Provocative war story 'Colonel Pilate' invades Ensemble Theatre

By Lynda Edwards

Staff Writer

British, Russian and German critics have called Aleksey Scherbak one of Europe's most exciting new playwrights - and he's won plenty of international prizes to prove that he's worthy of the praise. Yet Scherbak chose Chattanooga for the world premiere of his next play. "Colonel Pilate," to be presented the next two weekends by Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, follows invading soldiers from a nation never named desperately searching for a terrorist bomber in a smaller, never named land.

"Colonel Pilate," opening Friday at Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, features, left to right, Eric "Red" Wyatt as the lieutenant, Joel Rievely as Ali, Bruce Shaw as the colonel and Jimmy Sowell as the captain.

Scherbak and translator John J. Hanlon thought the play would resonate powerfully in a Southern city for two key reasons - primarily because so many young men and women choose the military as their path to the middle class. And due to slavery and the Civil War, Southern history includes the experience of being conquered.

"Colonel Pilate" is the second recipient of the Brave New Works: New Play Development Series, a commitment to new works begun last year by the theater, which was founded in 2007.

Unlike war movies, where middle-aged actors like George Clooney and John Wayne often star, the play's young soldiers will be played by actors around age 20. All the fast-paced action takes place in one day, and there is an unpredictable twist at the end.

"The script is purposefully vague on certain details so as not to define itself by any one specific military conflict, but the characters are very detailed and fascinating," says ETC artistic director Garry Lee Posey. "It could remind some of the audience of certainly U.S. and Middle East conflicts as well as Russia's invasion of the Ukraine."

The drama opens with the troops capturing who they think is the bomber, but their leader becomes convinced the man is innocent. A central theme of the play debates how little those at home understand how war changes soldiers they send overseas.

Scherbak is from Latvia, a small Baltic nation that suffered under both Nazis and Soviets until it won its freedom in a 1991 revolution. His plays often explore how an individual can defend the truth he knows against a group, the media, a bureaucracy or mob.

Hanlon studied Russian at Swarthmore College and holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. He is scheduled to attend the Saturday, Nov. 22, performance, which will include a reception and discussion.

Posey says the dialogue in "Colonel Pilate" is pitch-perfect. The officers' sharp, witty dialogue is similar to Tom Stoppard's, while the young enlisted men speak in a tough-guy style similar to David Mamet's characters.

The play has been dedicated to Jordan Guess, one of Posey's Chattanooga State Community College drama students, who was killed in a traffic accident in September. Guess was cast as a soldier in the play, and the character dies in the play, saying the line, "This is war."

After the fatal accident, the scene was so heartbreaking for Guess' colleagues, one had to quit the play.

"He was a great actor and played the scene unforgettably," Posey says. "The dedication means from now on, wherever in the world the play is performed, in whatever language, Jordan's name will be printed in the play's program."

Contact Lynda Edwards at ledwards@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391.