Anzac to Understanding

"Anzac, the Play: A Saga of War and Peace in the 20th Century", waswritten in Berkeley in 1969,published in 1971 andproducedat the Globe Playhouse Los Angeles in 1984 with readings at the Lankershim Arts Center, No-Ho,North Hollywood in 1996.Accompanying the play,is historical documentation of the lives of the families from whom the characters were drawnas well as war letters of Willie Augustus Mann,1914-1919, his own story and relevant pages fromthe Anzac Book, written bythe Anzacs themselves,publishedin 1916.

"A Quest for Understanding" is rooted in this Great War, the FirstWorld War, the war to end all wars. In Australia, halfthe eligible young men enlisted. Their casualties were horrific but they broughtAustralia on to the world stage. They were calledAnzacs, members of the Australian, New Zealand Army Corps, a namecoined on the Gallipoli Peninsular,Turkey in 1915. Theirs was a shining light of naked courage, an epiphany of what it meant to be human beings who had earned their own freedom and freedom for the world. To be a child of Anzac was a privilege anda great joy.The quest for the understanding of why war by one of these children began withthe Second World War in 1939. It wouldgo back to the Greeks, to the origins of English Literature, through halls of learning across two continents, tothe great religions andrecent scientific advances andinto the heartof a woman. It ended with aPractical Philosophy of Life based upon the understandings:reverence for life, genderdifferences, the female as the guardian of ethics, and the in-organic nature ofmoney. It offersthe individual conscienceas humanity'sinherent connection to the Life Force of the Universe, or God.