Glo Gambino thought she had put “SMITH” away, high on a shelf.
Yet the memories, shock and grief associated with the death of U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Zach Smith were always within reach. Smith, Gambino’s close friend and Hornell High School classmate, was killed on his first combat mission in Afghanistan in 2010.
“I still thought about Zach a lot … but the anguish had softened a bit,” Gambino said.
But Gambino had turned the page on “SMITH,” the three-act docudrama she wrote in 2012. The play tells Smith’s story through the voices in the small town that helped mold him and then was hammered by his death at age 19.
That was until earlier this year when Penny Smith (no relation), president of Hornell Community Theatre, reached out to Gambino about producing and directing a new production of “SMITH” as a fundraiser for the Hornell Veterans Memorial project.
Gambino gave the go-ahead and “SMITH” will be performed by the Hornell Community Theatre July 28-Aug. 1 at the Arts Center on Broadway Mall.
‘SMITH’ story told through his voice, family, friends
“SMITH” is unsparing and unsettling. There is also laughter and innocence.
The narrative follows Smith from his childhood and his reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, through his youthful hijinks with friends, a mishap at Wegmans, his romance with wife Anne Deebs and his determination to join the Marines.
Friends, family and community members tell of how they heard the news of Smith’s death and its impact.
“SMITH” asks more questions than it answers but it finds hope in the act of memory.
“From the beginning I felt it wasn’t just my story,” Gambino said. “So much of what I was feeling in the grieving process was the weight of the town. It wasn’t just about losing him as a friend and a person, but this happened to my community and how can I communicate that.
“The interview process was fascinating and powerful. I knew what my experience was with Zach but I wanted to know how others felt about him and how he affected their lives,” Gambino said.
The play was previewed and work-shopped in Hornell and Rochester and then Gambino directed five acclaimed performances of “SMITH” in March 2013 at Nazareth College where she was a senior-year student.
A few months later, Gambino moved to New York City for the next chapter in her own life.
“It felt like an artistic project that was important to me and to my development as an artist and as a person, but it was very much in the past,” Gambino said this week in an interview with The Evening Tribune.
Gambino had not read the play in more than a decade when Penny Smith contacted her.
“When I opened (the story) back up and read it for the first time it affected me in a way that I don’t think anything has in my life,” Gambino said. “I was in three places at once. I was sitting on my couch reading it. I was at the Smiths’ house the day he died and I was in the theater watching the first performance.”
“I am excited to see it through someone else’s eyes,” Gambino added. “Especially someone who is so steeped in the community and has such a long history in theater like Penny Smith.
“Penny and I have been in many Hornell Community Theatre productions ourselves. I respect her and trust her as an artist.”
Gambino requested and received the opportunity to make a few revisions to the script that will be performed by the Hornell Community Theatre troupe, cleaning up some dialogue but keeping all the scenes the same.
The most significant revision is in the last act, when the character of Gambino summarizes what the play means to her.
“It is in the same spirit but with a wider lens,” she said of the revision.
‘Gratitude, humility’ as ‘SMITH’ returns to Hornell
Gambino, 36, works in corporate operations. She has been in a women’s writing group for the last decade. She wrote and directed a short film, writes Substack pieces including an article revisiting “SMITH” years later and the non-linear nature of grief.
Gambino is currently writing a book about her mother’s cancer journey and how that has paired with her own coming of age.
Her only “role” in the new production of “SMITH” is being its biggest cheerleader.
“It’s kind of amazing. I never thought that anyone would direct it but me,” she said. “A lot of this journey has been about processing my own grief and trying to help others. This is going to be a new chapter. A new event.”
She is preparing for an array of emotions when she watches the live play again.
“It feels so real to me. It brings me right back to that first day after I found out (about Zach’s death) and those first weeks (after),” she said. “I also think there will be an element of nostalgia for the process of writing the play and performing it for the first time.
“I also expect to feel a lot of gratitude and humility for seeing it on its feet again. And pride that it lives on even though I fully expected it to be on the shelf for the rest of my life.”
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This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: New staging of ‘SMITH’ play surprises and inspires its Hornell author
Reporting by Neal Simon, Hornell Evening Tribune / The Evening Tribune
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By Neal Simon, Hornell Evening Tribune | USA TODAY Network
