Speaker to address detainee issues at Guantanamo Bay

WARWICK-Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, will speak at an upcoming free reading of the play "Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom" at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30, upstairs at the Mechanical Rubber Building at 77 Forester Ave. in Warwick. Chained and hooded, more than 600 "enemy combatants" have passed a sign above the entrance to the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba that reads, "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom." The play, "Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom," written by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo, focuses on the treatment of these detainees. Ratner will answer questions about the center's suit against the U.S. Government on behalf of the detainees. The reading in Warwick, coordinated by Hope Arber and directed by Paul Ellis with the assistance of Gloria Bonnelli, will include Donna Spector, Richard Hull, Patricia DeBruhl, Grif Fassett, Brian Nieves, Brendan McManus, Anne Hansen, Geoffrey Howard, Susie Stage, John Stage, and more. The performance is part of the Guantanamo Reading Project series, first held in Northampton, Mass. Further information about the project can be found at www.ccr-ny.org/gac. For more information, call 986-2744.