Nostalgic Salute to Women of WWII

Brenda Schleunes sees them as an unrecognized part of the Greatest Generation, these women who served during World War II.

She aims to change that with her new play, Star-Spangled Girls, commissioned by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Schleunes, founder of the Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina, used UNCG’s Women’s Veterans Historical Collection at Jackson Library for source material. “These women were very much an unacknowledged part of the women’s movement,” Schleunes says.

She read interviews, journals, telegrams and between 2,500 and 3,000 letters by and from women who served during World War II. She narrowed stories to about 35 key tales molded into five composite characters. The framework of the show is a 20-year reunion of the women as they swap stories of their time in uniform. The cast underwent a mini-boot camp with a military adviser who taught them the correct way to do things such as salute and march.

From an article by Leslie Mizell on goTriad.com, Greensboro, North Carolina.