Shot “live on stage, on film,”Dalton Trumbo's JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN is a cross
between Lars Von Trier's Dogville and Jonathan Demme and Spalding Gray's stage monologue, Swimming to Cambodia.
All of the action takes place on stage in a black box theatre with minimal scenery. Ben McKenzie gives a riveting
tour-de-force performance as an American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of World War I. The movie
takes place in the mind of 'Joe Bonham', a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining
consciousness, Joe discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably
shattered, leaving him trapped forever within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles valiantly to find some
way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code, he breaks through and pleads with his
caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.
The film is adapted from the 1982 Off-Broadway play, Dalton Trumbo's JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Dalton Trumbo's JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, adapted for the stage by Bradley
Rand Smith, was first presented Off-Broadway in 1982 at the Circle Repertory Theatre, starring a
then unknown 28-year old actor by the name of Jeff Daniels. Daniels won an Obie Award for his
performance in the play and has since gone on to become one of Hollywood's most versatile leading
men, having played everything from villains and cads to heroes and romantic leads to tragic
figures and lovably goofy idiots, in movies of almost every genre.
Adapted from the 1939 National Book Award-winning novel, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, most of play's
dialogue is taken word-for-word from the book.
For information on licensing the stage performance rights to this play send an e-mail to: shane@theatreagogo.com
ABOUT THE BOOK
Written by legendary literary icon, Dalton Trumbo in a “stream of consciousness style,” JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN
was awarded the 1939 National Book Award. Since then the novel has sold over 100 million copies, having been printed in 40
separate editions in 30 different languages, the most recent in July 2007 with a new forward written by Cindy Sheehan.
It is required reading at hundreds of high schools, colleges and universities.
