BENT COMPASS – written by Neil Brookshire and Colin Sesek, and performed by Neil Brookshire. Originally directed by Phil Darius Wallace. One of the most successful and popular shows we’ve ever brought to BST was Logan Black’s BOND: THE STORY OF A SOLDIER AND HIS DOG, performed back in 2015 right here in our Speakeasy. With so many veterans in our area, we know this opening salvo in our 2025 SoloFest will really resonate. BENT COMPASS explores the transformation of a young man from raw recruit to seasoned combat Army Medic to a civilian attempting to re-adjust to life back in the world. How did his personal experience of war change the way he sees and reacts? Non-judgmental, reflective, humorous, raw, and candid, BENT COMPASS honors a man whose unique perspective speaks to both veterans and non-combat civilians alike.
Bios
NEIL BROOKSHIRE is an actor, writer, and visual artist. He earned a BA from Boise State University and an MFA in Acting from Northern Illinois University. He has worked extensively in regional theater and independent film. He lives in northern Wisconsin, where he is also a licensed Emergency Medical Technician.
COLIN SESEK is an educator and Special Forces Army Medic. He has deployed to multiple locations in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. He currently teaches Emergency Medicine to high school students, volunteers for Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue, and continues to serve in the National Guard. He lives in Boise.
Some background on Bent Compass
Colin and I met while working for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in 2004, the summer before Colin joined the Army. I remember him bringing in samples of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), and discussing his plans to become an Army Medic.
We stayed in touch throughout Colin’s various deployments, but it wasn’t until 2013 that an idea to collaborate entered our minds. At the time, I was fleshing out the background of Claudio in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. This was a character who, at the start of the play, was returning directly from combat. What challenges did this character face in his reacquaintance with civilian life? I thought, who better to talk to than Colin? He was incredibly generous and forthcoming with information and insight. Hearing his stories and perspective helped me anchor my performance, and it inspired me to continue exploring his story, his journey. And the more we talked, the more we wanted to explore creating a project based solely on his experiences.
We set about recording weekly phone conversations in an informal interview format. Once the initial recordings were made, written transcriptions and editing began. One of the challenges was to articulate what was at the core of Colin’s experiences and perspectives in a clear way. We had a tremendous amount of raw material, but what cohesively linked everything together? And what was our format?
Around that time I had also been listening to radio interviews of WWI survivors on a BBC podcast. They were recorded when many of them were in their eighties, but the raw, candid storytelling nature of the recordings aligned with our goal, keep it simple. Colin had said from the beginning he wanted it to be as honest as possible, to get at what it’s really like.
The result is a living document that we continue to tweak. The stories cover Colin’s journey from fresh recruit to seasoned combat veteran. It explores how war shaped his thinking and perspective on the world, and how his life has changed since. The text is almost entirely from transcripts, sprinkled with quotes from other writers, among them, Shakespeare. After all, that’s how we met. This unique collaboration uses the best of what we have to offer: our combined skills and experience. He lived it, we wrote it, I perform it. As we continue to present Bent Compass to live audiences, we find it resonates with both civilians and veterans in different but rewarding ways.