How I Got That Story Post Show Discussions

Mo`olelo believes that education doesn’t stop at the theater door. We offer post show discussions to deepen the impact of the play, offer insight into the artistic process behind the production, and introduce our audiences to community leaders and experts working in the fields connected to the themes of the play. Each discussion is 20-30 minutes long and starts five-10 minutes after the curtain call. Audience members who have attended the performance on the day of the discussion are invited to stick around for the talkback. Here’s the post show discussion line up for HOW I GOT THAT STORY.

Saturday, February 25, 2012, following the 7:30 pm performance - Post-Show Discussion with Sue Diaz, award-winning journalist

Thursday, March 1, 2012, following the 7:30 pm performance - A Delicate Balance: a post-show talk with Joe Ciokon, a Navy Reporter who served in Vietnam, Panama and the Middle East

Saturday, March 3, 2012, following the 7:30 pm performance - Post-Show Discussion with Sue Diaz, award-winning journalist

Sunday, March 11, 2012, following the 2:00 pm performance - Talk- back with the artists

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Joseph “Joe” Ciokon was born near Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. He is a Commercial Art graduate of Hadley Technical High School, St. Louis and entered the Naval Air Reserve in 1956. He was called to active duty in 1957 and remained until retirement with 30 years of distinguished service.

Joe’s military career has spanned a broad spectrum of experience from jet mechanic, aerial photographer, newspaper editor, and public relations specialist to broadcaster worldwide. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam (1967-’68) and as the Television News Director and Anchor in Saigon, he covered the TET Offensive extensively for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). He received a personal decoration for his work from General William C. Westmoreland, Commander U.S. Military Assistance Command (MACV). Later, in another dangerous theater, he received the Purple Heart medal for wounds suffered during the terrorist attack on the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, 1983. He served as senior enlisted advisor for Navy forces ashore while on temporary duty from FASOTRAGRUPAC, NAS North Island, where he served as Media Services Division Officer and Command Master Chief.

Currently, Joe serves as a volunteer public affairs officer for the USS MIDWAY (CV 41) Museum and is active in local Veterans affairs. He also serves on the Senior Volunteer Patrol (SVP) out of Poway Sheriffs Station. He is married to the former Mary Quiroz of Chicago, IL, also a Navy Vietnam-era Veteran, and resides in Poway, CA. They have three adult children. Their daughter, Lisa, currently serves aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) based in Bremerton, WA.

Sue Diaz is an award-winning journalist and author whose work has appeared in a variety of regional and national publications, including Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, and the Christian Science Monitor. Her essays have also aired frequently on National Public Radio. Her son, a Purple Heart veteran, served two tours of duty in Iraq’s Triangle of Death during the height of the insurgency. While he was there Sue wrote about the war from the perspective of the home front in a series syndicated nationally and internationally by the Monitor. Those stories were the starting point for her book, Minefields of the Heart: A Mother’s Stories of a Son at War (Potomac Books, 2010). A tale of innocence lost, understanding gained, and hope reaffirmed, Minefields of the Heart explores the impact of war on the souls of those who fight and those who love them. An advocate of writing as way of healing, Sue has conducted writing workshops for war veterans in the San Diego area since 2007.