The War Game screenplay was adapted into a stage play and premiered at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, CA, one of the most honored and acclaimed Actor’s Equity theaters in the Los Angeles area that’s been producing new and classic works for over a quarter century.  In addition to receiving “recommend” and “best pick” status in numerous periodicals, The War Game stage play received rave reviews like the following…

  

“The absorbing writing boasts some clever twists…”

-         L.A. Weekly

  

“Rod Serling would have loved it.”

-         Back Stage West

  

“The script’s strength lies it its carefully defined characters.”

-         Los Angeles Times – Burbank Local

  

“Poignant, dramatic comedy.”

-         The Tolucan

 

  

Or, as Writer/Creator/Producer/Director Jeffry Stein tells it…

 “Of course the game geeks loved the show and many came to several performances, but what surprised me was response from unexpected places – a teenage girl approached me after a show and remarked, ‘I don’t play games, and I’m not much into history, but I loved your play.’  Combine that with the half-dozen times I was stopped by World War II veterans or their relatives who complemented me on my the depth of my knowledge as well as talking my ear off about what the play made them think about.”

 “The War Game stage play became the best possible focus-group for a screenplay.  And my best indicator of true enjoyment by audiences, beyond the outward complements, was when they would talk to me for extended periods about ‘What if’s’.  What if they did this, or that, or the history was changed to this?  That sort of extrapolation is the best indicator they enjoyed the piece – they’re still thinking about it long after it’s over.  Imagining where it would go.”

 

Original Stage Debut
The Victory Theatre
3326 W. Victory Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91505
August 9th - September 30th, 2001

Find out about "The War Game" cast

After a successful run at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, The War Game is currently seeking dates and locations for additional engagements on its tour. Please direct inquires to Jeff Stein at (818)-281-2342


Logline: On a fateful day in May of the year 2001, five weekend ‘gamers’ find that their World War II strategy game is re-writing history as they play, forcing these ‘armchair Generals’ to make life and death decisions that will leave the world and themselves changed forever.

Notes from the director:
"It's a Twilight Zone style drama that is not only a funny and entertaining character piece exploring the fanatical lifestyle of the strategy gamer, but more deeply, a study in human nature and how average people respond when forced to make decisions with global impact. The pressure cooker into which they’re thrust sends them to the boiling point and results in a kind of coming of age for these grown adults. And, as the keen observer will sense, fate and destiny are at work here, where higher powers clearly have a stake in the outcome of the conflict."
- Jeffry E. Stein

THE WAR GAME STAGE PLAY TRAILER:
The following is a rough-cut trailer that was sent virally to theater patrons to generate buzz for the stage play.  It was done when DV video was brand new and meant to be used for dial-up connections.  Ah, nostalgia.