Our next guest is a professor of theater at UBC
But he uses theater as a tool for research and social change. He raises awareness of veterans
Taken from Canada
Dropped into brutal environments, then returned to their homes here in Canada
Often given no support to make sense of their experiences
And I would like to acknowledge a number of veterans who are with us here today?
We thank our next guests for using theatre to teach us and them
New ways of understanding ourselves and the world we live in please welcome George Beliveau
Theatre is often defined as a place to see to hear
to feel
to witness
to question
And to safely witness the consequences of human behavior, and I'd like to add that theater is a place where we come together
to share humanity
For the last three years I've had the privilege of working on a collaborative project with
military veterans and counselors and
In that project we produced a play called contact unload which toured extensively in Canada in the UK
But what I wanted to share tonight is
The the impact that that play and the creation of that work
Working with these veterans has had on me as an artist as a researcher
but most importantly on me as a human being
As a father of two girls a husband a
Son a brother and most recently working with these military veterans
I've been wondering what it means to be a man
What does it mean to be a decent man in?
This day and age who are models I?
Mean who are your models?
For the first two decades of my life, I identify myself as a hockey player in the dressing room
I was surrounded by a hyper masculinity and on the ice
It was about being tough and strong in a fast physical game with other men
I mean, I dreamed of being a goalie in the NHL
I wanted to be Ken Dryden because he was an athlete and a scholar
Well, I didn't make it to the NHL
but I did manage to play at the university level where I traveled from hockey to theater dressing room as
I majored in acting at Dalhousie University
At the age of 18 as I made my way between those two
drastically different worlds I
came to realize that there was a spectrum of men and that performing one's masculinity is part of the continuum I
Mean I enjoyed the camaraderie in the Brotherhood of my hockey teammates
But with my male acting friends I felt more alive
I mean I was exploring parts of myself that that I never knew existed
So in my second year university I decided to hang up my hockey gear and commit myself. Fully to theatre
Much to my father's surprise
My brother Don though he got it because at that point in his life
He was moving away from weightlifting and playing football and taking a new pathway by climbing in the mountains
from the Canadian Rockies to the Himalayas, but dad
well
You see to be a man is to play hockey
To be a man is to be tough and strong and reserved an emotion to be a man is not to
open oneself up and be vulnerable in front of others I
Now work with military veterans men in particular
Men, who were deployed overseas as peacekeepers
These men who risked their lives for the well-being of others represent for many of us the epitome of being a man
In my three years of working with these men though
I've realized the various layers and levels of what it means to be a man and
Being a man goes much deeper than the bravado the uniform and physical strength
Because these men I work with have seen and experienced things that
Hopefully many of us will never encounter. I mean imagine I
having to decide
whether or not to shoot a
Young Afghan boy who's coming towards your compound
Because he might be carrying explosive devices in his backpack
While holding on to your your mates shrapnel filled body as he takes in his last breath
These men I work with have journeyed from war zones to counseling support and now to the theater
where they perform their lived experiences in our play called contact unload and in the play they share their stories of loss of
survivor's guilt
But they also bring to life the camaraderie the Brotherhood as they come together to heal to cope and to reclaim
parts of their souls
Souls that were fractured or for some of them left overseas?
As one of the vets says you got to die when you join, so you don't fear dying when you're there
Well, it's not easy when you come back to try to reclaim your life
But nothing's the same here, nothing makes sense when I was there. I was something when I'm here
I'm just dead inside
Our play
at the very beginning
Shows these hyper masculine hyper masculine men initially defying any kind of support. Hey listen
I'm fucked up, but I'm not that fucked up or
They're guys. That are way worse than I am
but gradually
with persistent persuasion from other vets they step forward
and they seek professional help in an attempt to literally for some of them save their lives and
Here I am as their director and co actor in the play, and I'm witnessing this for 25 shows and
I'm in awe of
their courage their courage to be vulnerable
their courage to open themselves up and share these deeply personal injuries and
Then painfully work at stitching them the pieces back together so that they could live more fully
So what does it mean to be a man?
Well I never served in the military
So what did I really know about their struggles?
I mean the only weapon I've ever held is a wooden sword in a Shakespearean battle scene
or hockey stick
But something something inside me was happening as I watched them firsthand rebuild themselves in the company of their brothers
I was wrestling with my own identity
As a father as a son
My father
He grew up on a farm in eastern, Canada. He was a hockey player a
Weightlifter a boxer at age 18 my dad could benchpress nearly 300 pounds. That's twice my weight
My dad is 74 now when we move furniture dad. He still takes the heavy end
But when my dad was 49 the age, I'm now
He lost a son
my brother dawn in a tragic mountain climbing accident I
Was 27 at the time and I had no idea how to grieve for my only brother a best friend
but my dad
He showed me another way to be strong
he stood beside me and
With compassion we grieved and we cried together
releasing sharing the burden of our loss
Never alone never alone. That's the model that the veterans I work with use. I've got your back in the battlefield and at home
Well my dad
He saw the production of contact unload and like many other men and women in the audience the night
He was there his eyes were filled with tears
As he watched these six veterans stand side by side
hugging singing lean on me
Well men do cry and they laugh in fact we have the spectrum of emotions available at our
disposal
We just need the courage to act upon and release these emotions
So what does it mean to be a man?
Well for me it means being true to myself and to those around me
Thank you
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