A Few Good (wo)Men

This November, A Few Good (wo)Men opens up Thursday, the 20th, at John Jay’s Gerard W. Lynch Theater, directed by Professor Moller and performed by John Jay students.

Movie aficionados may recall the 1992 film directed by Rob Reiner, starring Jack Nicholson and a pre-scientology Tom Cruise. What some may not know is that it was first a play, written by the West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin and produced by David Brown on Broadway in 1989. Now the play comes to John Jay, directed by Professor Lorraine Moller of the Department of Speech, Theatre and Media Studies.

But why now?

“I wanted to do something that was appropriate for the election year. I wanted to do a play that embodied a respect for the military but at the same time challenged the reality that sometimes the military abuses its power, its power to advance the power of democracy, at the extent of the common person, or the little guy,” said Moller.

But that wasn’t all. Moller also had a message for John Jay students who are unsure of what this play means for them: “I also knew this to be a fast moving court room drama,” Moller said, “that would be compelling in a criminal justice element, and knew it had the potential to appeal to an audience that was interested in this kind of court martial thriller.”

For anyone not familiar with the play or the movie, the “play focuses on a young attorney who exposes a colonel for the unsanctioned hazing of a young marine”. The play delves into different topics, mainly what happens when the power of military authority is abused in the name of national security. Moller said that where most plays need longer scenes to truly function, this play is just as cinematic as the movie. Rather than being linear, having a beginning, middle and end, the plays scenes jump back and forth, like a film.

Something that may interest viewers is that while the original plot only had a sole female protagonist, the current production is being done almost entirely by a female cast. Many of the roles have been adapted for female characters as the director felt that women should be shown to have “the same nobility and moral fiber that men have”. Moller felt that John Jay was “better suited” for finding women to fill these roles, saying that they “have filled them out rather handsomely” and “have done a great job” in meeting the challenges of filling such big shoes.

Dedication to the atmosphere of the play was shown in just the sheer amount of preparation the cast has gone through. Actors and actresses have been trained heavily for the sake of remaining faithful not only to the original play, or the popular movie, but to military life in general.

“We had two guys from the marines come and work with them, in spanking blue uniforms, covers (hats), gloves, and I kind of expected that they were going to be over the top and arrogant. One of them turned out to be a graduate of John Jay; the two of them were so likeable,” said Moller. The marines’ presence was to teach the performers military demeanor to incorporate into the roles.

Moller laughs as she also adds a type of preparation that some of her cast may not have enjoyed. To avoid the usual tardiness performers have been known for generally, rehearsals were run like physical training. “We decided to make the rehearsal into a military environment,” she said. Performers were made to do running exercises, push-ups, and the like for the first 30 days.

The AFGW cast also received training in the handling of arms. David Routh, assistant coach of the rifle squad, trained them in marching techniques and military demeanor for eight weeks, on Tuesdays. Rubber ducks, or driller rifles, hard plastic replica rifles of the M16 assault rifle, were bored from ROTC. All in all, actors have learned to salute, march, keep posture and do the various cadence routines of marine gun holding just like any new soldier would to push authenticity as far as possible.

Moller, whose niece is a Sergeant in the marines and has been deployed to Iraq, is a pacifist who firmly protests the Iraq War. Ironically, this is what attracted her to the play. “The attack of a military authority really drew me in; the Iraq War, and my skepticism, and the necessity and nature of war. “

Deeper yet, to understand characters like Jack Nicholson’s Colonel Jessup and keep him fresh and three-dimensional, she found herself looking at the military in a slightly different light. She had to consider how fanatical military personnel similar to Jessup may have to imagine making decisions in the moment, “not just for one man, but for everyone in the corp”. She found herself more empathetic to the military, and “how it is to command a military regiment”, especially “when someone in the unit has to die to prevent the entire platoon from danger”. Despite her newfound peak at military life, she remains strong as ever in her Anti-War sentiments.

For students interested in seeing the production, the showing starts on the 20th and ends on the 25th. Tickets are $10; $5 for students, and can be purchased and reserved online at www.ticketcentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200.

A Few Good (wo)Men is not the only John Jay play being developed. Professor Tarantino, director of the wildly successful West Side Story production that ran two years ago, is directing The Last Days of Judas Iscariot under John Jay’s new APACHE project. APACHE, the Arts Partnership and Collaborative in Higher Education, is a collaborative initiative between the students at John Jay and from the colleges belonging to the Great Lakes Colleges Association. The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a courtroom drama that takes place in an imagined world between Heaven and Hell, a modern purgatory called Hope. It re-examines the plight and fate of Judas, the New Testament’s most infamous sinner.

The production opens on Tuesday, April 21st, and run until Saturday, April 25th.

Performances:
Thursday, Nov. 20th ; 12:30 & 8:00
Friday, Nov. 21st ; 12:30 & 8:00
Saturday, Nov. 22nd; 8:00
Sunday, Nov. 23rd ; 3:00
Monday, Nov. 24th; 12:30
Tuesday, Nov. 25th; 7:00

A Few Good (wo)Men by Aaron Sorkin
Gerald W. Lynch Theater
Tickets: $10
$5 All Students