THE MILITARY Pentagon supports 'Macbeth' for troops

The first performance is Friday in Montgomery, Ala.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pentagon money is sending a stage play about a military hero who murders his commander in chief on a tour of 13 military bases.
The work is William Shakespeare's "Macbeth," a familiar tale of witchcraft, treachery, deceit, insanity and violence.
In the classic Shakespearean tragedy, the title character inevitably meets an ignominious end, slain in battle by a fellow nobleman who restores Scotland's crown to the rightful ruler.
The tour's first performance is Friday at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala.
"'Macbeth' deals with the issues confronting military leadership today -- what happens when the greatest warrior a country has decided that he would be king at any price?" said Kent Thompson, artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, which produced the play and is taking it on tour. "It's also a fascinating study in the self-creation of a tyrant."
Contributed $1 million
The Defense Department has contributed $1 million to the tour, which will include 17 to 19 performances over six weeks. The sponsor is the National Endowment for the Arts.
"As our country now has the best-educated, best-trained military in our nation's history, the arts endowment has made a conscious effort to extend programs of artistic excellence to the men, women and their families in our nation's armed forces," NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said Monday.
Other performances will be at the Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Ga.; the Naval Weapons Station, Charleston, S.C.; Camp Lejeune, N.C., a Marine base; the Marine Base Quantico, Va.; Selfridge Air National Guard Base and Army Garrison Selfridge, Mich.; the Naval Support Activity Mid-South, Millington, Tenn.; Scott Air Force Base, Ill.; Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, Kan., both Army bases; Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.; and Cannon Air Force Base and Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.
Five performances will be presented to the public Oct. 28-31 at the Virginia Samford Theatre, Birmingham, Ala.