''Good Morning Gitmo'' is a

one-act A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

play written by American

comedians A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience di ...

Mishu Hilmy Mishu Hilmy is an American comedian, writer, actor, impressionist, and playwright. He most recently wrote, performed, and executive produced the Netflix-parody comedy special ''Trapped in the Netflix.'' He has contributed to and appeared on ''T ...

and Eric Simon in 2014. Hilmy and Simon were

hired Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy (March 6, 1886 – November 13, 1983) was an American Olympic breaststroke swimmer, water polo player, and founder of the Jam Handy Organization (JHO), a producer of commercially sponsored motion pictures, slidefilms (l ...

by the

Annoyance Theater The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become success ...

to create a

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

and

agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...

play about the United States Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay. The story takes place decades into the future in the warden’s office, where he converted it into a makeshift television studio.

Characters

The characters, as they are listed in the script: *Colonel John Bogdan III — the aging warden and host of Good Morning Gitmo *Brian "Bear" Burroughs — the Head Guard of

Camp Delta Camp Delta is a permanent American detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between 27 February and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers f ...

*Stu — an emotionally broken guard, who hosts a dated pop culture segment, "The Scoop with Stu" *Maureen Dallas — a conservative book author visiting the island to promote her book *Cory Maltese — a pop music icon visiting the island to discuss his album *Lilly Judd — a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

starlet visiting the island to promote her movie *Guleed Hassan Ahmed — the silent and emasculated co-host of the show *Ramul Ahmed — a detainee in charge of the morning crafts segment, also referred to as ISN91572 *Yahyah — a well behaved detainee who performs

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories ...

comedy

Plot

Setting: Colonel John Bogdan the Third’s personal office and a utility closet converted into a green room. Length: 55 minutes Summary: The play takes places several decades into the future and Guantanamo Bay is still opened. As years have gone by and the media has stopped reporting on the detention center, funding vanished. Without a budget, the staff is stranded on the island in meager conditions without rotations or leaves of absence. Due to this, Bogdan creates a morning talk show to simulate what life was like off the island. It is his attempt to keep staff and detainees in line, as well as prevent himself from going insane. Everything occurs on the morning of 11 September 2039. It is the first time actual guests from the mainland of the United States are visiting the island. Hoping to use this opportunity to get these media figures to help spread the word about Guantanamo Bay, after each interview the warden pleads for the celebrity guests help. When he does not get the reaction he wants he dejectedly moves onto a new segment. Throughout the play, detainees perform segments such as morning crafts and stand up comedy which display the reprehensible conditions of the prison. The show is punctuated by soliloquies revealing each characters own personal inner prison.

Performance history

''Good Morning Gitmo'' was first performed at the

in Chicago, Illinois in 2014. Opening previews for the show began on

Patriot Day In the United States, Patriot Day occurs on September 11 of each year in memory of the people killed in the September 11 attacks of the year 2001. History In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, carried out by terrorists from Al-Qaeda, Pre ...

(September 11). The world premiere was on September 25. The original production was directed by Kyle Dolan and its cast consisted of Neal Dandade, James Freetly, Mike Geraghty, Mishu Hilmy, April Hutter, Anna Irving, Adam Levin, Eric Simon, and JP Thomas. The play was developed and devised by the ensemble using

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

. Mike Geraghty crafted all of Yahyah's stand-up comedy material. After 55 days, Mishu Hilmy and Eric Simon completed writing the script. Currently, The Annoyance Theater owns the rights to ''Good Morning Gitmo''. In remembrance of 9/11,

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's ...

listed the work as one of 13 shows inspired by the tragedies of the September 11 terrorist attacks, their aftermath, and the rebuilding of America.

Reception

Though the show was supported by movements such as

Occupy Chicago Occupy Chicago was an ongoing collaboration that included peaceful protests and demonstrations against economic inequality, corporate greed and the influence of corporations and lobbyists on government which began in Chicago on September 24, 2011. ...

,Occupy Chicago - Twitter
/ref> it received mixed and negative reviews. Justin Hayford of the

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

stated, "The few pointed moments in Eric Simon and Mishu Hilmy's diluted social satire show how great things might have been." Hayford, however, complimented parts of the show as being, "harrowing, hilarious stuff."Hayford, Justi
Review: ''Good Morning Gitmo''

. Retrieved on November 15, 2014. David Menke, a

Fox Nation Fox Nation is an American subscription video on demand service. Announced on February 20, 2018, and launching on November 27 of that year, it is a companion to Fox News Channel carrying programming of interest to its audience, including origina ...

commentator, called the show a "disgusting so called comedy about GTMO." He went on to write, "We have these comedians attacking our detention center. Good Morning Gitmo, well maybe they should wake up and see what they're doing is wrong."Serrio, Kell
Kristen Stewart Trashes the Military, Defends 911 Terrorists in ''Camp-X-Ray'' Interview
.

. Retrieved on November 15, 2014.

Notes

References

*Hilmy, Mishu and Eric Simon. ''Good Morning Gitmo''. Chicago: Annoyance Productions, 2014. Print. *Hayford, Justin. Rev. of ''Good Morning Gitmo'', dir.Kyle Dolan. ''

'' 2 October 2014: 24. Print

External links

Official Good Morning Gitmo WebsiteOfficial Annoyance Theater WebsiteOfficial Twitter Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Morning Gitmo One-act plays 2014 plays American plays Comedy plays Satirical plays Black comedy plays