Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Opinionist: Get Your War On
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 14, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 14, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
In the weeks after 9/11, when Operation Infinite Justice (later re-branded Enduring Freedom) readied vengeance for peasants in Afghanistan, there were several writers who immediately stood out by simply noting the truth amidst an avalanche of jingoism. One that springs readily to mind is Arundhati Roy, who wrote in an article on September 29, 2001: “Witness the infinite justice of the new century. Civilians starving to death while they're waiting to be killed.”
On the other end of the aesthetic spectrum is (then) Brooklyn resident David Rees, who seemed to emerge fully-formed out of the ether with his hilarious web comic Get Your War On. Using generic clip-art of office workers trading Swiftian banter, Rees captured the zeitgeist with a satire as savage as his subject matter. At the time, Get Your War On offered not just a desperately-needed comedic catharsis, but also a rallying cry that grief over 9/11’s victims and contempt for Washington warmongers were not mutually exclusive.
Here’s a taste:
Now Rude Mechanicals, the Austin theater company who wowed New York in 2001 with their inspired adaptation of Lipstick Traces, has applied their signature ingenuity to Get Your War On. Transforming a comic strip consisting of static talking heads into an entertaining live performance is no easy task – which makes this company’s virtuoso adaptation all the more impressive.
Using five retro overhead projectors, rolling chairs, a filing cabinet and doughnuts, the cast is able lift the comic strip off the page (or screen, as it were) into a fast-paced and ingeniously choreographed laugh-a-second romp. Call it the Theater of Evisceration, with the architects of post-9/11 foreign policy serving as long-overdue specimens for the viewing gallery’s delight.
The five sharp cast members (Ron Berry, Jason Liebrecht, Lana Lesley, Kirk Lynn and Sarah E. Richardson) race along under the deft direction of Shawn Sides to fuse Rees’s politically-heightened water cooler repartee with the deliciously banal atmosphere of a Human Resources presentation. (The show evokes an office environment where current events have replaced last night’s Lost as the number one topic of procrastination.) Beginning with Rees’s first set of scenarios, dating back to October 2001, the production whisks us away on a rollicking tour through the past five surreal years of life under post-9/11 Bush.
To their credit, Rude Mechs have dodged the theatrical landmine of strident advocacy that turns other political plays into tedious choir-preaching. (It does deserves mention, however, that Rees has donated 100% of his profits from the Get Your War On books to land mine removal in Afghanistan.) Freed of any effort to change the world with a play, cast and audience are able to revel in the healthy release of nearly incessant laughter. (There’s just one word to express the audience response on the night I saw the play: howling.)
To describe this imaginative production in too great detail would be to give away some its brilliant surprises (and there are many). Suffice it to say that one needn’t be splenetically outraged by U.S. foreign policy to enjoy Get Your War On (though it might not be the ideal choice for Republicans or the vulgarity adverse.) Anyone with a basic craving for fresh theater is sure to get their laugh on.
Get Your War On is at 59E59 Theaters through January 28th as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Tickets cost $25.
Photo by Jacques-Jean Tiziou.
Tagged
9/11
art
austin
books
brooklyn
bush
dating
david
david rees
death
environment
events
get your war on
human resources
Jean Tiziou
Kirk Lynn
lost
new york
opinions
race
Radar Festival
republicans
Rude Mechanicals
Rude Mechs
Sarah
satire
Shawn Sides
talking heads
theater
tickets
war
washington
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
The Knicks are NBA champions. Now they have to start dressing the part.
Before they attempt to fend off LeBron James and the 76ers on Tuesday, the Knicks will have a chance to show off their winning mentality through their tunnel fits.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 12:43 p.m. ET
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.
By
Sonia Rao
Arts & Entertainment
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.
By
Sonia Rao
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
By
Hannah Frishberg
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .