Parallel Process Explores Lingering Wounds of Vietnam War at Odyssey Theatre

Holds Lessons for Iraq and Afghanistan U.S. War Veterans

A couple of weeks ago, producer Robert Altman, son of legendary MAS*H director Robert Altman, brought Parallel Process to the stage at the Odyssey Theatre.

In a recent interview, Altman recalled Fox Studios telling his dad they wouldn’t do a movie about Vietnam — explaining that it was too political. 

“They said it had to be about the Korean War. But if you look at MAS*H closely, you’ll see that it’s really about Vietnam. Indeed, those same unflinching themes of war’s hidden costs and the bonds between soldiers are at the heart of Parallel Process,” Altman said. 

The play is about two estranged brothers — Dennis, a respected clinical psychologist, and Bobby, a former district attorney — who are reunited decades after serving together in Vietnam. The brothers were drafted together and served in the same platoon, but one returned as an opponent of the war, and the other a die-hard militarist and defender of the U.S. slaughter. 

The brothers face personal crises, a reckoning reflecting the unimaginable psychological wounds of killing humans fighting for their country’s self-determination. PTSD continues unabated, partially manageable but never-ending, well after the shooting stops. It is a personal crisis for them and thousands of other vets from the U.S. who are on never-ending adventures abroad (still today). 

The U.S. war against the people of Vietnam ended 50 years ago with 1 million Vietnamese deaths, 60,000 U.S. soldiers killed, and tens of thousands more maimed from PTSD, Agent Orange (toxic defoliant), and the horrors of war for both sides.

As an anti-Vietnam War organizer, supporter of GIs’ constitutional right to speak out and march against the war (which they did in their thousands as well as refusing to fight in Vietnam itself), this performance was particularly intense.

The ongoing psychological and physical impact of this war carried out under Democratic and Republican administrations over two decades was brought to life in an unusual and exceptionally well-written play by David Kohner Zuckerman.

The conditions depicted in Parallel Process are reflected today in the development of the “About Face” organization of Iraqi and Afghani war veterans coming home and now organizing to support each other, fight U.S. military aid for Israel, the illegal use of the National Guard in U.S. cities’ streets violating human rights and aiding the horrendous, racist acts by ICE agents sent by President Trump, against the will of local elected officials and every city’s population.

The playwright draws authenticity from extensive conversations with Vietnam veterans, particularly executive producer Lt. Lewis Finocchio, whose observation that “every Vietnam veteran carries a secret” and acknowledgements from military historians and combat veterans describing it as “a gut punch of truth.” The after-play conversation with actors, producer, writer and veterans in the audience was a powerful ending to the evening’s revelations about the continuing psychological struggles of veterans from their foreign missions. 

One veteran pointed out “That the Veterans Administration never gave a damn about us upon our return” (It took six years of fighting before vets were given treatment for Agent Orange, and the Vietnamese never got any medical assistance for 1 million there suffering the effects.) Another added, “We knew something was wrong, and it didn’t matter if we were sacrificed.”

In an interview with the periodical What the Butler Saw, writer Zuckerman had this to say:

“Talking with veterans like Lewis was transformative. They were candid about the burden they’ve carried — not just the horrors witnessed, but the moral compromises they still wrestle with. Those conversations helped me understand that the ‘shared secret’ in our story isn’t just about what happened in Vietnam — it’s about what they’ve told themselves to survive. Perhaps the moral complexity comes from that gray area between what’s right, what’s necessary, and what you can live with.”

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m., Sept. 19 through Oct. 26. Tickets are $39. The Odyssey Theatre is at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/Parallel-Process.