(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- The Middletown Arts Center, in conjunction with Dunbar Repertory Company, presents Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play, directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, Sr., November 8-16, 2025. In a segregated Louisiana army camp in 1944, the murder of a rancorous Black sergeant stirs deep-seated animosity and corruption among the soldiers under his command. When a clean-cut Northern captain arrives to investigate, truths are confessed and a shocking secret is revealed.
Dunbar Repertory Company’s production features Arthur Gregory Pugh (Tech/Sergeant Vernon C. Waters), Stephen Mennella (Captain Charles Taylor), Jo-Leo Carney-Waterton (Corporal Bernard Cobb), Malik Abdul Khaaliq (Private First Class Melvin Peterson), Kylensky Miracle (Corporal Ellis), Travis Whitaker (Private Louis Henson), Bellamy Shivers (Private James Wilkie), Collin Roach (Private Tony Smalls), Damien S. Berger (Captain Richard Davenport), Antonious Thigpen (Private C.J. Memphis), Griffin Holland (Lieutenant Byrd) and Hudson Eder (Captain Wilcox).
Performances take place Saturday, November 8 at 3:00pm & 8:00pm; Sunday, November 9 at 4:00pm; Saturday, November 15 at 3:00pm & 8:00pm; and Sunday, November 16 at 4:00pm. Ticket prices are $22 and are general admission. A special discounted ticket price of $17 will be offered for the Final Matinee Performance (Sunday, November 16 at 4:00pm). Group ticket sales (10 or more) are also available for $17 per ticket.
Purchase tickets online at middletownarts.org or call the MAC Box Office at 732.706.4100. The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in station metered lot on weekday evenings after 6 p.m. and on weekends.
Charles Fuller (1939–2022) was an acclaimed American playwright whose work explored race, identity, and power within African American communities and American society at large. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fuller served in the U.S. Army before co-founding the Afro-American Arts Theatre, where he began developing his voice as a dramatist.
Fuller gained national recognition with A Soldier’s Play (1981), a gripping drama set on a Black Army base in 1944. The play, which investigates the murder of a Black sergeant, earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1982 and was later adapted into the Academy Award–nominated film A Soldier’s Story (1984). His other works, including The Brownsville Raid (1976) and Zooman and the Sign (1980), tackled racial tension, violence, and social justice, earning critical acclaim and Obie Awards.
Fuller’s writing is celebrated for its compelling narratives, rich characterizations, and unflinching engagement with difficult social issues. Over his career, he received numerous honors, including grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Fuller’s work left a lasting impact on American theater, elevating Black voices and experiences to the center of the stage. His legacy continues to inspire new generations of playwrights and audiences.
Known to residents of Central New Jersey as “Monmouth County’s African American Theater Company”, Dunbar Repertory Company is committed to its mission of perpetuating an appreciation of cultural diversity and celebrating African American culture through LIVE literary readings, main stage theatrical productions, education programs and services.
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, New Jersey that offers performances, exhibits, classes, demonstrations and camps centering on the arts. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex Education Building is minutes away next to the Middletown Reformed Church. The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities.
