Historic courthouse is stage for courtroom drama

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Members of the cast of "A Few Good Men" rehearse for the upcoming Crown Point Community Theater production being presented at the old Lake County courthouse in Crown Point, Ind. | Provided Photo

Updated: February 14, 2012 8:07AM

“You can’t handle the truth!”

The line brings to mind Jack Nicholson’s performance in the 1992 film version of Aaron Sorkin’s play “A Few Good Men.”

The cast members of the Crown Point Community Theatre production will do their best to draw you into their adaptation of the well-known story that will play out in the historic Lake County Courthouse at the center of town.

“The play deviates from the movie,” said Matt Valuckis, an actor in the play. “It’s a great character-driven story, and the fact that it’s being presented in the old courthouse adds to the story. The location of the play is just as much a character as the show itself.”

Directors Becky Fox and Jerry Jascoviak hope this will be a memorable drama, as well as a tribute to those serving in the Armed Forces.

“It’s easy for us at home, unaffected by the realties of war and military life, to judge how we might act in certain situations that we see on the nightly news,” Fox said. “What this tribunal shows is not so much the way a court-martial works as how the mind of a serviceman operates.”

The details involved in staging a military drama are intricate. When the audience is much closer to the action than they would have been in a theater, those details help make the action more realistic.

“I’ve really enjoyed learning about the military aspect and the role of the legal system in it,” said Eric Reithel, an actor in the play. “Our directors have brought in Derek Sutton of the U.S. Army to help drill the cast and whip us into military shape, and it’s just great fun.”

The costumes in this production are authentic military uniforms.

“I never realized how much detail goes in to being military,” Jascoviak said. “As far as dress appearance and protocols, my experience in the Boy Scouts is a cake walk compared to the military.”

“A Few Good Men” was written by Sorkin when he was still relatively unknown. He has gone on to be one of the most powerful writers in Hollywood with the successful screen adaptation of this play, films such as “The American President” and television series such as “The West Wing.”

“His style of writing is very quick and intelligent,” Reithel said. “For an actor it’s a rare challenge to have the chance to act out dialogue like this. It’s ‘A Few Good Men’! I mean, c’mon. Everyone knows this show.”