The Minnesota Starvation Experiment

I had my first meeting for Redeye's Works in Progress yesterday. I presented my proposal, which is currently titled The Minnesota Starvation Experiment. It's a one woman show about the 36 conscientious objectors who, during World War II, participated in an experiment at the University of Minnesota in which they basically had to starve for a year.

The volunteers were young, patriotic men who, for religious or moral reasons could not fight in the war, but they wanted to serve their country in the best way they could. They were recruited by the University of Minnesota in a study led by Ancel Keys called "The Minnesota Starvation Experiment".


I first heard about the study when I was in high school, but I've wanted to write a play about it for several years now- starting in about 2007. I started writing it last fall as a full length traditional script, and then recently have re-worked it as a one woman show.

I want to explore the incredible altruism that fueled the actions of these volunteers, and the suffering that they endured- not because they were forced to, but because they wanted to help society.

I also want to look at how a person survives emotionally when their physical needs are not being met. The scientific result of the Keys study was that for the men, when they were in the deep levels of starvation, couldn’t function physically or emotionally. They were in fact barely able to communicate. I’d like to explore this aspect of the study.

I got some really good feedback during the first meeting about the project. Kevin said he really liked that I was challenging the cult of World War II, particularly in a time when our country is engaged in two wars. World War II has historically been labeled "the good war" but as indicated in my piece, not everyone felt that way at the time.

Other feedback included asking how the starvation could be abstracted- how could I make it real to the audience.

Mirium brought up a good challenge which was how will I be able to engage the audience when I am creating a layer of distance by doing the story of these men as a one woman show. "How do you make sure the personal comes through?" she asked. I think making the connection between their struggle and my own experiences will help bridge that distance, but I did voice my fear that I don't want to go too far in terms of personalizing it. "That's a good fear to have," Mirium said. The great thing about the WIP process is that I'll be able to test out how far I can go in the workshop sessions, and get feedback when it needs to be reigned in.

I feel very good about the group of artists in the program, I'm happy to be working with Steve and Mirium again, and also that Maggie has agreed to collaborate on the project. Having people I trust supporting me helps as I look toward working on this kind of scary endeavor.