[machine gun firing]
* drumming
* somber horn music
- He that shall live this day,
- And see old age,
- While yearly, on the vigil
- Feast his neighbors,
- And say
- "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
- Then he will strip his sleeve
- And show his scars
- And say
"These wounds I've had on Crispin's Day."
[faint gunfire]
- Go to. - Go to.
- You are not Cassius. - You are not Cassius.
- I am. - I am.
- I say you are not. - I say you are not.
- Urge me no more. - Urge me no more.
- Shakespeare tells the best stories.
He tells them in the most beautiful, poetic language.
And that really offers a place to put
big anger, big grief,
big joy, big anything that you've got.
and gives it a place to go.
My name is Nancy Smith-Watson.
I am the project director of Feast of Crispian.
Shakespeare with veterans.
Feast of Crispian is,
in short version, an intervention program
for veterans struggling with re-integration issues,
PTSD, substance abuse.
- My name is Melvin Ridgenal Jr.
and I am an Air Force veteran.
I went into the Air Force in 1961.
[propeller and engine noise]
I was not aware
of the racial tension.
I mean,
I was not used to being called
"the nigger."
- My name is Omar Kabir.
And I was in the United States Army.
I honestly joined the Army to serve.
I thought
being an Arab, speaking Arabic,
having an understanding of the culture, knowing the religion,
what was going on.
And at the same time, it was a wonderful opportunity
to support my family.
- The military trains you to kill.
[gunfire]
- Had this gunshot wound.
I ended up having some hernias that went through my stomach
and metal rods put in my back.
I had fusions.
- And get back here and then have to find a job.
How are you able to work
when all you've done is be in war?
The PTSD-- It is a real, real disease.
- Veterans kill themselves at a much higher rate
than the general population.
22 veterans kill themselves every day.
We would really like to bring that number down.
And programs like this are really important to that.
And giving them a place to feel
like they can be connected to their communities again.
- When Caesar lived;
- How are you going to kill him?
- There are three of us
that are the founders of Feast of Crispian.
All of us are professional actors.
The main part of our program
is that we put them through
Shakespeare scenes.
And we have special techniques.
One of us stands at their shoulder
and reads half a line or a full line to them.
And then they can repeat it back in any way they want.
- I shall be glad to learn of noble men.
- It's almost like a guide;
You know what I mean? a 'Jiminy Cricket' in your ear.
- But I do love thee. - But I do love thee.
- We're thinking about it in terms of giving them
some kind of emotional... pop!
- Must I endure all this!
- All this. - All this. - Aye, more.
- She knows how to connect
with the part of your brain,
the part of your mind,
that you've stashed all this stuff in.
- There's a lot that they don't feel
they can necessarily express about their own stories.
And what we do is give them this mask of character
and somebody else's words.
And they can put their own experience on it.
- Honest, my lord?
- Honest. - Honest!
- Aye, honest. - Aye, honest!
- You feed off of each other, too.
You let go a little bit.
The next man gets a little bit more courage and lets go.
It's almost contagious.
- I would rather be a dog;
- And bay the moon . - And bay the moon!
- It came up out of me so fast that it was
just almost an overwhelming sensation of relief.
- Oh, these men, these men.
- They can tell us something about the experience
of their own personal stories
without it being their personal story.
And, therefore, a lot of things get expressed
that they haven't gotten to express before.
- It gave me an opportunity to see how far I've come
in terms of my emotions.
- You are full of love and honesty.
- We're pretty devoted to this work.
- And weigh thy words;
- Because of the high of watching some of the--
Oh, Wow...
Watching some of the transition that happens.
Some of the transformation that happens in some of these people.
And in ourselves by getting to be a piece of that.
- Having this here,
it's just wonderful, man.
It is.
She's guiding me how to be a better man.
She's actually guiding me into my manhood.
What manhood really should be.
- And I'm just so glad about the fact that
now I can sit here and say
that I love my life.
I love Period .
I'm loving everything about life and about the journey
* solemn french horn
that God has given me an opportunity to go through,
and to be in.
And that's pretty much where I'm at.
* solemn horn music
- We few.
- We happy few.
- We band of brothers;
- For he to-day
- That sheds his blood with me
- Shall be my brother;
- Be he ne'er so vile,
- This day shall gentle his condition;
- And gentlemen in England now a-bed
- Shall think themselves accurs'd
- They were not here,
- And hold their manhoods cheap
- While any speaks
- That fought with us
- Upon Saint Crispin's day.
[faint gunfire]