One man makes 'Another American' memorable

Pauses and hesitations, stumbles, and breathless run-on sentences are all parts of normal speech. Yet these verbal tics help distinguish the myriad military personalities presented by writer/

performer Marc Wolf in his riveting Obie-Award winning "Another American: Asking and Telling," directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello. Boston Theatre Works inaugurates its season with the Boston premiere of this dynamic one-man show, first performed in 1998. It was inspired by the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy designed to circumvent the ban against gays in the military. The result was an unprecedented number of dishonorable discharges, disorder in the ranks, and mass confusion.

Wolf, intrigued and alarmed, conducted hundreds of interviews over a three-year period. He spoke to veterans who had fought in wars from World War II to Desert Storm, as well as others connected with the services.

Deceptively simple, "Another American" has minimal production values (a blank screen behind a desk and chair). But Wolf is utterly spellbinding, creating characters with a change of posture, a tilt of the head, and a linguist's arsenal of dialects.

Some of these stories will be excruciating to hear -- in the aftermath of "Don't Ask" there was considerable violence, acts of discrimination, and ongoing intolerance against those who came out or were outed. The complexity of the issues here is mind-boggling, and Wolf has found a kaleidoscope of voices to draw from, including plenty of women's voices.

In a humorous, mocking voice, Wolf's Bridget Wilson, an activist lawyer and former Army soldier, reminds the audience that before 1972, when the military removed the ban on female soldiers being married or pregnant, the Army "used to be virtually a lesbian social club because they kept the straight women out." Wolf even does a bravura double-act as soldiers Hannah and Anna Mae who argue about the meaningfulness of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

"Well, that's what it's been all along anyway," Wolf supplies cheerfully as "Hannah."

But the tone, overall, is elegiac, and the saddest tales are those of soldiers who were harassed, beaten, or otherwise imperiled when their sexuality became an open issue. Wolf slips comfortably into the Deep South drawl of Edward Clayton, a seventh-generation Marine whose story unfolds over three vignettes. It starts with his blissful sexual awakening (with a superior in the service) but quickly escalates to ugliness. For a few moments, you wonder if this particular subject is talking from the great beyond.

Because of the war in Iraq, gays in the military may no longer be in the headlines, but "Another American" is a bracing reminder of how the best of intentions can have disastrous results.

Another American: Asking and Telling
Play by Marc Wolf and Joe Mantello. Directed by: Mantello. Sound, David Van Tieghem. Lights,

Brian MacDevitt. Presented by Boston TheatreWorks.
At: Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., through Oct. 23. 617-933-8600 or bostontheatrescene.com