Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to announce that individual tickets for Roundabout Theatre Company's 2020 Tony Award®-winning Best Revival of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier’s Play will go on sale Friday, February 3. Ticket prices range from $35-$105 with a select number of premium seats. Written by American playwright Charles Fuller, A Soldier’s Play stars Norm Lewis and is directed by Tony Award winner and Roundabout Theatre Company’s Senior Resident Director Kenny Leon. The North American tour of A Soldier’s Play will make its Chicago premiere at the CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe). This limited 16-performance engagement will run from April 4 through April 16. Individual tickets are available at www.BroadwayInChicago.com. Tickets are available now for groups of 10 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710 or emailing GroupSales@BroadwayInChicago.com.
Emmy, Tony and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis will star as ‘Captain Richard Davenport.’ Joining him will be Broadway, TV and film star Eugene Lee, who originated the role of ‘Corporal Bernard Cobb’ in the original 1981 Off-Broadway Production of A Soldier’s Play, as ‘Sergeant Vernon C. Waters,’ Will Adams as ‘Corporal Bernard Cobb,’ Brandon Alvión as an understudy, Sheldon D. Brown as ‘Private C.J. Memphis,’ Malik Esoj Childs as ‘Private Tony Smalls,’ Ja’Quán Cole as an understudy, William Connell as ‘Captain Charles Taylor,’ Charles Everett as an understudy, Alex Michael Givens as ‘Corporal Ellis,’ Matthew Goodrich as ‘Captain Wilcox,’ Chattan Mayes Johnson as ‘Lieutenant Byrd,’ Branden Davon Lindsay as ‘Private Louis Henson,’ Tarik Lowe as ‘Private First-Class Melvin Peterson,’ Al’Jaleel McGhee as an understudy, Howard W. Overshown as ‘Private James Wilkie’ and Alex Ross as an understudy.
Joining director Kenny Leon for the tour of Roundabout Theatre Company’s A Soldier’s Play is the Broadway design team that includes Derek McLane (Sets), Dede Ayite (Costumes), Allen Lee Hughes (Lights), Dan Moses Schreier (Sound) and Cristina Angeles (Associate Director). The tour of A Soldier’s Play is produced by Roundabout Theatre Company and Tamar Climan.
“The recent passing of The Giant that is Charles Fuller has only magnified his brilliance...an amazing writer who left us so much with his masterful A Soldiers Play,” said director Kenny Leon. “We honor him with this American tour of the Broadway production of this great American classic. Come - laugh, think and reflect - America is in need of love.”
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. Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece opened on Broadway for the first time on Jan. 21, 2020 at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre, nearly forty years after it was written. The acclaimed production was nominated for 7 Tony Awards and 3 Drama Desk Awards, winning Best Revival for both.
The A Soldier’s Play tour stage management team is John Atherlay and RL Campbell. The company management team is Frank Lott and Jordan Lingreen.
ABOUT ROUNDABOUT ON TOUR:
Roundabout Theatre Company was most recently represented across the country with its longest-running musical on Broadway, the revival of Cabaret, which received a multi-year tour across the country beginning in 1999 and again in 2016. Before that, Roundabout produced the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning North American tour of Anything Goes starring Rachel York which toured for 48 weeks. In 2006, Twelve Angry Men went on a 63-week tour across the United States and Canada. In 2011, Roundabout Theatre Company’s acclaimed work reached a worldwide cinema audience with the HD capture and broadcast of their Tony nominated production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Brian Bedford.
Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history. Acknowledging its impact, Roundabout has also embarked upon a five-year strategic plan to evaluate and evolve how to address equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism in its work, workplaces and communities.
Roundabout is also sending its nationally recognized education programs on tour. Members of the cast and crew will facilitate acting workshops, pull back the curtain on backstage jobs, and explore the educational resources of the UPSTAGE Guide, a free resource that allows audiences to discover more about the production through interviews, biographies, stories about the historical, social, and artistic context of the production, discussion questions, and activities for students and teachers.
In New York, Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals and new works on its five stages: Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway’s Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.
American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
TAMAR CLIMAN (Producer) is a Tony Award®-winning theatre producer with almost three decades of experience producing and general managing on Broadway, who is also developing a number of new works. Tamar is on the producing team for the Tony Award® and Grammy-winning Jagged Little Pill for its North American and Australian tours. Previous producing credits include, on Broadway: Jagged Little Pill, Oklahoma!, Children of a Lesser God; West End: Waitress; and North American tour: Anastasia. She also serves as an advisor to Roundabout Theatre Company. Tamar founded Richards/Climan, Inc. (RCI), Theatrical General Management firm, in 1997. While at RCI, Tamar managed over 80 productions of plays and musicals written by such notable artists as Tracy Letts, David Mamet, Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. She also had the extraordinary opportunity to work with renowned actors like Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones, Audra McDonald, Al Pacino, Sutton Foster and Bryan Cranston. Tamar was born in Montreal, Canada and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Roundabout Theatre Company's tour of A Soldier's Play is made possible in part by generous support from Denise Littlefield Sobel.
