DouglasTaurel’s ‘The American Soldier,’ Bows Off Broadway
After a 34 city US tour, Douglas Taurel is bringing his award-winning show, in which he plays 14 different characters, to an exclusive three-week engagement in New York at the A.R.T from Dec. 4 through Dec. 21.
| 26 Nov 2025 | 07:38
Douglas Taurel in his 90-minute, one-man production, plays 14 different characters from soldiers to moms and children. After a 34 city tour across the US, the play is having a limited run off Broadway run through Dec. 21 at the A.R.T. on W. 53rd St. (
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Douglas Taurel plays 14 different characters in his one man play which is having a limted NYC run through (
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Douglas Taurel plays the roles of soldiers as well as moms and kids in his one man play which is having an exclusive off Broadway run in NYC Dec. 4 to 21 after touring 34 cities across the US. (
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Douglas Taurel, who wrote and stars in the “The American Soldier” is bringing his one man show to NYC for a limited three-week run at A.R.T. theater at 502 W. 53rd St. Opening night is Dec. 4 (
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Douglas Taurel has performed The American Soldier almost 40 times across the country, including at the Kennedy Center (three times) and the Library of Congress. Now New Yorkers will have their chance to experience this one-man show, which Taurel wrote as well as performs during an exclusive three week engagement at A.R.T starting Dec. 4 through Dec. 21.
Audiences are transported to different battles in multiple places: from Valley Forge to Vietnam. We hear of heroism, of course, but also about the scars and anxieties left behind. We see a father grieving a son’s suicide, a mother at the Vietnam Memorial, and much more. Taurel plays 14 different characters, including women and children.
“When I first developed this, it was all men,” he says, “but the biggest sacrifices are often made by the people left behind. Yes, some children may be proud their daddy carries a gun, but they mostly want to know when is Daddy coming home?”
Why this play now?, I asked the playwright/performer. “There’s never a bad time until we stop having soldiers,” he says. “The show is about giving them a voice. I’ve been doing it for 10 years, even though I originally thought it was just for one performance. Little did I know that performance would be just the beginning. One woman, whose brother had died in Afghanistan, said to me, ‘I think you’re on to something very special.’ One Air Force captain told me it was the most moving thing he’d ever seen.”
Taurel has not served in the military, but he was close to the Twin Towers when they fell. “I became obsessed with that, plus the war in the Mideast,” he says. “As an actor, I wanted to remind people that we’re always sending men and women to some war.” Much of the show is based on actual letters and papers he acquired.
Truth is, there’s hardly a family that does not have some “service history,” often going back generations. My father was a Marine in World War II who witnessed the results of Hiroshima. He was proud of his military contribution, but having seen that devastation, spent his final decades as an anti-nuclear leader.
The American Soldier may sound as if it is about one man, but Taurel gives us a much more inclusive take. These men and women served for different reasons, and they came out with different memories. Will we feel mixed emotions? Damn right.
“The play is entertaining with a powerful message,” Taurel promises. “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll ultimately feel good about the country. The play is not political. Service lands on both sides of the aisle. It’s not blue or red. These are people who put on uniforms and follow orders for what they think will help. It is a human story that ends leaving audiences uplifted.”
The American Soldier, produced by NY Rep, opens Dec. 4 at A.R.T., 502 W. 53rd St., west of Tenth Avenue. The engagement runs for three weeks.
“You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll ultimately feel good about the country.” — playwright and actor Douglas Taurel