Surrender

Hi!

I'm trying to think of a way to open an email where I briefly and reluctantly update you on my life then ask you to buy tickets to the off-off-Broadway play I co-wrote and am "staring" in. I don't like how this makes me feel-- trying to sell myself, exploiting my Just Another Soldier email list-- so I'll get this over with quickly. I don't mean to sound so negative, I just mean that it makes me feel awkward to ask you for anything and to tell you about myself in unsolicitedly. I would love for you to come to my play, and on the off chance that you're curious about what I've been up to for the past three years I want to give you the quick update too, but please forgive me otherwise.

Part One - The Update

Last May I graduated from SUNY New Paltz with a BA in English.
Last July I applied for the Bard Fiction Prize. Three days ago I did not win it.
I'm still in the New York National Guard. I am in the 69th Infantry Regiment in Manhattan. I still live in New Paltz, NY.
My next book will be called Growing Up Mormon. It will be about my family. I haven't written one word of it yet.

I am not being deployed anywhere as of today. Half of my unit is in Afghanistan and will be returning this January.
The St. Patrick's Day before last I was re-promoted to Sergeant. I was promoted at the same time as my company commander from Iraq was promoted to Major.
I have been ineligible for membership in MOI for over three years.
I recently worked as a military adviser on a feature film produced by Michael Stipe called Memorial Day. The film debuted at Cinevegas this summer. About one-third of the audience walked out.
I am now in a theater piece called Surrender. It opens October 25th in Manhattan.

Part Two - Come To My Play

Josh Fox, the director of Memorial Day, so much enjoyed the crash-course in infantry training I gave him and his actors for the film that he decided he wanted to make a play about it. (Josh has been a playwright and theater director for years.) Josh and I share a lot of the same sensibilities artistically and we've become good friends. As a result of this bro-mance a three-and-a-half hour piece of experimental downtown theater was born which we have named Surrender.

When you come to Surrender you will be given boots, a uniform, and an M4 assault rifle. I'll train you in the basics of room-to-room combat, then you'll run a mission that involves clearing a ten-room building in Iraq. There may be enemy. But keep an eye out for the civilians. After you've completed the mission you'll return home to scenes with friends and strangers. Think of it as an alternative to going to a haunted house this Halloween.

There will be a limited number of more expensive "observer" tickets for the pansies who don't want to participate, and extremely discounted tickets will be made available to anyone willing to play an Iraqi. You can buy tickets at smarttix.com.

Thank you for hearing me out. I'd love to hear from you as well.

-Jason