For more information, visit: asoldiersplaytour.com
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PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
WEEK ONE
Tuesday, Apr. 4 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, Apr. 5 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, Apr. 6 at 7:30 pm
Friday, Apr. 7 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, Apr. 8 at 2 pm & 8 pm
Sunday, Apr. 9 at 2 pm & 7:30 pm
WEEK TWO
Tuesday, Apr. 11 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, Apr. 12 at 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Thursday, Apr. 13 at 7:30 pm
Friday, Apr. 14 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, Apr. 15 at 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, Apr. 16 at 2 pm
ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 20 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place and presenting Broadway shows at the Auditorium Theatre.
COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Masks are recommended for all audience members.
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CAST BIOGRAPHIES
NORM LEWIS (Captain Richard Davenport). Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee, Norm Lewis, recently starred in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed, Da 5 Bloods, and in the groundbreaking FX series, “Pose.” Additionally, Mr. Lewis can be seen starring in ABC's newest series, “Women of The Movement” and offscreen, his voice can be heard in the latest season of Apple TV's animated series, “Central Park.” He was also seen as 'Caiaphas' in the award-winning NBC television special, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!” alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. Mr. Lewis returned to Broadway in the Fall of 2021, starring in Chicken and Biscuits at the Circle In The Square Theatre. He previously appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. In May of 2014, he made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American ‘Phantom’ on Broadway. He has been seen on PBS in the “Live From Lincoln Center” productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, “Norm Lewis: Who Am I?,” “New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration” with Diane Reeves, as well as “American Voices” with Renée Fleming and the PBS Specials “First You Dream – The Music of Kander & Ebb” and “Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas.” He can be seen recurring in the VH1 series, “Daytime Divas,” also alongside Vanessa Williams. His additional television credits include “Law & Order,” “Dr. Death,” “Mrs. America,” “Better Things,” “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Bull,” “Chicago Med,” “Gotham,” “The Blacklist,” and “Blue Bloods,” as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama “Scandal.” Mr. Lewis is a proud founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy. In London’s West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS. Off-Broadway Mr. Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain. His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks. His additional film credits include Christmas In Tune (starring opposite Reba McEntire), Magnum Opus, Winter’s Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, and Preaching to the Choir. Norm's albums “The Norm Lewis Christmas Album” album & "This is The Life" can be found on Amazon.com as well as cdbaby.com.
EUGENE LEE (Sergeant Vernon C. Waters). EUGENE LEE (Sergeant Vernon C. Waters). In 1972, in college, Lee acted in a command performance of A Raisin in the Sun for President Lyndon B. Johnson at his Texas ranch. Fifty years later he’s done television shows and movies, including: "The Women of Brewster Place," "Good Times," "The White Shadow," Wolf, an independent film, the Broadway production of American Son and the Emmy nominated Netflix film adaptation. He has multiple appearances on stage with the Negro Ensemble, Company including the original cast of A Soldier's Play. He’s a "Wilsonian Warrior" for his work in plays by August Wilson, including Broadway in Gem of the Ocean and How I Learned What I Learned. His TV writing credits include: "Homicide: Life on the Streets," "Walker, Texas Ranger," “Port Chicago.” His plays include: East Texas Hot Links, Fear Itself, Somebody Called, Ode to Juneteenth, Killingsworth, and Lyin' Ass. Artist in Residence and Artistic Director of the Black and Latino Playwright's Celebration at Texas State University. Mr. Lee was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2018. eugeneleeonline.com
WILL ADAMS (Corporal Bernard Cobb) recently starred in the film A Holiday in Harlem (Hallmark) and recurred in Tyler Perry’s “The Oval” (BET). His theatre credits include Skeleton Crew, A Death of a Salesman (Trinity Rep), and Curse of the Starving Class (Williamstown Theatre Festival). MFA: Brown/Trinity Rep.
BRANDON ALVIÓN (Understudy) is from Newark, NJ. MFA in Acting from Wayne State University 2018. Select credits: Harpo in The Color Purple (2nd Nat’l), Kenny in Chicken & Biscuits (Virginia Rep) and Martin L. King Jr. in The Mountaintop (Hope Rep). Many thanks to the cast, crew, and creatives. Social media: @iactwright
SHELDON D. BROWN (Private C.J. Memphis). Theater credits include Steppenwolf Theatre, (Choir Boy, Jeff Award winning), Court Theatre (Man In The Ring); About Face Theatre (Magnolia Ballet) and more. Film/TV screenwriting credits include Cicada (Spirit Award nominated), “The Big Leap” (FOX). He is represented by Stewart Talent & Innovative Artists.
