1 day Ago By Sydney Morton
How far would you be willing to protect the one you love? For Debbie Greene, she was willing to do whatever it took to help her husband Trevor recover after he was injured while serving in Afghanistan. Their love story is now being told in a play by Sean Harris Oliver called The Soldier’s Wife. “They believed in each other and they just stayed together and they kept every day, pushing and pushing,” said Oliver.
“It’s an incredible story of not only Trevor but Debbie’s story, this quiet heroism.” Oliver is from Kelowna, B.C.
, but is now based in Los Angeles. The playwright says he acquired permission from the Greenes to tell their story years ago. The play was originally set to debut in 2019, but the pandemic delayed that plan.
Now, he and the team behind Shakespeare Kelowna are ready for the world premiere of the play that tells the real story of Trevor and Debbie Greene. “There were doctors who told her you should just abandon him, this is unlikely that he will ever recover and she does that with him,” said Chelsea Scholz, who is taking on the role of Debbie. The audience gets to experience many moments from their lives together, including when they first met.
The director, Stephen Jeffreys, says that the play jumps back and forth between moments of their lives because it helps the audience understand who they are at their core. To accurately portray a Canadian war hero’s recovery, the cast consulted with occupational therapists and physiotherapists to better understand brain injuries. “With the help of those professionals, we were able to get some of the physicality down and really to honour it and do it justice because Trevor’s story is miraculous,” said Pete MacLeod, who portrays Trevor Greene.
The story of the power of love will be told on stage at the Creekside Theatre April 2-9..
