by Jennifer Jonassen

As an actor, every now and again a project comes along that is something special. The experience I have had thus far in Bury The Dead has been nothing less than transformative for me. It has become the work that I am most proud of. But it didn't start out that way. In the beginning and well up to the opening night performance I was struggling to surrender myself to the emotions that the script demanded of me. I was trying every actor trick in the book but to no avail. I was frustrated and to an extent creatively blocked.  I was crying offstage at my inability to cry onstage! The role I have been playing is a mother of a soldier who dies while fighting in Iraq in a play called: Bury The Dead by Irwin Shaw.

Feeling the enormity of what I was being asked to portray, I revisited the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 for insight. In the film there is a mother featured named Lila Lipscomb who is so inspiring I was compelled to write her. To my surprise she wrote me right back! She has been astonishingly generous and deep-hearted with me, sharing intimate details of what she went through... including, "The very day the army knocked on my door." 

Incredibly, and true to her self-less nature, Lila went out of her way to over-night to me an angel pin she wore on her lapel after Michael was killed so I could wear it onstage on opening night. Moreover, she has continued to nurture and support me through this challenging production.  It is my very great honor to share her with you. The fact that this is the December issue seems an almost divine irony, as Christmas 2002 was the last time she saw her son Michael F. Pedersen alive...

JJ Lila, what did you think when you first read my email?
 
LL I  thought, my goodness, this is a woman on a mission.  To know that you had taken the time to do the research to find me and that you thought I might be able to help was a blessing.  I automatically felt a connection to you and your dedication.
 
JJ As a mother who has lost your child in the Iraq War how do you want to be represented onstage?
 
LL As a loving, caring mother who would do anything for her child.  A woman who would, even through the greatest pain in her life of having her child ripped out of her heart, would convince her child that passing onto the next life with our Lord is the best thing for him. (Lila is referring to the script for Bury The Dead which calls for the loved ones of the dead soldiers to convince them to pass over)
 
JJ Lila, It was such a blessing for me to get to know you and then through you I got to know Michael. Can you share a little bit of him with us?
 
LL My Michael could be quite a prankster.  He loved life; he loved to fulfill it to the hilt!  He loved scaring his brother and sisters.  He loved snowball fights; he loved playing snow football with plastic garbage bags tied to his feet inside of his boots to prevent them from getting too wet too fast.  He loved playing the Super Mario Nintendo games with me all day when I let them stay home from school for no other reason but that we wanted to all be together for the day and play Nintendo!  He loved being the protector of his little brother and sister. He was always the protector and the peacemaker.  That is how he died. He was not originally scheduled for the flight. (His was the first helicopter to be downed in Karbala Iraq on April 2, 2003.)  However, one of the soldiers that was scheduled was exhausted and so, my son being who I and his step dad raised him to be, volunteered.  Still today, even though I hate him not being here in the physical, I would not have expected anything different.  He loved what he did; it made him the man he was when he died.