a so-called minority—African Americans are approximately 12-13% of the population —you really have to understand the people who surround you. In other words, Black people have to understand how white people think and operate and live their lives. It’s not the same conversely. White people don’t necessarily have to really understand Black culture, life, characters, people. I think Davenport understands Taylor and his sense of racism and superiority much better than Taylor understands it himself.


TS: Can we talk about Captain Davenport’s relationship to the other Black soldiers? It seems like they don’t trust him because he is part of the power structure, or do you see that differently? BU: You’re always going to have that sense of pride because someone that looks like you is in a position of power, but then the second blush is thinking–-Oh, you’re in a position of authority, which means you can rule me in certain ways, you can have a certain opinion that can affect my livelihood and future. So, I think it’s a mixed bag, but as I see it, it definitely starts with this sense of tremendous pride to have this man of color with this rank among them, who has been assigned the task of solving a murder that occurred on base.


TS: What do you want audiences to take away from this play? BU: I would love the audience to take away the understanding that everything and everyone is multilayered. There’s much more behind a person’s presentation of themselves than what we see. Even when we point fingers and we blame the “others”—and there’s a lot of that going on in our society right now—people who look different than us, who believe different than us, who love different than us—there are usually very deep and profound and complex reasons for that. What Charles Fuller has written is a play that really uncovers and mines all the human beings featured in it. The play asks audiences to look for why people do what they do. This is a murder mystery, but I am speaking way beyond the murder that takes place. Human behavior—why do people love? Why do people hate? Why do people hate themselves? Why do people hate others who are not like them? A Soldier’s Play allows all of us to explore the human psyche—especially the psyches of the Black and white men who are at the center of the drama.


TS: What do you look for when you work with a director? What’s important to you when you collaborate on a role? BU: For me, and I feel this in Kenny, a director is someone who has a very strong understanding of the text and the characters and how he or she wants to direct our performances and direct the story in terms of its breadth, width, and depth. What are the messages we want to leave the audience with? How do we want them to think and feel? If we can understand what we are aiming for, then we can all get there collectively. I’m looking forward to working with Kenny—we’ve never worked together before. We were hanging out last weekend at Tyler Perry’s studios in Atlanta and had a chance to touch base and talk about where he is going with it. I’m very thrilled to be working with him.


TS: How do you keep yourself inspired as an artist? BU: Just keep challenging myself. Doing something different. I was doing “Ironside” out here in LA—the reboot of the Raymond Burr series—and it was one of those projects that was on the air for three weeks because they ended up canceling it. There was not much of an opportunity to see what it could really do. After that experience, I got really burnt out and I had to remind myself why I’m doing this in the first place. So, I took a year off and went away to do what I love to do—which is the theatre. I wanted to get back on the boards and didn’t want to see a camera for at least a year. During that year, I played Othello and opposite Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams in The Trip to Bountiful. I needed to remind myself why I’m in the business in the first place. And the answer to myself was that it’s not about the business, it’s about the craft and the work, and the place where you can delve into that more than anywhere else.


TS: Do you have any advice for a young person who says they want to have a career as an actor? BU: Yes. Dream big, number one. Number two, run to the things that scare you. And number three: use the technology that you have.•


Blair Underwood in rehearsal for A Soldier's Play Photo by Jeremy Daniel


A SOLDIER'S PLAY UPSTAGE GUIDE 11


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