"Making War Horse" airs this week on WNET

One of the occasional frustrations of being an evangelist for the Lincoln Center Theater production of War Horse is trying to provide a comprehensive explanation of how Michael Morpurgo's original novel took shape on stage at London's National Theatre. The LCT website provides many valuable small snapshots of the process but not a full-scale portrait.

Luckily, David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky have done the big job for us. They wrote, filmed, and directed "Making War Horse," a 48-minute documentary that has for some time been on sale in the LCT lobby and here, but that this Wednesday, August 10, at 8 pm and again on August 12 at 2:30 am will be broadcast by WNET, the PBS affiliate in New York. (There may be additional airings depending on viewer response; no word yet whether the film will air on other PBS stations.)

WNET will air the documentary as part of its current pledge drive. I am a PBS addict, but I have to confess that I watch and tape the network less often during these drives: to boost pledges, the powers-that-be tend to rerun popular programs that I've already seen; in addition, I'm allergic to many of the pledge-drive staples: baby-boomer performances from the 1950s and 1960s.

But this month I must stifle my quibbles because the channel is spreading the story about War Horse. And what a story it is! Author Morpugo recounts his inspiration for the novel. National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner explains how the project came to him, and the show's co-directors, Tom Morris and Marianne Elliott, take us through the production's workshop process. Handspring Puppet Company heads Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones dissect the development of the puppetry. Set designer Rae Smith talks about some of the early-20th-century artistic movements upon which she drew for her contribution. Lighting designer Paule Constable analyzes the way lighting conveys mood.

Many others instrumental in the success of "War Horse" are also heard from, but no one dominates the discussion. As Morpugo says at the end of "Making War Horse," "Everyone behind the scenes is as important as everyone else. And everyone knows that."

Even though the documentary concentrates on the show's development in the U.K., during pledge month WNET will also be airing new interviews with Seth Numrich, the actor who plays Albert in New York, and with Kohler and Jones. The station will also broadcast LCT's War Horse commercial, production footage, and a selection of production photos. All this attention will be accompanied by a ticket giveaway for pledge-drive participants. Hooray!

Visit Thirteen.org for more information.

Brendan Lemon is the American theater critic for the Financial Times and the editor of lemonwade.com.