Award Winning “A Soldier’s Play” At The Knight Theater This Month

January 2, 2023

In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered. And a series of interrogations triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America.

Norm Lewis as Captain Richard Davenport in the National Tour of A Soldiers Play – photo by Joan Marcus

Winner of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, A Soldier’s Play is a murder mystery that takes a hard look at institutionalized and internalized racism in the U.S. Army during World War II. In the best theatre tradition, A Soldier’s Play leaves you challenged and provoked, but it leads with its drama, not its politics. Broadway’s Norm Lewis leads a powerhouse cast in the show Variety calls “a knock-your-socks-off-drama,” directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon.

The Cast of the National Tour of A Soldiers Play – photo by Joan Marcus

“This is a play that deserves to be staged regularly all over America—though it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be done better than this. It keeps you guessing all the way to the final curtain” (The Wall Street Journal).

TICKETS HERE

On the outskirts of a segregated army camp in Tynin, Louisiana, the tyrannical Tech Sergeant Vernon C. Waters is found murdered. Initially written off as an attack by the Ku Klux Klan, Captain Davenport, an African-American authoritative military lawyer, is assigned to investigate the case and begins to uncover an atmosphere of racial hostility within the camp. With mistrust growing on all sides, Davenport faces racial prejudice as he fights to find Waters’ killer. A Soldier’s Play (which was adapted into the Academy Award-nominated film A Soldier’s Story ) is an examination of race relations, systematic oppression, and explores the definition of “blackness” in America.

A Soldier’s Play

Tuesday, January 10 through Sunday, January 15, 2023

Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts

Ticket Prices $25 to $99

TICKETS HERE

“A superb all-male ensemble, under the powerhouse direction of Kenny Leon, attacks this knock-your-socks-off drama with intense emotional passion and intellectual courage.” (Variety)

“A HIGHLY ENTERTAINING, STRIKINGLY TAUT DRAMA THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO END. A Soldier’s Play is powerful as ever after nearly 40 years.” (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune)