Event

A SOLDIER'S PLAY

This Pulitzer Prize winning play by Charles Fuller tells the story of intrigue and mystery around the murder of an enlisted man on a WWII military base. Starring Obba Babatunde, Nick Stabile, and Oscar Best. Directed by Graeme Clifford. Produced by Richard Johnson and Graeme Clifford.

While it is about the investigation of a murder, A Soldier's Play is not a murder mystery in the strictest sense. The investigation does not consist of policemen unraveling clues or of the simple analysis of physical evidence. Instead, the investigation by a black officer is primarily an exploration into who the slain Waters really was and how racism influences menâs behaviors and ideals. The investigator, Captain Davenport, tries to solve this mystery by interviewing the men who served under Waters.

These interviews provide pieces of a puzzle, that when assembled, create a picture of a complex man who often bullied his men but who saw the war as an opportunity for blacks to escape the constraints of segregation. The portrait of Waters reveals a man who has found the only power white men will give to a black man; as a non-commissioned officer in the army during World War II. Critics were enthusiastic about Fullerâs play, which won a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Award in 1982, but A Soldier's Play also provoked controversy.