Lang tells heroes stories on stage

Sometimes being typecast can be a good thing, or at least not so bad. Actor Stephen Lang’s career includes a pantheon of authoritative figures on stage, screen and television: Stonewall Jackson in “Gods and Generals,” George Pickett in “Gettysburg,” Col. Miles Quaritch in “Avatar,” Texas lawman Charles Winstead in “Public Enemies” and Commander Nathaniel Taylor in the 2011 TV series, “Terra Nova.” “One thing tends to lead to another in a career, and if you’re successful at conveying some quality, then a lot of times similar things will come your way,” Lang said in an Oct. 3 telephone interview. “Sometimes you shy against that, and I do look for roles that play against type and get my share of them, but by the same token, it’s also wise to go with your strength. “At this stage in my career, because I’ve been doing it a long time and I’ve done a lot of very diverse roles, I don’t really mind being typed, particularly if it’s that sort of rugged guy. You know, it’s OK with me.” Lang stars in the national touring production of “Beyond Glory,” a tribute to eight military heroes who earned the Medal of Honor. The play comes to the mainstage theater at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center in Niceville for one show only at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28. The show is based on a book with the same title by Larry Smith. Lang explained how he got involved: “In 2003, a basketball buddy of mine, a journalist, Larry Smith, he had been a managing editor at Parade magazine, gave me an uncorrected copy of a book he was about to publish called ‘Beyond Glory.’ “It was conversations with living Medal of Honor recipients. As you’re probably aware, that’s something that in and of itself is unique because the medal is presented posthumously around 70 percent of the time. And so many combat veterans are reluctant to talk about their service and often do so in the most cursory way. “I thought these interviews were remarkable. It just sort of amazed me and broke my heart. I could hear the men so clearly; I could hear their voices. I think that’s a real testament to the good work Larry Smith did in just being a kind of conduit for these fellas. “I just started messing with it. I took this chapter and I attempted to turn it into a bullion cube of drama. To do it in a way that was not journalistic but that was dramatic. “The next day I read it to my wife and she began to weep. And I thought, you know, this is powerful stuff.” From there, Lang continued to develop the individual pieces with Smith’s cooperation. Then he started performing parts of it. “By March of the following year, 2004, I was doing a full production down in Washington (D.C.),” Lang said. Although the show includes heroes from World War II to Vietnam, it is not performed chronologically. “There was no reason to do it that way. There just seemed to be an organic correctness to the order, to the way it sorted itself out,” Lang explains. The eight stories included in “Beyond Glory” are:

“I wanted to achieve a balance in services, and in ethnicity and in wars,” Lang said about how he chose which stories to portray of the 27 interviews in the book. “It was really important to me at the time I started this that they be living recipients, and all eight I chose were alive when I started doing the show. Now, as of this conversation, only two are,” he said. And the stories are all personal to him in some way, so don’t ask which is his favorite. He loves them all. He does, however, have some particularly memorable performances. “I was fortunate enough to do the show for Daniel Inouye himself for his 80th birthday at the U.S. Senate, and he was very moved by it,” Lang said. Lang performs “Beyond Glory” straight through with no intermission “because that’s what feels right,” he said. “It’s 80 minutes solid of me. Once I plunge in, I have to keep going.” At the time he created the show, there were no living Medal of Honor recipients after Vietnam, but he is aware of recent recipients. “Although I don’t have plans right now for incorporating them into the show, per se, I look forward to meeting them and maybe doing that someday,” he said. In 2010, Lang was honored by the Medal of Honor Society for the show. “You know, so many of the awards people in this industry receive are supposed to help further their careers. This was different,” Lang said. “It was simply a wonderful salute from people who have done so much for the nation.” Lang has performed “Beyond Glory” for a variety of audiences all over the globe. “Military audiences, of course, bring a special feel to it,” he said. “But by the same token, I played 101 sold out shows at the Roundabout Theater in New York. “I think it strikes a chord with all of us, which is what my intentions were when I set out, without diluting the stories, without presenting them in a namby-pamby way. “The reason it works is because the show is 100 percent devoid of politics. There’s no flag-waving in this play. The patriotism is at a very deep level.” Tickets for “Beyond Glory” are $35 each with a $5 discount for groups of 10 or more and are on sale by phone or online from the Mattie Kelly Arts Center box office. The box office phone and in-person ticket window is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 6-7:30 p.m. the night of the show. At-the-door seats are the same price as advance tickets. Contact the box office at 729-6000 or visit mattiekellyartscenter.org.