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A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play about military layers and court marshals. It was first produced on Broadway in 1989. The play is by Aaron Sorkin, a multi-award-winning American playwright. The Broadway version was produced by David Brown and directed by Don Scardino.

A few Good Men first premiered at the Heritage Repertory Theater at the University of Virginia’s Department of Drama on September 15th, 1989. It was then transferred to Kennedy Center. The Broadway opening was on November 15th of the same year and ran for 497 performances at the Music Box Theater in New York.

Background Information

The playwright adapted the play into a film with the same title in 1992. Sorkin got the

inspiration for the play from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah. She graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up to work with the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps for three years. Deborah’s case was to defend a group of Marines who almost killed a fellow Marine in a drill ordered by their superior.

Sorkin was bartending at the Palace Theater on Broadway during that time. He got an idea and wrote down the draft for the play on cocktail napkins to develop it into a full-fledged play. He also took help from many former Navy JAG lawyers to create Lt. Daniel Kaffee, his main character in the play.

A Few Good Men is based on the events that occurred at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in July 1986. Ample changes were made to the plot. Of course, he declared that the character is entirely fictional and not inspired by any particular person or case. Once the draft was ready, Sorkin’s agent got in touch with David Brown, who purchased the rights and agreed to produce it.

The play was translated and performed in Spanish as Hombres de Honor. It opened in January 1991 in Puerto Rico. It also premiered in German (Gunther Baumann) at the Volkstheater in Vienna, Austria. A Few Good Men was revived and opened at the Theater Royal Haymarket in London in 2005 and ran for three months.

The Broadway version was nominated for the Theater World Award in 1990. Megan Gallagher, who played Lt. Commander Joanne Galloway, won an award for her performance. Tom Hulce, who played Lt. Junior Grade Daniel Kaffee, was nominated in the Best Actor category at the Tony Awards. Browse through our website for more information about plays in your region.