Arts Center Scores a Coups With Marine Corps Drama

For the High Street Art Center’s opening act this year, producer Ken Rayzor has chosen the rapid fire production of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men. And the casting team has chosen actors who can carry it off.

Prepare to be pelted with dialogue pinging about the stage like bullets. This is, after all, what made Sorkin (head writer for the TV series West Wing) famous. It’s raw, hard nosed, funny and often a major headache to follow.

The story revolves around the legal defense of two Marines at Guatanamo Bay accused of murdering a fellow Marine based on an obscure vigilante honor code called “Code Red.” The defense team consists of LTJG Daniel Kaffee (Justin Cowden), LTJG Sam Weinberg (Michael Worden) and LCdr JoAnne Galloway (Rachael Pugh).

PFC William T. Santiago (A.J. Ruiz) was suspected by his fellow battalion members and his commanders of being a lazy private who constantly complained up the chain of command about abusive treatment by his superior officers.

Now that Santiago’s dead, Kaffee and his legal crew must determine if the two defendants who confessed to his murder are the only ones guilty of the crime. The challenge for Kaffee is to understand what Code Red means and whether or not someone high up in Santiago’s chain of command actually ordered it.

Kaffee’s suspicions focus on the actions of Lt. Kendrick (Robert Kestler) and his immediate superior officer, Colonel Nathan Jessep (Howard Leader), a growling Marine beast who considers the motto “unit-corps-God-country” a sacrosanct part of Marine Corps discipline.

Creating a military atmosphere, bringing military personnel to life, is the major challenge of this play. The United States military has its own culture and language. Finding the right cast to portray this is no small feat. Fortunately, HSAC has recruited some fine performers to carry this out.

At the story’s heart are two men with colossal egos: Kaffee (Cowden) and Jessep (Leader). They are a contrast in styles. Cowden uses rapid-fire humor as his weapon of choice. Leader attacks with a deliberate sense of Marine menace.

Cowden is adept at the dialogue, knowing when to bring it up, when to take it down, when to launch, when to shut up. Leader is a big man with a snarling voice who emanates Jessep’s pride and paranoia. Together on stage, these two remind me of the old biblical tale of David and Goliath. It’s smart versus dangerous, small tight sling versus a very nasty sword.

Hunter Wells, who plays Marine on trial L.Cpl. Harold W. Dawson, is also outstanding. From his stiff physique and his shaved haircut to his acting, he is every bit the soldier on stage, able to portray with startling accuracy the proud Marine religiously devoted to his honor code.

Co-directors R. Shane Bingham and James Cluster have cut and honed this production to march like a Marine Corps drill team. Scene to scene, actors, music, lighting and stage crew move along at a brisk pace.

The one production problem of note has mainly to do with the sound, or lack thereof. It’s particularly problematic in this production because of Sorkin’s style of dialogue.

Given the High Street Theater’s iffy acoustics, some of the words become depth charges that miss their target. Depending on where you sit, depending on whether or not an actor faces you, various lines get swallowed up and disappear.

Because the actors aren’t using head mics, it’s sometimes catch as catch can with the dialogue. Perhaps it’s enough to say that the cast should be aware of the strength of their voices and the pace of their diction. They’re up against it in this theater. They need to treat words like carefully aimed missiles.

Theater goers should also be aware that this is a frank portrayal of military life. After all, we’re talking sailors and marines and Sorkin pulls no punches. When you enter this story, you’re taken on a wild ride into the testosterone-fueled world of men and women drilled to fight, kill, and protect their country.

A Few Good Men is a well-oiled production that explores the brutal psychology of military discipline. HSAC has managed to successfully assemble that world and carry out its orders with remarkable precision.

For Sorkin, the question becomes: Can military discipline be enforced without losing its humanity? Maybe, maybe not. But for the cast and crew of A Few Good Men, at least they give the question a hard-charging run for its money.