For Norm Lewis, ‘A Soldier’s Play’ speaks a relevant and powerful truth

Norm Lewis poses for a portrait at the CIBC Theatre in March. The veteran Broadway actor portrays Captain Richard Davenport in “A Soldier’s Play.” (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

In 1982, Charles Fuller’s drama “A Soldier’s Play” won the Pulitzer Prize following a successful run Off Broadway featuring an ensemble that included Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington.

It took almost 40 years for Fuller’s murder-in-the-military mystery to make its Broadway debut. COVID truncated that Tony Award-winning 2020 run, but this month, the Roundabout Theatre’s national tour of the production makes its way to Chicago.