Al Pacino’s historical performance on a mission to help war veterans

Kat Kramer with actor Al Pacino backstage at The Wallis on Mar. 8 after a benefit staged-reading of “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” to help the veterans. Photo by Karen Hom

Well folks, the last public event I attended before the LA County lockdown due to the novel Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, was a benefit staged reading of David Rabe’s anti-war play “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” starring Al Pacino. In 1977, Pacino won his second Tony Award for playing the title role.

This historical, one night only performance took place on Sunday, March 8 at the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis Annenberg Center For Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. This fundraiser was the brainchild of Pacino, who decided to revive it for a charity that’s dear to his heart. He said, “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel has great meaning for me. The play was the first of its kind to explore the national trauma of Vietnam and has as much relevance today as it did 40 years ago.” He continued, “It’s wonderful to be doing this masterwork of David Rabe’s in this setting as a reading, especially because it will benefit such a great cause for our veterans.”

Kat Kramer with Al Pacino. "It's wonderful to be doing this masterwork of David Rabe's in this setting as a reading, especially because it will benefit such a great cause for our veterans,” Pacino said.
Kat Kramer with Al Pacino. “It’s wonderful to be doing this masterwork of David Rabe’s in this setting as a reading, especially because it will benefit such a great cause for our veterans,” Pacino said.

It was directed by the award-winning Robert Allan Ackerman, and featured a stellar cast. In re-creating his role, Al moved the audience as “Pavlo,” a naive and directionless young man who gets drafted into the U.S. Army.

Pacino will turn 80-years-old on April 25, but he still has a youthful exuberance — a genuine icon who has won the Oscar, Emmy and Tony Awards. I’m pleased to share that I did serious outreach and spread awareness about this once-on-a-lifetime chance to watch a master at work.

This event was a collaboration between The Wallis and Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA). A portion of the proceeds from the reading went to the National Association of Veteran-Serving Organizations (NAVSO), a national non-profit focused on accelerating the access, impact, reach and capacity of individual veteran-serving organizations nationwide and improving the lives of veterans and military families.

SCLA has more than 30 years of award-winning history producing world class Shakespeare-inspired plays and offering arts education and influential arts based workforce programs for under-served youth and veterans. Before the staged reading started, SCLA Artistic Director Ben Donenberg addressed the audience by saying this benefit “…is a passion for Al, and we reached out to David Rabe to let him know we wanted to revisit his acclaimed play for a purpose. He was very touched by this.”

There were vets who attended the performance, and seven production interns from SCLA’s Veterans In Arts program were involved with the reading, learning the craft of theatre from the technical side. Tim Farrell, the CEO of NAVSO, said, “We are delighted to partner with Mr. Pacino as a tribute to our nation’s veterans and families.” He mentioned that Al is considering taking the Pavlo Hummel staged reading on the road.

Whenever the current world health crisis gets better, it would be a marvelous way to help our under-served veterans, and give back to them, since they are among our nation’s most vulnerable.

Live your dreams…

Kat

Katharine “Kat” Kramer is an actress and daughter of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kramer and actress Karen Sharpe-Kramer. She was named after her godmother, iconic actress Katharine Hepburn. For information on Kramer’s current projects visit KatKramersFilmsThatChangeTheWorld.com.