Break Another Little Piece of My Heart (If It Makes You Feel Good)

"I have directed plays before, but mostly musicals—which I also choreographed," says Lindsey Clinton-Kraack, who has chosen to direct Shirley Lauro’s A Piece of My Heart as her thesis production.
 
An M.F.A. candidate in directing, Clinton-Kraack is finishing her final year of the Brooklyn College Theater Department program.  Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, she graduated with a B.F.A. in theater and dance from Valdosta State University.

"The opportunity to connect with the New York City theater world is what first drew me to Brooklyn College," she admits.  "I am amazed by all of the programs in our theater program.  They have such talented and supportive people in each one of them."

A Piece of My Heart tells the stories of six female nurses stationed in Vietnam, who struggled to make sense of a Vietnam War that irrevocably changed them and the nation that shunned them upon their return to the U.S. 
 
"This play is important to me," says Clinton-Kraack. "The true stories of these strong women is one reason I chose it.  Another is the personal connection I developed to the courageous work of nurses," she notes, pointing out that her daughter spent eight weeks in the New York Presbyterian Hospital newborn intensive care unit after she was born last September.

Lauro based her play on the Keith Walker book of the same name, which had first-hand accounts of the lives of some of the 15,000 women who served in the controversial and unpopular war.  The play intricately laces together the stories of a few of these memorable women to illustrate the strength, humanity, and idealism of those who served in time of war.  Both the play and the book use the name of a 1967 Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns song, later popularized by the late blues singer Janis Joplin at the height of the Vietnam conflagration.

A Piece of My Heart has received numerous awards since its off-Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1991.  The Vietnam Vets of America, Inc. has cited the work as "the most enduring play in the nation on Vietnam."

The playwright has written over twenty plays and one-acts.  Currently the director of the Dramatists Guild Foundation, Shirley Lauro is an adjunct professor of playwriting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

A Piece of My Heart will be playing this week at the College’s New Workshop Theater.  Check the Calendar or the Theater Department’s webpage for more information.