MALIK ESOJ CHILDS (Private Tony Smalls) is native to the eastside of Detroit, MI. UNC School of the Arts (2019). Recent productions include Exception to the Rule by Dave Harris (Roundabout Theater Company). soft by Donja R. Love (Williamstown Theater Festival). I am overjoyed to tell stories that celebrate, dismantle, and uplift the people of my community. In honor of Charles Fuller. Excited to share this staple around the country.
JA’QUÁN COLE (Understudy) was raised in Toledo, OH. Dedicated to Lola & Savvya. TV: “Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty” (HBO), “Snowfall” (FX), “Wu- Tang: An American Saga” (Hulu). Graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). Thanks to God, my family, girlfriend, friends, & my team. @jqcole.
WILLIAM CONNELL (Captain Charles Taylor). INK (MTC), A View From the Bridge (2010 Broadway revival), The Coast of Utopia (LCT), Nureyev’s Eyes (George Street), Alphabetical Order (Keen Co.), Hamlet (Aspen Music Festival), One Man, Two Guvnors (PTC, Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep). TV/Film: “Succession,” “Bluff City Law,” “Blindspot,” “Blacklist,” “Bull,” “Smash,” Not Fade Away. B.F.A. UNCSA.
CHARLES EVERETT (Understudy) is thrilled to be joining the cast of this iconic play. Favorite theatre credits include King in The Mountaintop (Emerson Theatre Collaborative/ Connecticut), Doug in Raft of the Medusa (Barefoot Theatre Company/NYC), and Harry Truman in Convention (Brontosaurus Haircut Productions/NYC). Television: “Fleishman is in Trouble,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Equalizer,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Bull.” Charles is a graduate of Maggie Flanigan Studio in New York City.
ALEX MICHAEL GIVENS (Corporal Ellis). Select Regional Theatre credits: How to Catch Creation (Geva Theatre Center); The Christians, The Crucible, The Life of Galileo, Sense and Sensibility, My Fair Lady, Skeleton Crew (PlayMakers Repertory Company); Cymbeline, Macbeth, Shakespeare in Love, All’s Well that Ends Well, Richard the Third, King John (Great River Shakespeare Festival).
MATTHEW GOODRICH (Captain Wilcox). Broadway: A Soldier’s Play, All My Sons, The Nance, Picnic. Regional credits include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, TheatreSquared, Florida Repertory Theatre, and Orlando Shakes. Special thanks to Kenny, Mr. Fuller, Jim Carnahan Casting, and Carson Kolker Org. MFA, CalArts. actormatt.com @goodie_grams
CHATTAN MAYES JOHNSON (Lieutenant Byrd) is honored to make his National Tour debut! Regional credits: Newsies (Jack Kelley), Godspell (“All Good Gifts” Disciple). Education: Carnegie Mellon University 2022. Much gratitude to his family, the Roundabout and ASP creative team, and his reps at Gersh and Alchemy!
BRANDEN DAVON LINDSAY (Private Louis Henson) is an actor and Southern gentleman born and raised in Greenville, SC. He is honored to be making his first National Tour debut. 2021 Graduate from NYU Grad Acting. Recent credits include: Off Broadway: Merry Wives (Public Theater). Film: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Apple+). Television: “Awkwafina” (Comedy Central), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Evil” (CBS).
TARIK LOWE (Private First-Class Melvin Peterson) is an actor/writer known for his versatility and dramatic depth. He debuted in Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep. Film: the Oscar-winning Whiplash, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, Pimp and co-writer/star in Supporting Characters, which premiered at Tribeca. TV: “One Life to Live,” “Major Crimes,” “Blindspot,” “Outsiders,” “Law & Order” and “Blue Bloods.”
AL’JALEEL MCGHEE (Understudy). Chicago-built artist. Currently appears on 61st Street (AMC), Lady in the Lake (Apple+), “Power Book IV: FORCE” (Starz). Regional: Intimate Apparel, Fireflies (Northlight), Wolf Play (Gift), Graveyard Shift (Goodman, New Stages), Paradise Blue (Timeline), Breach (Victory Gardens), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Court). Northwestern, MFA. Gratitude to the tribe!
HOWARD W. OVERSHOWN (Private James Wilkie). Broadway: The Lehman Trilogy (U/S), Saint Joan, Julius Caesar, A Freeman of Color, A Soldiers Play (U/S). Off-Broadway: Yellowman, The Underlying Chris, Passage, Beauty on the Vine, Cost of Living (U/S). TV/Film: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “girls5eva,” “Law and Order,” “Blue Bloods,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “The Affair,” Pride and Glory, 13, Lost Cat Corona, Body of Lies, “Madam Secretary.”
