Vietnam

IndyFringe: Sadec 1965, A Love Story

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This is part of IndyFringe 2022, Aug. 18-Sept. 4 (individual performance times vary) in downtown Indianapolis. Details and tickets at IndyFringe.org.

By Wendy Carson 

A brilliant storyteller, Flora Le spins the tale of “Sadec 1965: A Love Story,” her quest to discover her father’s hidden past in Vietnam prior to his arrival in Canada, where he attended college and married her mother.

Le’s relationship with her father was never great. He left the family when she was five. During her bi-weekly forced visitations she was neglected and abused. He refused to tell her anything about him, his family or Vietnam, no matter how much she asked.

This lack of a male touchstone in her life led her to make some poor and questionable choices along the way. However, her friend convinces her that the only way she will truly learn about the man is to visit Vietnam for herself. So, she leaves her soul-sucking job and goes upon a motorcycle tour of the country.

She proudly buys herself a beautiful motorcycle, disregarding the fact that she has never ridden on, let alone driven one. She is excited to see the foreign land, disregarding that she only knows approximately three phrases in Vietnamese. Still, she valiantly forges ahead.

Her discoveries throughout the countryside are interspersed with memories of her father. When he is struck down by a brain tumor, she visits him in the hospital but his treatment of her has not changed since she was a child. In fact, she only learns of her father’s past from interviews of the Vietnamese man her brother hired to sit by her father’s bedside.

Through him she finds out about her father’s first love, whom he left behind. She pledged herself to be faithful and wrote him over six hundred letters during a span of about six years. This devotion makes Le desperate to meet the mysterious woman, but will that connection actually be made?

Le’s story is raw and lovely as she pulls no punches regarding anyone’s faults (especially her own). However, the tapestry she weaves is engaging and beautiful and hopefully there will be another opportunity if you missed viewing it during the opening weekend of IndyFringe.

Flora Le’s story continues on her website, containing photos of those involved as well as some of the letters written. Check it out at https://www.sadec1965.com/

IndyFringe: A Thousand Words

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This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

C. Neil Parsons, bass trombonist and member of the comic ensemble, The Fourth Wall, presents a much more serious performance: a tribute to his father, Christopher Parsons, who served in the First Infantry Division in Vietnam, and was tapped by the Army to take photographs of the war and those who fought it.

The elder Parsons was also involved in the arts. He was a theatre director when he was drafted in 1968. The discipline he had developed for the stage — the ability to be still, attention to detail — served him well as he would be on “point” (the vulnerable first soldier out) on patrols. While he miraculously avoided serious physical injury, he would come to understand that the war had wounded him in a far deeper fashion.

Neil presents a slide show of his father’s photographs, and reads from his letters. He also plays haunting music on his instrument and gives his own perspective by reciting essays on Pain Tolerance, Chronic Pain, Permanence, and Betrayal — autobiographical insights that allow us to see the father in the son.

“Someone must not forget,” he says. And as a reminder, Neil offers buttons with lines from his father’s favorite Shakespeare passage. But it’s unlikely anyone will forget the tragic beauty of this very personal story of one man that resonates with the loss of thousands.

Remaining performances are Friday and Saturday (Aug. 23-24) at the District Theater (former TOTS location), 627 Massachusetts Ave.