In the beginning of 2003, before the US invaded (or "liberated"?) Iraq, Stages Theatre Center took a bold step and produced Dalton Trumbo's daunting story of a young American soldier who goes of to war only to become trapped in a foreign land, unable to communicate, and who discovers he has lost all of his limbs and much of his face to the ravages of war.
 
Dramatically engaging, and ultimately hopeful, the one person play eloquently follows Joe’s journey from a young naive patriot to a multiple-amputee patient who is wary of his country's jingoism. The play explores some of the rawest forms of mental and spiritual endurance and includes some provocative passages which warn of the human carnage left in war's wake.
 
The play is adapted by Bradley Rand Smith directly from Dalton Trumbo's (in)famous and best selling book which was once band. Grant Tyler starred in the 90 minute production to critical acclaim (Backstage West GARLAND for Best Performance, and two LA Drama Critics Awards, two LA WEEKLY Awards, and one nomination for Best Revival). Johnny ran for a month and a half. Two days after the production closed, the US officially began "Operation Iraqi Freedom"
 
Dalton Trumbo perhaps describes the story best: “Johnny Got His Gun is essentially the love story of a boy for his girl, of a boy for his father, of a boy for his mother, of a young nurse for her patient, and for all young soldiers who are about to die.”

 

Johnny Legacy

  • There are two Johnny Got His Gun Days : In San Francisco: Oct. 9, 1979, (made by Diane Feinstein) And in Sacramento: March 26, 1980 (made by Phillip Isenberg).
  • Jimmy Carter quote, June 26 1971:
    Johnny Got His Gun should be shown to everyone in the government, the military, and the United Nations as required viewing - . . . every American should see it. 
  • Linus Pauling quote : July 13, 1979:
    The main burden of suffering caused by war is not borne by the politicians, the big businessmen and the bankers who decided about war. The burden is borne by the young people who fight in the wars, and by members of their families and their friends.
  • Dalton quote from the Atlanta Bird, Oct. 4, 1971 V. 4 n. 40
    “Curiously, this government has kept an exact measure of the tonnage of bombs and munitions, but they don’t know how many arms and legs have been lost.” 
  • March 1968, Dalton Trumbo:
    "Johnny Got His Gun is a story about peace, not war. It is not a death song. It is a hymn to life"
  • Dalton's Speech for the Teachers’ Union of New York on April 9, 1960:
    The Right to express ideas, good ideas, bad ideas, wicked ideas, crazy ideas, impossible ideas – this is the most precious right the individual can have. And the interesting thing is that in the course of securing it for himself he must inevitably guarantee it to his enemy. Otherwise, there can be no freedom for anyone.
    There are going to be wider areas of freedom in this country and in the world as the Cold War diminishes. But no matter how pleasant the relaxation of governmental interference with the writer and the teach may seem, it will be wasted if we do not use it to revive the old American custom of fighting City hall.
    Upon your shoulders, particularly upon the shoulders of teachers and education, lies the noble burden of encouraging the habit of inquiry once more. Inquire into everything. That is where the secret of freedom is found: to inquire, to question, to doubt, to dispute, to challenge. These are the rights we have compromised for ourselves and which we must re-establish for our children.