ALEX ROSS (Understudy). Broadway: Book of Mormon (Elder Price Standby). Regional: Dallas Theater Center, Theatre Aspen, Watertower Theatre, Theater Three, Uptown Players. TV/Film: “Logan Lucky,” “Bull,” “Law & Order SVU,” “NCIS LA,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Queen of the South,” “Long Road Home,” “Revolution.” VO: “Smite,” “One Piece,” “Black Butler.” @astanross
CHARLES FULLER 1939-2022 (Playwright). Mr. Fuller received the Dramatists Guild’s Flora Roberts Award for his extensive body of work. Mr. Fuller’s creative efforts involve a wide range of theatre, film and television. He was a member of the Negro Ensemble Company, where his Zooman and the Sign won him an Obie and A Solder’s Play won him a Pulitzer Prize, Best American Play and an Edgar Award. Mr. Fuller’s adaptation of his play became the 1984 film A Soldier’s Story, which was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award and won a Writers Guild of America Award. He has written screenplays for CBS, PBS and Showtime. He has also mentored young playwrights at Cherry Lane Theatre and was commissioned by Cherry Lane to write a play, One Night, which opened there in 2014. The 2020 Broadway premiere of Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play won the Tony Award for Best Revival at Roundabout Theatre Company and is on National Tour starring Norm Lewis. A Soldier’s Play is also being adapted into a limited TV series by Sony Pictures Television.
KENNY LEON (Director) is a Tony Award- winning director who also has been honored with The Actors Fund Medal of Honor, an Obie Award and an NAACP Image Award. Mr. Leon is also a proud honoree of the George Abbott Lifetime Achievement for American Theatre. Broadway: A Soldier’s Play; American Son; Children of a Lesser God; Holler If Ya Hear Me; A Raisin in the Sun; The Mountaintop; Stick Fly; August Wilson’s Fences, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Upcoming Broadway: Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog on Broadway this fall. Off- Broadway: The Underlying Chris, Everybody’s Ruby, Emergence-See! (The Public); Smart People (Second Stage). Television: Robin Roberts Presents: “Mahalia;” “Colin in Black & White;” “4400;” “Amend: The Fight for America;” “American Son” (adapted for Netflix); “Hairspray Live!;” “The Wiz Live!;” “Steel Magnolias;” “Dynasty;” “In My Dreams.” Author: Take You Wherever You Go. Artistic Director Emeritus, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company. Senior Resident Director: Roundabout Theatre Company.
CRISTINA ANGELES (Associate Director) is an Afrolatina theater maker, whose mission is to create community and conversation by directing new work, and socially conscious adaptations of classics that place people of color at the forefront. Recent credits include Into the Woods at Pace University, and the upcoming production of Queen of Basel at Theaterworks Hartford.
DEREK McLANE (Set Design) has designed many productions for Broadway, Off- Broadway, internationally and for TV. Recent Broadway credits include MJ, Moulin Rouge!, Burn This, American Son, Children of a Lesser God, The Parisian Woman, The Price, Fully Committed, Beautiful, Noises Off, The Heiress, Nice Work If You Can Get It and 33 Variations (Tony Award), among others. He designed the Academy Awards for six years (Emmy Award) and has designed four live musicals for NBC including “Hairspray” (Emmy Award) and “The Wiz.”
DEDE AYITE (Costume Design) Broadway: Topdog/Underdog, American Buffalo, How I Learned to Drive, A Soldier’s Play, Slave Play, Chicken & Biscuits, American Son, Children of a Lesser God. Select Off-Broadway: Merry Wives (The Public); The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic). Regionally, Ayite’s work has appeared at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage and more. Awards: Drama Desk, Obie, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, Jeff Awards, two Tony nominations.
ALLEN LEE HUGHES (Lighting Design). Topdog|Underdog, A Soldier’s Play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park, Having Our Say, Mule Bone, Once on This Island, K2, Strange Interlude, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Quilters. Four Tony nominations, AUDELCO and Ovation nominations, OCC Award, two Helen Hayes Awards, National Black Theatre Festival Outstanding Achievement and Ming Cho Lee Hewes Award.
DAN MOSES SCHREIER (Sound Design). Radio City Spring Spectacular, Encores’ Broadway: with Kenny Leon, premieres of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, among many others. Awards: five Tony Award nominations, five Drama Desk Awards, Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, Lucille Lortel Award, NAACP Theatre Award. Fellow of the MacDowell Colony. This past summer, Dan composed the music for Coriolanus at the Delcorte Theater. Most recently, he designed James Lapine/Tom Kitt/Michael Korie’s new musical Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center. danmosesschreier.com