Event

KITMIR directed by Gary Austin

Written and Performed by Tom Voytko

A soldier. His Scout Dog. The Vietnam war. A story of love, trust, and betrayal.

In the summer of 1970 nineteen year old Jerry Colton fails out of college and is drafted into the United States Army. He volunteers to be a Scout Dog handler where he meets Kitmir, a mixed breed German Shepherd on dog pound death row. Kitmir is enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Military Working Dog. Colton and Kitmir train together and deploy to Vietnam as a team. Man and dog form an uncommon bond as they share the same life, risk, and threat of death and must rely on each other for their survival. Colton and Kitmir serve with distinction earning the trust of battle-hardened combat infantrymen as they lead countless patrols through the brutal world that is the Vietnam War.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

I met Tom Voytko in 1992 in San Diego. He had joined my improvisational acting workshop. Tom was a Marine and the idea of a Marine studying with me was intriguing.

Tom and I have worked together ever since. He has been a member of my workshops in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York and we have worked together to develop KITMIR, written and performed by Tom.

Tom has been around the world on various deployments as a Marine and served in Desert Shield/ Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Tom sent letters home while deployed overseas and I was fortunate to be on his mailing list. I learned to admire his literary brilliance.

Before KITMIR we worked on Toms solo show, YEAR OF THE RAT, about his time at Virginia Military Institute, from which he graduated in 1987 with a BA in History and a BA in Modern Languages (German).

Tom retired from the Marine Corps in 2009 and returned to school on the GI Bill graduating from Portland State University in 2013 with a BS in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a BS in Film Studies with a Minor in Theater.

Gary Austin - Original Founder and Director of The Groundlings