Arts in the Armed Forces is a non-profit organization created by Adam Driver, a marine turned actor, which brings contemporary theatre to veterans of the United States Military. The organization’s mission is to provide high-quality performing arts programming to active duty service members, veterans, military support staff and their families around the world free of charge.

The name “Adam Driver” may sound familiar to you. If it doesn’t, Adam Driver is an actor, most recently starring in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” as dark side powerhouse Kylo Ren, but he also was in the HBO hit tv show “Girls” as Adam Sackler also starring Lena Dunham.

Driver himself joined the United States Marines shortly after September 11, 2001. He belonged to the Weapons Company first battalion first marines as an 81mm mortarman at Camp Pendleton, California. He was ranked as a lance corporal and was active from 2001-2004. Driver was medically discharged after injuring his sternum in a biking accident. He was never deployed.

In a TED talk Driver did in November 2015, he recalled the accident. “A few years into my service- months away from being deployed to Iraq, I dislocated my sternum in a mountain biking accident, and had to be medically separated. Being told I wasn’t getting deployed was very devasting for me. I didn’t know how to apply the things I learned in the military to civilian life.”

Before joining the Marines, Driver fresh out of high school applied to Juilliard and was denied. This prompted him to save his money and drive across country to California. He lasted 48 hours in Santa Monica then drove home.

After being discharged from the Marines, Driver applied to the University of Indianapolis and stayed there for a year before reapplying to Juilliard and getting accepted.

While at Juilliard, Driver found it hard to fit in, being as he was a marine and was having a hard time finding a sense of community, one he had within his platoon. He found a love for theatre but didn’t understand the aspect of doing the group warm-ups. For example, throwing an “imaginary ball of energy at the ball and pretending to give birth to myself."

“For the first time, discovering playwrights and characters and plays that had nothing to do with the military but somehow described my military experience in a way that before to me was indescribable. I felt myself becoming less aggressive. I was able to put words to feelings for the first time and realized what a valuable tool it was.”

After graduating from Juilliard, Driver and his wife Joanne Tucker founded Arts in the Armed Forces. “ We started a nonprofit called AITAF, where we tried to join these two seemingly dissimilar communities; theatre and the military together. We pick a play or a monologue from a contemporary American play, grab a group of trained actors and give them no set, lights or costumes and just have them read, to try and throw the emphasis on language to show that theatre can be created at any time.”

In more detail, “Arts in the Armed Forces serves all branches of the military at US installations domestically and abroad. We choose content that features diverse themes, ages, ethnicities, and experiences to create a complex and unique experience for our audiences. Importantly, after each of AITAF’s events, the artists interact with the audience through a question and answer session. AITAF’s goal is not simply to provide an enjoyable evening, but to use the powerfully emotional shared experience of the performing arts to start conversations capable of bridging the divides between military and civilian, service member and family member, the world of the arts and the world of practical action."

“It’s a powerful thing, getting in a room with complete strangers and reminding ourselves of our humanity, and self-expression is just as valuable a tool as a rifle on your shoulder. Doing this for the past 6 years, I’m reminded that acting is many things. A craft, a political act, a business or whatever adjective is most applicable to you. But also it’s a service. I didn’t get to finish mine, so whenever I get to be of service to this ultimate service industry, the military, there’s not many things better than that.”

AITAF has done performances and events all over the world. From Walter Reed in Bethesda Maryland and Camp Pendleton California to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait to USAG Bavaria and even Broadway.

I personally support this nonprofit because it is an amazing way for our troops who feel frustrated to join and find a way to release the tension they may have from war or being displaced from their families.

Currently, AITAF is holding a playwright contest called the Bridge award. Directly from the website, “The Bridge Award was established in honor of our upcoming tenth anniversary with the purpose of recognizing an emerging playwright of exceptional talent within the United States military. The award consists of a $10,000 prize, and an AITAF produced a reading of the winning work.

The head judge will be Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. In addition to bringing world-class theater to the military, AITAF is committed to supporting and sharing the talents of those who serve. This Award will offer a deserving current military service member or veteran artist important connections with the theater community and access to developmental resources, helping to facilitate a deeper understanding and more active dialogue between military and civilian communities.“

If you would like to donate to this organization, please visit: https://donate.aitaf.org/give/121515/#!/donation/checkout

All information used in this article was found on AITAF.org and ted.com