For those who have never seen the movie (like me), let me summarize the plot. Two Marines, LCpl Harold Dawson (Johnny Schwinn) and PFC Louden Downey (Damien d’Entremont) are accused of murder for the death of PFC William Santiago (uncredited voice). The case has been transferred to the Washington DC JAG office, and this hot-shot young lawyer LCDR Joanne Galloway (Kristen Paige) wants to be assigned to the case. The JAG has other ideas, and assigns LTJG Daniel Kaffee (O Michael Ovington) as the lead lawyer, with LTJG Sam Weinberg (Bill Quinn) as his assistant. Kaffee, although having excellent law school grades and a well-known lawyer for a father, appears to be more interesting in playing softball than court. In court, he is more intrested in softball as well, boasting of his plea bargin rate, as opposed to his win rate. As the story goes on, we learn that the defendents executed a “Code Red” on Santiago because he had been complaining outside the code of command; this “Code Red” was at the surruptitious command of higher ups, leaving the two enlisted men as the fall guys. Key players in the coverup were Lt. Jonathan James Kendrick (Ransom Boynton), Capt. Matthew Markinson (Michael Collins). Insisting there was no coverup — i.e., that Santiago was killed just before he was due to be transferred — was Lt. Col. Nathan Roy Jessep (Daniel Lench). As they investingate the case, Kaffee and his time learn the truth about the coverup, and in a series of compelling courtroom scenes in the second act, the truth (as always, in a Sorkin drama), comes out.
REP East is a small theatre company with a dedicated core of individuals (not all equity), and this was an extremely tense drama. They pulled it off beautifully. The cast are all playing military roles, and they had military precision. A lot of this was due to SgtMaj Darrin Craig USMC, who served as military advisor for the production. There were a few minor line gaffes (all recovered from), but the show was only in its second week, so those should go away and didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the product. I was particularly impressed with the performance of the leads: Ovington, Quinn, and Paige. These are all long-time REP members: Ovington is the Artistic Director of the theatre; Quinn is a board member and regular actor, and Paige is a regular performer there. All of them did excellent with the roles. Also notable was Daniel Lench at Jessup, who would give Nicholson a run for his money. The younger soldiers all gave the impression of dedicated Marines, who have an unswavering devotion to Unit, Corps, God, Country… in that order. You can find the full bios of the cast here. Others in the cast included Phillip Peck (Lt. Jack Ross), Mikee Schwinn (Cpl Jeffrey Owen Howard), Jeff Hyde (Capt. Julius Alexander Randolph), Ed Hill (Capt Isaac Whitaker), Marlowe Weisman (CDR Walter Stone), and Johnny Schwinn (Sergeant at Arms, MP, Orderly). One complaint in this respect: the printed program did not consistently identify who played what role (although the web page does), and some bios are obviously out of date (e.g., Bill Quinn’s bio, which refers to him being backstage this show). This should be corrected. I’ll also note that the fellow playing LCpl Dawson, Derek Smith, is a Computer Science student at Loyola Marymount. See, there is hope. I did forget to ask him if he knows Ray Toal, who I know through the LA Chapter of the ACM.
The play was written by Aaron Sorkin, of West Wing and Studio 60 fame, and shows typical Sorkin touches. The dialogue is crisp, with points of humor. It tends to poke at the excessively stuffed, showing that over devotion to honor at the expense of the truth will bring on to their downfall. There are the usual Sorkin speeches. The play was directed by Michael Levine, stage managed by Kelly Hardy, production managed by Katie Mitchell. Costumes were by Erin Rivlin-Sakata (another REP regular) and Jennifer Rennels-Magon. Sound was by the always excellent Nanook, with lighting by Tim Christianson, and sets by Mike Henn. Costumes were run by Lauren Pearsall.
I recommend that those in the area go see this show; it runs through February 17. Tickets are available through the REP East or through Goldstar. The REP’s next show will be The Last 5 Years by Jason Robert Brown.
As for us, what’s on the theatre calendar… Defiance at the Pasadena Playhouse on 2/10; Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center on 2/25; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at CSUN on 3/10, and Smokey Joe’s Cafe at Cabrillo Music Theatre on 3/31. It appears that the melodrama may not happen at the Theatre on High Street as the theatre was unavailable for the production, but it may turn up somewhere. I’m also working on tickets for They’re Playing Our Song at Valley Musical Theatre, plus whatever else interesting shows up on Goldstar Events.
As a P.S.: Those that read socal_theatre know that I’m looking for a summer theatre program for nsshere. Due to the timing of our family reunion (out of town end of June through 7/7), she is unable to participate in TADW at CSUN or the program at the Golden Performing Arts Center. lindasings had recommended the program at Class Act Musical Theatre in Woodland Hills, which worked out time-wise. Last night, I asked O. Michael Ovington if he had heard of it. He hadn’t, but recommended we explore the Showdown Stage Teen Academy (alas, their website doesn’t provide information on dates). He also recommended the teen program for the College of the Canyons, but it doesn’t seem to be online where I could find it. He also indicated that the Canyon Theatre Guild had a program, but it doesn’t seem to be on their website.
P.P.S. My daughter’s review is here.
