As the cast of “Devotedly, Sincerely Yours: The Story of the USO,” Samantha Pearlman’s senior thesis, gears up for rehearsal, the all-male band ensemble gathers with Pearlman in a circle in the CFA Theater, where the play goes up on Thursday. As they ready their minds for the performance ahead, each band member goes around the circle and shares the background and life story of a soldier from Afghanistan or Iraq whom they have chosen to represent through their characters in the show, as well as an object that is important to their soldier. This exercise gets to the heart of what “Devotedly, Sincerely Yours” is really about: war.

“Devotedly, Sincerely Yours” is a live performance of a radio show hosted by Louise Buckley, who appears to be the stereotypical United Service Organization (USO) girl, and her band, called Devotedly Sincerely Yours. The performance consists of singing, dancing, and tapping along to World War II era classics, readings of the handbook for USO girls, interaction (read: flirting) between Louise and her band members, and a demonstration of a typical USO show.  However, Pearlman tries to portray the full picture of a USO girl, and it’s not all feather boas and tap shoes. “Devotedly, Sincerely Yours” attempts to take us deeper into the psyche of a USO girl to show us her emotions and motivation and delves into the gender politics of the 1940s, the topic of war, and why we fight it. One of the most interesting things about this performance is that Pearlman only modified material that was already in existence: according to her, 98 percent of the show is found in historical text. Louise Buckley, the main character of the show, was even a real-life USO girl. This adds yet another dimension to her performance, because by using actual historical material, the show provides a window into the politics and entertainment of the World War II era. By interspersing enjoyable song and dance numbers and flirtation with (or even within) heavier subject matter, Pearlman shows the duality of the times while still entertaining the audience.

However, it’s not just Pearlman on stage. A big part of “Devotedly, Sincerely Yours” is the all-male band that plays all the music, sings, dances, and acts alongside her. Led by Ian Coss ’11, who not only conducts, but also arranged all the music, musicians William Fraker ’14, Owen Callahan ’12, Jacob Hiss ’13, Myles Potters ’12, Zachary Rosen ’11, Isaac Silk ’14, and Daniel Moakley ’13 are integral to what makes the show so enjoyable.

“All the boys are so talented and they have so many skills,” Pearlman said. “Not one of them looked at me and said I didn’t sign up for this, which I think shows the strength of the material. It is so moving and humbling to see them commit themselves. They all wanted to be part of this show because the material is really fascinating and relevant to today, with our nation being at war right now.”

Another important character is seated among the audience: Jack Gallagher ’12, who plays the announcer of the radio show that Louise is hosting.  The two laugh, joke, and even argue throughout the show as Jack sits in the stands. Pearlman says of this technique that “[it creates] a dual audience of the people physically in the theater and the men overseas,” which also serves to heighten the realism of the performance.

In conjunction with this performance, Pearlman has a written component to her senior thesis entitled “Something for the Boys: An Analysis of Women of USO Camp Show Inc. and Their Performance of Gender.” In her thesis, she details the historical background on the USO and the sexual implications of the performances of the USO girls in the context of their time and place.

“These women embodied ideals of home,” Pearlman said. “They were the perfect American Sweethearts. They gave the men something to fight for. At the same time, they were one woman standing in front of a bunch of horny and aggressive men.”

Her paper also covers topics ranging from national identity to violence to jingoism. Virtually every topic in her paper is covered during her performance.

“I couldn’t have done one without the other,” Pearlman said. “What I can’t express through my written component I express in my show, and what I can’t express in my show goes in my paper. This topic, these women, this war, all of these themes which I’m grappling with  like performances of gender, jingoism, national identity, violence…it’s so hard to summarize it all in one idea, and I feel like every time I try I’m cheapening it, cheapening the complexities of war, the complexities of gender and sexuality and being America. To say what I want you [the viewer] to think about while you see this performance is not fair to the material.”

“Devotedly, Sincerely Yours” will be running at 8 p.m. in the CFA Theater on Thursday and Friday. Tickets are free the day of the performance at the Usdan Box Office.