Set on a US Army installation in the segregation-era South, the play is a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, and follows the murder investigation of the Sergeant in an all-black unit.
The story takes place at the United States Army's Fort Neal, Louisiana, in 1944 during the time when the military was racially segregated.
The light-skinned Waters was highly intelligent and extremely ambitious, and loathed black men who conformed to old-fashioned racist stereotypes.
In Waters' mind, Uncle Toms and "lazy, shiftless Negroes" reflected poorly on him, and made it harder for other African-Americans to succeed.
Directed by Clinton Turner Davis, the cast featured Wood Harris (Private First Class Melvin Peterson), Keith Randolph Smith, Danny Johnson (C.J.
[5][6] Roundabout Theater Company presented the play's Broadway debut in January 2020, starring David Alan Grier as Sergeant Waters, Blair Underwood as Captain Davenport, and Nnamdi Asomugha as Private First Class Melvin Peterson; directed by Kenny Leon.
[10][11][12][13] The play embarked on a national tour during the 2022–2023 season, starring Norm Lewis as Davenport and Eugene Lee as Waters.
[14] Caesar, Washington and Larry Riley reprised their roles in the film version, A Soldier's Story, directed by Norman Jewison.