A family makes the long trek to Washington, D. C., to see the Vietnamese Veterans Memorial Wall and touch the name of their loved one. As each family member goes to the wall, his/her remembrance makes a powerful monologue, which may be presented alone. This is not a play about the Vietnam War. Instead, as John Bustin pointed out in the Round Rock Leader, it's "a character study of universal relevance...a thoughtful little drama suggesting that a death in the family, even after 20 years, can still affect life within that family." Bustin calls the play "provocative...remarkably affecting, even heart rendering at times...I don't think Stuckey's script sounds a single false note...an absorbing and moving—and occasionally even amusing—experience in the theatre."

Diana Claitor, reviewing the play for the Austin American-Statesman: "The Wall: A Pilgrimage takes us on an odyssey through five memories, and the journey is a revelation, not only about these five individuals, but about humans and how we survive our tragedies." Claitor calls it "an effective and ...exciting script," adding that "humor and unaffected dialogue temper the sadness."

The family members are the mother, who still bakes a cake every year on her dead son's birthday; the father, who tries desperately to conceal his grief; the younger brother, who tries, as Bustin points out, "to hide his feelings behind an intellectual wall"; the wife, who has re-married; and the daughter, who never knew her father and isn't sure how she should feel about him. The play doesn't sermonize, and it doesn't question whether or not Vietnam was a mistake. But you come away from the play wondering why these 58,000 young Americans had to die...and why civilized human beings still make war. Perhaps it will remaind you of Jerome McDonough's obvious but universally ignored observation that "The time to prevent war is when there is no war." The Wall: A Pilgrimage is, in John Bustin's words, "compelling and freshly engrossing fare...handled with intelligence and honesty."

One act; Set, bare stage; Modern clothes.

"I went to the wall for the same reasons that the family in the play went...to be released from the guilt of coming home when they did not. After seeing Jan Stuckey's wonderful play...I realize that part of me must remain with those at the Wall, lest I forget. I was glad that the final blackout was so long—I had time to dry my eyes before the house lights came on."—letter to the editor, Round Rock Leader.

"Top honors at the Minnesota State Festival"—Milaca High School. John Bustin, Drama critic of the Austin Citizen, "I visualized a lot of moaning and hand-wringing that might easily turn the Vietnam monument into another wailing wall. You can imagine my relief, then, that The Wall: A Pilgrimage turns out to be not another Vietnam play, but a character study of universal relevance...It's a provocative play and a good one."

See also: Plays About Family Relationships, Plays About Death and War