon, this beauty--endlessly trampled and raped...by the West, by the East, by Israel--she's ours. Help us, Sharif. We struggle, with nothing--women with rocks, children with shouts, old men with sticks--making miracles.

SHARIF: Islam condemns violence! You're abusing the faith.

HAJJ: Your heart, my brother, knows our pain. Is this our country? If it's my car and our road, why must I carry their license to travel it? Why may they shoot me if my car lacks a passenger? If I park my car to go gather berries, why may they blast it to hell?

When may I stop asking why? When they come to crush my village with tanks? When to stroll round my house in a tender moon is to die, because I'll be shot if I'm seen? When they round up our men, shepherds, tailors, and ship them away... Why?

Because they suspect, because we won't give in, because one has a name like one they've been given. When all these fail, and our leaders are still not destroyed, why do they plant death in our house of worship, thirty pounds, set to blast the moment relief, the meeting, the people ...convene.

SHARIF: (Silence, moved) Yes, I know...who has done all this.


4. Beirut, dark. “Stranger on the Shore” segues into small-arms fire—

LT COL HOGAN: ... There was this bridge, the deadliest crossing in Beirut--buildings towering, both sides, called sniper's alley. And for days there was murderous fire. Nothing live dared sniff the air. Any vehicle forced to cross would hit the bridge at racing speed. Then, in the midst of all the firing, for no reason, a woman began to cross, on foot. The instinct was--scream, stop her, pull her back. But she couldn't hear, she was too far, and she kept crossing. Then it happened. (Awed) Silence. The firing stopped. Why? Maybe they were all just...astonished. The report said "A woman, showing signs of insanity..." That was how they made sense of it. ...

From pages 110, 119, 134, and 139 in PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE, Broadway Play Publishing, 2001.

Workshop Theater Co, NYC