A Soldier's Play

The play takes place in 1944 at Fort Neal, a fictional military base near Tynin, Louisiana. The set is sparse, set up to depict Captain Charles Taylor’s office and the men’s barracks, but also to look like a courtroom. A song by the Andrews Sisters, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” plays as Tech/Sergeant Vernon C. Waters, a light-skinned Black man, crawls onstage. Like all the characters, he is dressed in a World War II–era uniform. Waters is extremely drunk and struggling to stand up, repeating, “They’ll still hate you!” (8) and laughing. An unseen man steps out of the shadows and shoots him twice. Waters falls dead.

The stage goes dark; then lights rise on the barracks, which house the all-Black Company B, 221st Chemical Smoke Generating Company. The five Black enlisted men who live in the barracks—Corporal Bernard Cobb, Private James Wilkie, Private Louis Henson, PFC Melvin Peterson, and Private Tony Smalls— are being frisked by Corporal Ellis, who is also Black. Ellis is searching for weapons. Captain Charles Taylor, a young white man and their supervising officer, watches uneasily.

Cobb insinuates that only a white man would have killed Waters. Taylor replies that they don’t know for sure that his death was a lynching, and they’re checking for weapons to make sure that no one tries to retaliate. Ellis reports that there are also no weapons in the men’s footlockers, which finally allows Taylor to relax. Taylor praises Waters and his service to the company and threatens to court-martial any man found with a weapon. To the men’s chagrin, Taylor informs them that all military personnel are currently forbidden from going into Tynin and a dance is now cancelled. Taylor exits.

They discuss the murder, which Henson reiterates was committed by the Klan, and Smalls questions why they are surrounded by rifle-wielding MPs. Henson moves on to mocking Wilkie, asking, “Whose ass can you kiss, now that your number-one ass is dead?” (13) Wilkie argues that he has a family to support, and Waters demoted him by taking away three stripes. He was kissing up to Waters in hopes of getting his stripes back. Smalls is disturbed about the presumed lynching of Waters and doesn’t understand why the others won’t be serious about it. Smalls lies face down in his bunk. The men joke about ways to distract Smalls.

The lights cross-fade and rise on Captain Richard Davenport, a confident and impeccably dressed Black officer and lawyer. He tells the audience that once the headlines of Waters’s murder died down with none of the feared retaliation, the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall pushed for an investigation. The order was handed down from Colonel Nivens and eventually landed on Davenport. He is arriving at Fort Neal about a month after Waters was killed.

Davenport is in Taylor’s office, and Taylor is staring at him awkwardly. Taylor admits that it’s jarring to see a Black officer. Taylor questions Davenport about his personal history and credentials. Davenport reminds Taylor of his orders to investigate the murder, and Taylor becomes defensive, stating that he expected a white officer to come and investigate. He exclaims that as a Black man, Davenport won’t be allowed to prosecute a white murderer. Davenport replies that he intends to follow his orders, and remains insistent on his authority and mission.

After a moment, Taylor calls for Ellis, and he instructs Ellis to help Davenport with questioning the men. Taylor warns that he intends to try and have Davenport replaced, but Davenport refuses to be intimidated. Davenport walks out of the office with Ellis, who comments, “It sure is good to see one of us wearin’ them Captain’s bars, sir” (22), before exiting to fetch Wilkie for the first round of questioning. Wilkie is excited to meet a Black officer and shows it, but Davenport ignores flattery and gets down to business right away.

Davenport asks Wilkie about his relationship with Waters. Wilkie explains that their company was essentially a baseball team, as most of them had been a part of the Negro League before enlistment. Waters was assigned to manage them as a team. Prior to that, Waters had been a gunnery sergeant and was awarded a Croix de Guerre in World War I. Wilkie admits that Waters demoted him, adding with a smile, “But I was in the wrong, sir!” (24). The scene flashes back to Waters berating Wilkie for being drunk while on duty. Waters not only takes his stripes but sentences him to 10 days in jail, blaming men like Wilkie for making Black people look bad so that white men don’t want them doing anything significant in the war.

Wilkie was from Detroit, but Waters had a hatred for the Black men who came from the South. The only exception seemed to be CJ Memphis, a young, well-liked Black man from Mississippi who was their best baseball player. He also sang and played guitar. The scene flashes back to CJ playing and singing something bluesy. Waters watches with a smile. Wilkie joins in, and they sing about how they’re never allowed a “real role” in the war. Wilkie explains that Waters liked CJ right away.

Waters also liked to talk about his family. In a flashback, Waters shows Wilkie a picture of his son, commenting, “I hope this kid never has to be a soldier” (28). Wilkie is surprised since Waters is a career soldier; Waters explains that the military was the best he could do, adding, “This army was the closest I figured the white man would let me get to any kind of authority” (28). He’s preparing his son and daughter to live in a white man’s world and succeed. Wilkie notes that Black men don’t usually have the same educational opportunities, which irks Waters, who accuses him of making excuses. Abruptly, Waters dismisses Wilkie, who is stunned by the sudden outburst.

Back in the present, Wilkie states that Waters was like two different people, sometimes warm and other times completely cold, but he assesses Waters as “all right” (30) overall. The last time he saw him was at the NCO club on the night he was killed. Waters was very drunk. Then Wilkie asks Davenport if the rumor is true that Waters was found with his stripes and insignia intact on his uniform. Davenport replies that the report he received didn’t say otherwise. Wilkie comments that the Klan members who like to lynch Black soldiers tend to take the stripes off because they don’t like seeing Black men in US military uniforms. Before exiting, Wilkie asks Davenport if he can do anything about his allotment checks, which his wife has stopped receiving. Surprised, Davenport offers to mention it to Taylor.

