Home - Arts in the Armed Forces

Celebrating 10 years and over 13,000 members of our armed forces served!

AITAF Artists

Charlie Barnett

Rachel Brosnahan

Adam Driver

Laurence Fishburne

Laura Linney

Justin Long

Natasha Lyonne

Frances McDormand

Keegan Michael-Key

Anthony Ramos

Elizabeth Rodriguez

Mark Ruffalo

Keri Russell

Michael Shannon

Christian Slater

Ben Stiller

Samira Wiley

MORE AITAF Artists

About AITAF

UPCOMING EVENTS MORE AITAF VIDEOS

There were so many instances I personally witnessed of your organization becoming an agent of change for our military community. I ran into one friend after the show who confessed to me that your event served as justification for her and her husband to go on a long overdue date and allowed them to reconnect after several stressful months of military life. In the crowds after the show I heard many conversations regarding ethics, police corruption, sexism and sexual harassment. There were many opinions in the diverse community that is our military, but most were thoughtful and introspective.

Thank you for sharing your time and work with our military base. I hope you understand how much it is appreciated and how positively it has affected our little outpost in Asia.

— Audience member, OSAN Air Base

I just wanted to say thank you to AITAF for coming out and doing this. I was in a helicopter accident on Friday, and this has been something I have been looking forward to all weekend. It lived up to and exceeded my expectations, and was just the pick me up I needed. Please keep doing what you do, it meant more to me than I could possibly describe.

— Audience member, OSAN Air Base

I thought your team's performance was wonderful, and the folks here have been talking about it ever since. I think Adam has stumbled onto something very powerful. Like Adam, I also enlisted right after high school, then got out and went to college on the GI Bill. Despite the fact that I had been an Airborne Ranger Squad Leader, I was intimidated and bewildered by my college experience because it was so different from the ordered, monastic life I had just left. As I rejoined the military, matured, and most importantly went to combat, I came to the realization that the arts (theater and literature specifically) are among the few venues that can truly express the complex nature of the human experience in combat in a way that history or the other social sciences cannot.

— Audience member

The AITAF performance I attended was extraordinary, because I got to see many famous and extremely talented actors doing monologues that were heartfelt and moving, in a very intimate setting...just a stage with chairs, facing the audience... AITAF allowed me to meet them in a setting where they seemed comfortable enough to engage in candid conversations with the audience, face-to-face. It felt very personal and it was a wonderful experience for me.

— Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy Reserve

AITAF understands deeply that to acknowledge another's experience and then reflect it back to them is one of the greatest gifts one human being can give to another...

— Lili Taylor, Actress

In my research, I stumbled onto the story of Stephen Crane, a young writer with no military experience who wrote the Red Badge of Courage. He was hounded for the rest of his life by veterans demanding to know which regiment he had belonged to because his novel so perfectly described their experience. Personally, I have found Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire to be the most realistic description of military experience and combat that I have ever encountered. So I think the performances that Adam is coordinating are a powerful way to connect our veterans and to help them describe their emotions/experiences to others. I know several people have already started to look for and purchase the plays from which your scenes were selected.

— Audience Member

Having had a couple days to reflect on the AITAF performance, I want to send along sincere thanks to you and the actors who joined us for the day. I've heard over the past couple days nothing but positive reactions from cadets and faculty members. One faculty member texted me after performance, explaining, "I needed something like this to remind me how much I love literature, and just how vitally important the arts and humanities are." Other faculty members said cadets in their section cried at points, while some more senior cadets in the major told me how much they enjoyed watching the plebes laugh throughout the performances...I can say without a doubt that your visit moved members of our audience, from our students to our faculty, and aptly demonstrated the power of art. I will gladly pass along nothing but a positive recommendation.

— Audience Member, West Point

I don’t know if you realize how impressive is your desire to give back to those who serve the Nation, to show your appreciation and to enhance our quality of life with your shows. I know you all say you’re honored to serve through your live performances, but your willingness to be so extravagant with your gifts is exemplary. Thank you.

— Audience member, Fort Hood

In time of war it is vitally important that our whole community come together. AITAF introduces theater artists and their work to members of our military. In this way, the artists, as members of the civilian community, learn what is really going on in the lives of the soldiers AND the soldiers feel the support from a greater constituency. In the history of the United States the American people have always been spiritually connected to the fighting forces...AITAF lets civilians and soldiers find each other and share their feelings through performance. I am proud to have been part of this deeply important enterprise.

— Eric Bogosian, Playwright, Actor & Novelist