Chas Goldman

Date Written: 1-3-15

Date Scene: 11-12-14
Red
Live Play Review Quarter 2: Grounded
George Brants one women play Grounded at Everyman Theater in Baltimore
follows a hotshot F-16 fighter pilot played by Megan Anderson. The Pilot as she is
called is born to fly, but after getting married and becoming pregnant she is forced to take
time off. When she returns to duty she finds that she has been put into the dreaded Chair
Force as she calls it, a branch of the Air Force that operates drones throughout the world.
After completing training she works 12-hour shifts in a window-less trailer, scouring her
computer screen looking for enemies in Afghanistan 8,000 miles away. The play focuses
on the issue of mental health in the military as well as the ethics of drone strikes and
modern warfare.
The brief 75-minute show features Anderson pacing and jumping around the stage
while telling her story. Large gray screens surround the stage itself with small radars
pulsating throughout them. Scenic designer Luciana Stecconis and lighting designer
Harold Burgess both do a wonderful job of enhancing the presentation with their
projections and set deign. Under the direction of Derek Goldman, Anderson displays
fantastic physicality and athleticism between being at home with her husband and baby
girl and being at the base. Her performance captivates audience members by creating
mixed emotions between her comedic comments and deep monologues. Anderson also
seems to at times fill up the stage large barren stage with her personality, but when
necessary she can sink back into the set, further exaggerating her vulnerability to mental
health issues. Sound designer Eric Shimelonis seems to ground the entire show, his

echoing music and effects guide Anderson through the performance and help to reinforce
key points by simply being silent when Anderson is performing one of her many moving
monologues.
The pressures of sitting in tight windowless spaces while pursuing high value
targets get to The Pilot and her own life starts spinning out of control. The chivalry and
ethics of modern warfare are put under a microscope as one no longer must have to look
his enemy in the eye as he kills them but can simply view a grey dot on a screen and
press a button in order to cause large scale destruction 8,000 miles away. Mental health in
the military is also looked at closely in scenes when Anderson struggles through her 12hour shifts of bombing and conducting raids and is then simply expected to adjust and
head home to live with her husband and young daughter. The pressures, tensions and
disparities are enough to bring Anderson to her knees. The overall production of
Grounded is fantastic and the message leaves the audience thinking deeply about the
plays themes of drone ethics and mental health within the military.