Wilkie sends Peterson in. Peterson admits that he did not like Sergeant Waters. Before Davenport can respond, Ellis enters and tells Davenport that Taylor needs to see him right away, although he didn’t give Ellis a reason. Annoyed, Davenport asks Peterson to walk and talk with him. Peterson elaborates that his dislike of Waters began with the baseball team: Waters, assisted by Wilkie, treated the team like they were on a chain gang. The scene flashes back to the men right after a winning game, including a home run by CJ. The men talk and joke with one another. Smalls interjects that the last time they ran into a white man who had lost to them, he had harassed them. Peterson pipes up to agree with Smalls that they always find ways to punish them for winning. CJ starts to play and sing.

Waters enters with Wilkie following, ordering CJ to stop playing and for all the men to change clothes and report for work detail, as they’re going to be painting the lobby of the Officer’s Club. Smalls asks why the officers can’t paint their club themselves, and the others joke that that’s their job as the Black company—to do any job that white men don’t want to do. Waters insists that their job is to do whatever they are ordered to do. CJ comments that they can’t do much to the Nazis with paintbrushes. Suddenly dangerous, Waters zeroes in on CJ, insulting him for acting like Southern Black men who make all Black men look foolish. Peterson defends CJ, and Waters grabs his collar. Peterson snaps at Waters to take his hands off him. Waters smiles and invites Peterson to hit him.

Taylor enters. He congratulates the men and gives them the rest of the day to rest. Waters protests, but Taylor doesn’t care: If the team wins all their games, they’ll get to play an exhibition game against the Yankees, which is great for morale. After Taylor leaves, Waters goes back to insulting CJ before turning to Peterson and vowing to beat him behind the barracks in front of the entire company. Waters exits. The men start to argue over whether Peterson should go through with it. Peterson is angry at CJ for not standing up for himself. CJ argues that Waters hasn’t hurt him physically, and apart from the name-calling, Waters treats him well. Peterson insists that Waters hates CJ, but CJ feels for Waters, whom he thinks must be hurting because he doesn’t know where he belongs. CJ starts to play and sing as the scene fades back to Davenport and Peterson.

Peterson states that Waters beat him severely. He admits that he didn’t report the incident, but it seemed to get Waters off his back. On the night Waters was killed, Peterson was on guard duty with Smalls. Davenport asks if the team got to play the Yankees, but Peterson replies that they lost their last game. The two men salute, and Peterson exits.

Davenport finds Taylor’s office empty. Then Taylor enters and explains that he wanted to tell Davenport that he was asking Colonel Nivens to terminate Davenport’s investigation, because a Black men will not be allowed to hold white men accountable. Davenport stands firm, threatening to charge Taylor for interfering in a criminal investigation. Taylor says he’d never be taken seriously, and Davenport asserts that he can drag Taylor’s name through the mud as a racist in Black newspapers to destroy his career. Taylor replies that he’ll never be promoted past captain because he fights for things like justice for a murdered Black officer.

Davenport realizes that Taylor believes that the murder was committed by two white officers. Taylor retorts that he wants them discharged and in prison, which Davenport will never be able to achieve. Davenport questions why Taylor didn’t include this in his report, and Taylor explains that he couldn’t prove it, but that the two bullets removed from Waters were from army-issued weapons. Taylor was afraid that the men of the Black company would have become violent if they heard that Waters was murdered by a white officer. Taylor gives Davenport their names: Byrd and Wilcox. Cobb had reported to Taylor that Waters got into an altercation with the two men outside the Black NCO club, but they were gone by the time Taylor went to break it up. Taylor didn’t think anything more of it until Waters was found dead the next morning.

Davenport demands that Taylor tell him what Byrd and Wilcox said when questioned. The narrative flashes back to the night of the murder. Waters is drunk and stumbling. Byrd and Wilcox are returning from bivouac when they spot Waters. In the background, CJ starts to sing and play. Waters starts to taunt Byrd and Wilcox. Byrd tells Taylor that they weren’t looking for any trouble. Waters rants about white boys, and how he listened to the symphony in France to be accepted by them, asking whether they accept him now.

Byrd reproaches him for disrespect, but Waters doesn’t care. They argue, and Wilcox tries to hold Byrd back, but Byrd advances on Waters and shoves him by his face. Waters starts to cry, continuing to rave, “I’ve killed for you! […] And nothin’ changed!” (53) Byrd spits, “He needs to be taught a lesson” (53). Byrd pushes Waters to the ground and starts kicking and beating him as Wilcox pulls him back and pleads with him to stop before he kills him. Byrd threatens to blow Waters’s head off as Wilcox drags him away.

Taylor explains that Byrd has a history of picking fights with Black men, although both Byrd and Wilcox swear that they left him alive. Davenport is furious that Taylor didn’t include them in the report, exclaiming that he is ordering Taylor to be confined to his quarters while he waits for Davenport to file charges. Taylor notes that he’ll have to charge Colonel Nivens too, since he backs up part of their alibi, along with a few other men they played cards with. Davenport insists that all of them are lying. Taylor challenges him to prove it, and Davenport vows that the will. The Andrews Sisters’ “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” rises and plays until the Act ends.