Roundabout Theatre Company will launch a 20-week North American tour of its production of Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play. Tony-winning director Kenny Leon will return to direct the staging, winner of the 2020 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, with Tony nominee Norm Lewis in the role of Captain Richard Davenport.
Performances will begin December 2022, with full casting and schedule to be announced.
Set in 1944 on a U.S. army base in the south, A Soldier's Play follows an officer's race against his white leadership to unravel the crime of a black sergeant's murder. Fuller won the Pulitzer Prize for the work in 1982, but the 2020 Roundabout revival was its Broadway premiere.
鈥淎s an institution committed to shining new light on classics, Roundabout was proud to produce the long-overdue Broadway premiere of A Soldier鈥檚 Play," says Roundabout Artistic Director and CEO Todd Haimes. "On Broadway, I was thrilled to see Charles Fuller鈥檚 work and Kenny Leon鈥檚 spectacular vision get the recognition it deserved. Now, the opportunity to bring this production to cities across North America allows us to continue elevating the legacy of this great, American masterpiece."
鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to direct Charles Fuller鈥檚 masterwork for audiences around the country,鈥� adds Leon. 鈥淎nyone who has seen Norm on the stage or screen knows that he is a remarkably powerful presence鈥攁 true force-of-nature鈥攁nd I can鈥檛 wait to see what will happen when we have that power at the center of this play.鈥�
Lewis was most recently seen on Broadway this season in Douglas Lyon's Chicken & Biscuits. He was Tony nominated for his title role in the 2012 production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. His Broadway credits also include Once on This Island, The Little Mermaid, The Wild Party, and The Phantom of the Opera, in which he made history as the first Black performer to play the Phantom on Broadway. Lewis' television and film credits include Scandal, Pose, Central Park, Da 5 Bloods, and Christmas in Tune.
The Broadway creative team will also return for the tour production: set design by Derek McLane, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes, and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier. The tour of A Soldier鈥檚 Play is produced by Roundabout Theatre Company and Tamar Climan.
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