Kenny Leon brings acclaimed 'A Soldier’s Play' to Atlanta

ATLANTA - "I’ve done, what, 15 Broadway plays to date? And nothing comes close to this. Well, maybe they all come close, but this at the top of the heap!"

Big words from Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, who’s talking about his acclaimed 2020 production of "A Soldier’s Play." The searing drama — written by Charles Fuller, who won a Pulitzer Prize for it in 1982 — centers on the murder of a Black Sergeant on a Louisiana army base. 

Leon’s Broadway production starred Blair Underwood and David Alan Grier and won a pair of Tony Awards — but the run was cut short by the onset of the pandemic.

Says Leon, "Folks kept saying, ‘That was such a great production…and there’s so many people that want to see it.’ So, rather than try to remount it for Broadway, why not take it to the people and all these wonderful cities across country?"

And so, "A Soldier’s Play" is now on tour, with a scheduled stop at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre from March 28 through April 2. The tour is headlined by Broadway greats Norm Lewis and Eugene Lee.

"We were at the Kennedy Center for five weeks and sold out there," says Leon. "Went to Philly…we’re going to go to Chicago, we’re going to L.A. But the most important place is my home: Atlanta, Georgia! The Fabulous Fox!"

Asked about his time here in Atlanta, Leon says, "I’m very grateful and thankful to the Atlanta community for actually letting me cut my teeth as an artist here. Long before I won a Tony Award, before I was nominated for Emmys, I was in Atlanta, in the theatre scene…to come home and see the growth in the community, see the artists in the community, see what they’re doing, I take a sense of pride in that and to know that I was part of that."

For more information on A Soldier’s Play and to purchase tickets, click here.