What We Do
Modern Warrior creates productions and programs centered around personal stories of loss, endurance, and how people carry life-changing experiences forward.
Every show features real stories told by those who lived them…uniting story, music and theatre to create deeply moving performances that foster connection and hope.
Originally developed through work with military veterans, Modern Warrior has grown into a series of productions that explore resilience across different communities and defining moments in modern history.
Audience Experience
“One of the most moving, touching experiences regarding war that I’ve felt since returning from Vietnam 46 years ago!”
— Attendee (post via Facebook)
I’ve recently found the courage to stop cutting, but it has been difficult to feel awake in my body and in my mind. Tonight, your show brought me back to life.
— Handwritten letter from a high school student attendee
“Having lost my son to suicide, this performance brought me peace.”
— Attendee (email message following NY performance)
“The show is like nothing else I've ever experienced; it is a genre unto its own. I was so entirely captivated by the interplay of the story with the music that I did not breathe for large sections of this performance.”
— Attendee (post via Facebook)
“Modern Warrior reminds veterans they are not victims and that they can use their experiences to grow and make significant contributions to society.”
— Anthony Principi, Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2001 - 2005)
Performance History
Our original Modern Warrior production featuring US military veteran Jaymes Poling has reached more than 10,000 veterans and 30,000 civilians through more than 150 performances nationwide. Notable performances include:
Theatres
Avalon Theatre
Haas Center for the Arts
Ohio Theatre
Library of Congress
Lied Center of Kansas
Lisner Auditorium
Wolftrap
Conferences & Corporate Performances
America's Warrior Partnership
California Police Chief's Annual Training Conference
Cohen Veterans Network
National Association of Drug Court Professionals
National Council of Mental Wellbeing
VFW Annual Convention
VA / DOD Suicide Prevention Conference
Supporters
Past Government Recognition
James Mattis
26th US Secretary of Defense“I admire what Dominick Farinacci and Jaymes Poling have created. The more of you engaging on this issue and restoring some balance in terms of characterizing our veterans as more than damaged goods can only be healthy for our vets, our armed forces recruiting, and our country.”
The Honorable Denis Richard McDonough
US Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2021 - 2025“[Modern Warrior] will lift you up and blow you away!”
The Honorable Anthony Principi
Vietnam Veteran & Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2001-2005“Modern Warrior heals the mental scars of war.”
How We Began
Modern Warrior LIVE began with a single song. Legendary producer Tommy LiPuma introduced trumpeter Dominick Farinacci to “Soldier’s Things” by Tom Waits, a stark portrait of a soldier returning home from war. Wanting a deeper understanding of the song’s meaning before recording it, Farinacci sought out a veteran to hear firsthand what that transition felt like. That search led him to Jaymes Poling, a U.S. Army veteran. Their first meeting became an eight-hour conversation, during which Poling shared not only his experience of returning from war, but also his frustration with how veterans are often perceived as damaged and judged by civilians. What emerged was a mutual purpose: Farinacci felt compelled to help bring this story into the world, while Poling saw an opportunity to challenge assumptions and reclaim his narrative. That shared intention led to the creation of the first Modern Warrior LIVE production, uniting first-person storytelling and music onstage.
Integrity and Care in Storytelling
Modern Warrior is grounded in a commitment to integrity, care, and responsibility in how personal stories are shared. Participants are collaborators, not subjects, and are supported throughout the creative process to ensure their experiences are represented with honesty, dignity, and consent. The work is created with care for both those onstage and those in the audience, balancing emotional impact with respect, context, and thoughtful presentation. The show does not go on until each storyteller feels 100% content with each and every word they deliver through our collaboration.
Our Approach
Modern Warrior LIVE is built around first-person storytelling, with individuals sharing their own lived experiences onstage in their own words. The music serves as an internal voice—deepening the narrative and revealing the humanity beneath each story—performed live by an ensemble spanning original compositions and reimagined songs shaped by the context of the storytelling. Theatrically, the work unfolds within a cinematic environment where light, image, and space translate emotion into color, using multimedia, lighting, and staging to create an immersive world that supports both the storytelling and the live music.
About the Creators
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“…a trumpeter of abundant poise,” who “plays beautifully, with expressive control” and “brings true musicality.” – The New York Times
Dominick Farinacci is among the most acclaimed trumpeters and educators of his generation, with a career that transcends conventional recognition in jazz. Born and raised in Cleveland, he was just 17 when Wynton Marsalis selected him for a special PBS performance. While a student in Juilliard’s inaugural jazz-studies class, he launched an international career as a recording artist and bandleader, releasing eight albums in Japan before gaining global acclaim.
At Marsalis’ request, Farinacci led Jazz at Lincoln Center’s outpost in Doha, Qatar (2012–2016). His 2016 album Short Stories, produced with Tommy LiPuma, and the Cleveland Arts Prize he received in 2022 highlight his continuing influence. Yet for Farinacci, achievement serves artistry: in 2011, he composed “A Prayer for You” in response to his mother’s cancer diagnosis, later performing it in a TED Talk at the Kennedy Center and recording it with his group TRIAD.
Farinacci’s commitment to music and humanity also informs Modern Warrior LIVE, a multidisciplinary touring project with U.S. Army veteran Jaymes Poling that blends first-person storytelling, film, and Farinacci’s musical direction to illuminate the veteran experience. General Jim Mattis called it a “necessary and worthy mission.”
As director of the Tri-C JazzFest Academy in Cleveland, Farinacci guides young artists with empathy and honesty, teaching both jazz history and the realities of the music business—always with the goal of helping musicians find fulfillment, resilience, and well-being through their art.
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Jaymes Poling brings to Modern Warrior the fully immersed perspective of a three-tour combat veteran with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan. Confronting war memories, the loss of friends, and the isolation many veterans face after service, Jaymes discovered through narrative arts, music, and dynamic public speaking that growth can follow adversity.
Enlisting at 17, Jaymes served eight years as an infantryman, machine gunner, and squad leader with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, spending three years in combat in Afghanistan. He has engaged military communities more than 120 times through Modern Warrior—performing in schools, universities, performing arts centers, prisons, and in a one-hour cinematic production—and has spoken with hundreds of active-duty soldiers overseas about mental health through the Troops First Foundation.
Raised in Warren, Ohio, and a finance graduate of John Carroll University, Jaymes now leads Modern Warrior’s nonprofit operations and partners with organizations to help veterans move from isolation toward healing—whether one-on-one or in a concert hall of thousands.