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Tracy Sloat
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
February 22, 2004--Wichitan Tracy Sloat wanted us to listen, I mean really listen to the words of the Star Spangled Banner. So, as an actress and a teacher, she produced a video about it and now that video is going all the way to Iraq via the Pentagon.
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In an upstairs studio overlooking West Douglas in Wichita, Tracy Sloat runs the Actor’s Lab.
“So I want you to put your back to that wall, because remember how we directed this Andrea, I wanted you to look to the mirror as though you were looking at Billie.”
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On this evening, she’s running a group of young actors through their lines, rehearsing each one, commenting as they go line by line.
But as sometimes happen in life, events occur that change our course and that happened to Tracy. |
| “I think my desire to understand the words of the Star Spangled Banner had been with me all my life. I saw these soldiers coming home from the Viet Nam War, one of the first scenes of the story is how the Viet Nam veteran was treated.” |
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So this actress-teacher set out to follow her heart. She made a film, now a DVD, about what the words to the Star Spangled Banner mean to her.
(Scene from the movie) “I ask the Lord to give me a vision so that I might understand the meaning behind it. And I got one.”
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Titled ‘Still There’, it’s about a Viet Nam Veteran who knows what sacrifices he made for the flag, but is disgusted about the apathy he sees.
“It keeps teaching me just how fundamental art is when it can be used to heal or when it can be used to inspire.” |
In the film as the veteran sits at the bar, Tracy’s character continues talking with her uncle about this vision of what the words of the star spangled banner really mean.
(From the movie) “I saw a trench.”
“You saw what?”
“A trench. And in the trench were soldiers, hundreds of them laying there. In the cold and in the dark.”
(Interview)
“Everything in my life to the opportunity and the faith to tell that story in that film.”
(From the movie)
“And I heard this sound, unlike anything I had heard in my life.”
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(Interview)
“If people embrace it the way that they have, or are moved by it, then I’m grateful that I was able to do the job and do it effectively.”
(From the movie)
(Tracy sings the first word of the Star Spangled Banner in almost a low moaning sound, then says) “It was their agony, it was their uncertainty.”
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(Interview)
“It makes me humble, it makes me proud.”
(From the movie)
(Tracy sings the last line of the Star Spangled Banner, then looks at her Uncle and says: ) “We’re all soldiers, Uncle Vito.”
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(Interview)
“Whatever courage it takes for soldiers to bare arms…I do not have that kind of courage. But what I do have is the ability to extend my hand and say thank you having that kind of courage. And that in a nutshell is what this story is all about.”
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The film has been seen by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, By Bob Dole and other influential Americans.
The 81/2 minute film, made before 9/11, has seen many performances in Kansas and now across the world
Tracy Sloat using her talent and art to weave through video, a message straight from the heart.
With the approval of Central Command, a thousand DVD’s of Tracy’s story arrive in Iraq this month for the American troops.
Larry’s Note: For more information, or to purchase a copy of the movie “Still There”. You may go to Tracy’s website:
www.stilltherethemove.com |
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