The play tells the story of Kenneth Dula and his journey as he is drafted to serve in the Vietnam war as a young man and forced to leave his family and the love of his life behind.
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"I was battling the war and conflict, and I was battling a relationship with my woman back home and I lost out on both." Dula said as he discussed the parts of his past that are featured in the play.
"Guns of Ava" is based on the novel written by Brenda Lindsey Womble, the director of the play and a very close friend of Dula's.
"When I first met my best friend here in 1974, I didn't know what he'd gone through in the war, and we were talking one day and he mentioned the fact that he couldn't sleep at night, that he would wake up at 2 every morning," Womble said. "And I said why, why does that happen? And he said it comes from the war. And I said that's been 14 years ago and he said I still can't get it out of me."
The cast is enthusiastic about the project and many of the actors and actresses have been a part of past productions of the play.
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"I'm proud of my uncle, I'm proud of Ken Dula. His perseverance, his faith in God, his determination, and the fact that he is telling his story." said Robin Farrington, who plays the role of Mama Dula, her grandmother in real life.
The play's purpose is not only to portray Dula's story, but it's also meant to show other veterans that life after trauma is possible.
"And we're not only doing it for us but all the other soldiers, all the other military families out there who've gone through such and still going through it, that they know that there is a redemption." Womble said.