Actors get a taste of military life for Westcoast Troupe drama ‘A Soldier’s Play’

Every day before rehearsals, instead of the their usual acting exercises and warm-ups, the cast of the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s new production of “A Soldier’s Play” goes through a session of drill training.

Jacob Smith, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who appeared in the company’s production of “Guys and Dolls” last year, puts the cast through its paces in preparation for Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer prize-winning story about the murder of a sergeant in an all-black U.S. Army unit in Louisiana in 1944, during World War II.

Director Chuck Smith, a Marine veteran himself who is staging the play for the third time, wanted authenticity in how the actors behave as soldiers.

“Whenever I see military shows, especially with marines, if they’re not dressed properly or don’t stand properly, it just blows it for me,” Smith said. He called on Jacob Smith, no relation, because he’s younger “and he brings a fresher use of military drills. My memory in terms of how things happen and all the executions are there, but it’s been so long ago.”

So each day, Jacob Smith spends time “taking the civilian actors and basically giving them a taste of a military experience, something to absorb into their characters, so it’s just part of who they are,” he said.

It has been effective training, said Eric Van Baars, who plays one of the white officers trying to control the direction of the murder investigation, which gets wrapped up in racial tensions among the Black troops and the white officers. Van Baars’ father is a U.S. Navy veteran and grew up near military bases in Norfolk, Virginia but he hasn’t had military experience himself.

“It has created a sense of ensemble because we’re doing it together,” he said. “It has given us the formality and rigidity and the structure of military life. For me, playing a captain, it has helped me establish a baseline of physicality, how I react to other characters of equal rank or above or below me. Both Jacob and Chuck are clear about making sure we’re doing it right and we want to honor their service.”

The play was first produced by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1982, when it won the Pulitzer, and it was presented for the first time on Broadway in 2020, opening just two months before theaters shut down because of the COVID pandemic. In 1984, the play was adapted into the film “A Soldier’s Story,” starring Howard E. Rollins, David Alan Grier and Denzel Washington. WBTT last produced the play in 2008.

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A cast of new and familiar faces

Michael Mendez stars as Captain Richard Davenport, a Black officer sent to the base to investigate the murder of Sgt. Vernon Waters, played by Patric Robinson. Davenport’s presence stuns the white officers and stirs pride in the Black enlisted men. The twists and turns of the story involve references to the Ku Klux Klan and colorism, a prejudice against people with dark skin tones.

Darius Autry, who performed in a one-man play about Muhammed Ali at WBTT, returns as Pvt. Peterson in a cast that also includes several other familiar performers – Leon S. Pitts II, Jerald Wheat, Brian L. Boyd, Casey Murphy and Donovan Whitney.

Mendez is well known to WBTT audiences for his roles in musicals, including “In the Heights,” and this show marks his most prominent performance in a drama at the theater.

Chuck Smith, resident director at WBTT, said the play offers a “great history lesson about these World War II African-American soldiers, who wanted to fight and weren’t allowed to fight. That’s the part that has grabbed me over the years. The system didn’t particularly want them on the front lines.”

The director said he hasn’t had to do much more than have discussions to ensure the cast is in tune with what life was like for these soldiers during World War II. “They’re soaking it up. Half this cast I’ve never worked with before, but I couldn’t have picked a better cast. They’re so diverse. The military barracks are full of people just like these guys from different backgrounds all over the country.

And despite those differences, Jacob Smith said he has been amazed at “how quickly the group has become a unit and how efficiently everyone absorbs the information for me. And the audience will get to see them coming together.”

‘A Soldier’s Play’

By Charles Fuller. Directed by Chuck Smith. Runs Jan. 18-Feb. 18 at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $50, $20 for students and active military. 941-366-1505; westcoastblacktheatre.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Westcoast Troupe explores racial tensions in Pulitzer-winning drama