About the Play:

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male/Male Scenes.

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is a full-length drama by David Rabe. Through a continuous stream of scenes that move back and forth in time, Hummel’s difficulties with his sergeants and fellow recruits are brought to life. As a young, emotionally stunted draftee who has trouble fitting in, Hummel stumbles through boot camp and then faces the horrors of war when he is sent to Vietnam.

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, the first in Rabe's acclaimed Vietnam War trilogy, follows a naive and directionless young man drafted into the U.S. Army. A born loser gets drafted into the Army. Alienated from his fellow soldiers and searching for meaning and status, the story of Hummel's life and military experiences unfold backwards after a fateful encounter in a Saigon brothel. Pavlo is not very bright. He gets high, then drag races into a cop car. His fecklessness antagonizes his superiors and gets him beaten by his bunk mates. Pavlo next tries suicide with 100 aspirins, but even at this he is unsuccessful. Oblivious, Pavlo marches to war and meets his ultimate, preordained destiny: death. The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is the first in author David Rabe's trilogy of plays about the Vietnam War, in which he served.

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel premiered in 1971at The Public Theatre off-Broadway in New York City and was a success, garnering an Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award for Rabe. The play had a popular run on Broadway in 1977 starring Al Pacino in the title role of Pavlo Hummel, for which he won a Tony Award. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional repertory and college theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 19 male

What people say:

"It's one of the most moving pieces of theatre I've seen." — WABC TV (New York City)

About the Playwright:

David Rabe has been hailed as one of America's greatest living playwrights. Four of his plays have been nominated for the Tony Award, including one win for Best Play. He is the recipient of an Obie Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Drama Desk Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and three Hull-Warriner Awards for playwriting, among others. He is also the author of numerous screenplays, two critically acclaimed novels and a collection of short stories. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, David Rabe lives with his family in Northwest Connecticut.