THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
"A relevant drama that left many in tears and asking why this play isn’t better known."
-Peter Marks, The Washington Post
SHOW INFO
November 28th - Dec 17th
A.R.T./New York Theatres
502 W 53rd St near 10th Ave
Written by by Douglas Taurel
In 85 minutes, playwright and actor Douglas Taurel, performs 14 different characters affected by various wars, including men, women, and children. He exposes their scars with darkness and humor while transporting the audience to a dozen different wartime eras - from the sweltering jungles of Vietnam, to the freezing fields of Valley Forge. Taurel masterfully portrays the stories of those most deeply touched by the scourge of war, including a father in the wake of his veteran son's suicide, a soldier dealing with the loss of his limb, a wife and son coping with a deployed father's absence, a grieving mother remembering her son at the Vietnam Memorial Wall, a perilously shell-shocked World War II veteran, a female combat veteran sharing her her struggles with PTSD and experiences as woman on the front lines, and many more. Created through exhaustive research, actual letters sent from soldiers to their loved ones, and verbatim language lifted from countless interviews with veterans, the play is an intensely personal look at the humanity behind the specter of war. The American Soldier is decidedly not a political play but a profoundly human story - a piece of theater created to honor our veterans and their families and to deepen our collective understanding of their experiences.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
DOUGLAS TAUREL recently portrayed Joe Petito in The Gabby Petito Story for Lifetime Movies opposite and under the direction of Thora Birch. On screen, other film credits include appearances in The Cobbler (starring Adam Sandler and Dustin Hoffman) and The Kindergarten Teacher (with Maggie Gyllenhaal), which premiered at Sundance and streaming on Netflix. His television work includes numerous television shows, and he can be heard as a featured voice actor in the popular video game Red Dead Redemption.
Taurel has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions at New York’s most respected venues - including Cherry Lane Theatre, 59E59 Theaters, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre for a New Audience to name a few.
As a writer, his play The American Soldier, a critically acclaimed solo show that has been nominated for the Amnesty International Award and has toured to over 34 cities across the United States. Highlights include three engagements at The Kennedy Center, performances at the Library of Congress, New York Federal Reserve and The Huffington Post called the play “flawless and powerful,” and it has been featuredin The Washington Post, The Washington Times, US Veterans Magazine, BroadwayWorld, Playbill, and many more.
The Library of Congress also commissioned him to create and write An American Soldier’s Journey Home, another one-man play commemorating the end of World War I and telling the story of the soldier Irving Greenwald of the famed Lost Battalion. Taurel also wrote, directed, and starred in the award-winning television series Landing Home, which earned Best Drama at the GI Film Festival and the Wings of Honor Festival, with Taurel receiving nominations for Best Actor and Best First-Time Director. The series is streaming on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Tubi, Vudu, and Vimeo On Demand.
Born and raised in Houston to Colombian and Argentine parents, Taurel is fluent in Spanish and embraces both his Latin American and American heritage.