BY KAREN BOSSICK

“Bent Compass” began with some samples of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) that Colin Sesek brought to the dressing room of Neil Brookshire.That simple gesture led to the two men collaborating on a one-man play exploring how war can transform a person.

They presented a reading of their work-in-progress called “War Changes Everything” at Ketchum’s Community Library in January 2020. And on Thursday Brookshire will offer a free staging of their finished show to the public at the Sun Valley Opera House as part of the Saint Alphonsus Ski and Mountain Trauma Conference.

The free play will start at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Sun Valley Opera House.

"From our first reading, when a Vietnam veteran approached me, handed me a POW pin, and thanked me, we've been connecting with people,” said Brookshire, who appeared in several Company of Fools plays, including “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “The Woman in Black” and “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.”

Brookshire said he was exploring the background of Claudio—a character in the 2013 Idaho Shakespeare Festival production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” when he asked Sesek to help him put it in context. Sesek had joined the Army as a Special Forces army medic.

“Claudio is a character who has just returned from war,” Brookshire said. “Colin was very open about what he went through in Iraq, and talking to him helped me anchor my performance. The more we talked, the more I wanted to explore creating a project based solely on his experiences.”

Brookshire, who lives in Wisconsin where he works as an EMT, kept in touch with Sesek through weekly phone conversations and eventually hammered out a play that asks: How does war shift a person’s concept of normal?

The stories cover Sesek’s journey from fresh recruit to seasoned combat veteran. It explores how war shaped his thinking and perspective on the world and how his life has changed.

“We wanted it to be as honest as possible to get at what it’s really like,” said Sesek, who deployed to multiple locations in the Middle East, Asia and Africa before returning to Boise where he teaches Emergency Medicine, volunteers for Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue and serves in the National Guard.

Since 2022 Brookshire has been performing the play live in the United States and Canada, most recently in New York City to acclaim from civilians and military alike.

“To have it resonate with combat veterans—that’s the goal,” said Sesek.

While free, donations will be accepted at the door.