Francis Price (left) and Gibson Grimm play struggling veterans of World War I in Sam Collier’s A Hundred Circling Camps, directed by Rebecca Wear.
Sam Collier’s A Hundred Circling Camps arrives at Atlantic Stage 2 as part of Dogteam Theatre Project’s inaugural season, under the aegis of Middlebury College in Vermont. Directed by Rebecca Wear, and with impressive ensemble acting, the production underscores the power of public protest.
Centering on the Bonus March of 1932, A Hundred Circling Camps follows a group of jobless World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups, who converged on Washington, D.C., in May 1932 to petition for early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates. Dubbed the Bonus Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) by its organizers, the media referred to the ragtag demonstrators as the Bonus Army or Bonus Marchers.
Kayodè Soyemi (left) and Naja Irvin-Conyers costar in A Hundred Circling Camps, presented by Dogteam Theatre Project, in association with Middlebury College.
Truth be told, the IOUs from the government brought little solace to penniless veterans like Skip (Francis Price). His wife already had left him, taking their children. Even though Uncle Sam promised to award each qualified veteran a bonus in 1945, that didn’t help him to put food on the table during the 13 intervening years. What’s more, during the Great Depression in the 1930s, folks were literally starving. Walter W. Waters (Jose-Maria Aguila), the founder and leader of the Bonus Army, aptly summed up the veterans’ dilemma to Pelham D. Glassford, the superintendent of the D.C. Police Department: “Everybody talks about the glory of the soldier. But no one wants to pay him.”
On the surface, Collier’s play revolves around the subverting of economic justice that was promised to the veterans. But what gives her play its unique character and depth is the way she interweaves the story of other public protests in America’s history—the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament in 1968, and Occupy D.C. in 2012—into the fabric of her piece.
Lynn Hawley plays socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, and Jose-Maria Aguila is Walter W. Waters in A Hundred Circling Camps. Photographs by Clinton Brandhagen.
Beyond bringing the First Amendment to the fore, Collier creates some compelling portraits of various historical figures in her play. There’s the aforementioned Waters, the charismatic leader of the Bonus Army, a former fruit-picker and cannery worker from Portland, Ore. A force of nature, he mobilized the 20,000 demonstrators gathered in Washington, D.C., meticulously teaching them how to lobby members of Congress.
Another luminary is Glassford (Alex Draper), the police chief who sympathized with the demonstrators. He would eventually come into conflict with other members of the police department leadership and President Herbert Hoover, who ultimately evicted the Bonus Army from their encampment.
On the distaff side, Evalyn Walsh McLean (Lynn Hawley) adds lots of color to the drab camp life of the demonstrators. A legendary Washington socialite, the purported owner of the Hope diamond, and a gold mining heiress whose husband owned The Washington Post, McLean generously supplies the camp dwellers with coffee, sandwiches, and cigarettes. But when Glassford thanks her for her donations to the Bonus Marchers, he is surprised by her unaffected response:
Glassford: The donations help a lot. But you don’t seem the type to bother. You’re unusual.
McLean: Now I believe you are complimenting me.
Glassford: Um.
McLean: My father found gold in Colorado. If you want to know. You must already know. We knew hard times before we struck it rich. We’re not as insulated as some people.
Alex Draper (right, with Hawley) plays Pelham D. Glassford, the police chief who sympathizes with the demonstrators.
If the larger-than-life historical personages bring both grandeur and human warmth to the piece, its patriotic folk music makes it soulful. In fact, the play’s title is plucked right out of Julia Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written in 1861. In fact, the anthem courses through the scenes of the play much like the Potomac River flows through Washington, D.C. While Collier strategically peppers in its verses during pivotal scenes with the Bonus Army, she deftly shows its transcendent nature by having the character Mabel (Naja Irvin-Conyers) of the Poor People’s Campaign remark that she heard it sung at the funeral of the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy.
Although it’s tough to top “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Madison Middleton’s original song, “I Know A Change Is Gonna Come,” threads through the play, offering its own brand of hope and counterpointing the dark times that plagued the Bonus Army and other protestors:
Peace will be found when the people have won
Hold strong ’cause change is gonna come.
Collier’s play is hardly light summer fare, but then Dogteam is taking on the mantle of the Potomac Theatre Project, founded by Middlebury professors, which presented thoughtful summer fare for 17 seasons in New York at the same venue. Circling Camps tackles some heavyweight issues and doesn’t leave one with a happily-ever-after ending.
The Dogteam Theatre Project’s production of A Hundred Circling Camps plays in repertory with Maria Irene Fornés’s La Viuda at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 W. 16th St.) through Aug. 4. For the schedule and more information, visit dogteam.org.
Playwright: Sam Collier
Director: Rebecca Wear
Set: Mark Evancho
Costumes: Summer Lee Jack
Lighting: Calvin Anderson
Sound: Madison Middleton
