War Letters
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 20, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 Canon Theatre Mario Van Peebles, who
plays Malcolm X in "Ali," delivers "War Letters," a play at the
Canon Theatre.
By Sophia Whang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
If he’s not behind the camera or pictured on screen, Mario
Van Peebles can be found amidst stage curtains, delivering letters
for his new project.
Along with currently playing Malcolm X in the Golden
Globe-nominated film “Ali,” Van Peebles leads an
ensemble cast in “War Letters,” a new play based on
Andrew Carroll’s best-selling book of the same title. The
production allows the actors to give a voice to letters written by
soldiers, combat journalists and nurses, among others, from the
Civil War to the present conflict in Afghanistan. Van Peebles and
company rekindle these memories at the Canon Theatre in Beverly
Hills.
“I think that, post Sept. 11, I felt more and more that if
we’re going to spend time in a dark room for two hours, you
want to come out having been touched on some level,” Van
Peebles said during a phone interview. “I think “˜War
Letters’ has some wonderful, poignant letters … and you get
a cross-cultural look at who we are in times of extreme
circumstances.”
His commitment to the production is part of a vow to continue
seeking high quality work, regardless of the salary.
However, Van Peebles still acknowledges the challenging
combination of an inconsistent income and erratic audience in the
business he’s involved in. He’s even taking a chance
with this venture, not knowing whether letters can be successfully
turned into theater. But he is an artist who knows all about taking
risks, having been influenced early in life by his audacious
father, Melvin Van Peebles, widely known for creating the first
black power film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss
Song” in 1971.
Van Peebles recently completed a script about the making of this
film, which was the first entry on his long list of film credits
for his appearance as the very naked Young Sweetback.
“I’m going to be directing a piece eventually on the
whole experience, sort of like a “˜Boogie Nights’ meets
“˜Daddy Dearest,'” Van Peebles said.
This is only one of his many directorial endeavors. He has
directed films like “New Jack City” (1991),
“Posse” (1993) and “Panther” (1995). He
even conquered the daunting task of writing, producing and
directing films like “Love Kills” (1998) and
“Standing Knockdown” (1999).
Among the themes of his films, the most prominent are those of
black power and struggles. “Panther,” based on his
father’s unpublished novel, deals with the rise of the Black
Panthers Party. “Posse” is a western about a group of
African American soldiers who set out to protect the liberties of a
black settlement. Regarding this film, Van Peebles mentioned the
numerous early African American settlers, yet the lack of
representation of them in Westerns.
“The black person was always the scared guy with the big
eyes, the Hispanic person was the oily bandit, and the Indian was
dead or getting shot,” Van Peebles said.
“If you look at how people of color across the board were
treated or mistreated, you could just see that history has not been
told by anyone other than the dominant culture,” he
continued.
Van Peebles conveys the backdrop that people of color have been
reduced to on screen. Heavyweight champions like Muhammad Ali and
Mike Tyson are made to look like Stallone. “Karate Kid”
will never be Asian. And films like “Dances with
Wolves” have Kevin Costner to star.
Images from most mainstream cinema, such as these, make Van
Peebles aware of his responsibility in accurately representing
African Americans. If not, minorities will always be reduced to
their comical stereotypes, and the butt of all jokes, complete with
the belittling accents. This is why he plays and creates the roles
that he does.
“I don’t mind being the villains, I don’t mind
being the hustlers, I don’t mind being all those things, as
long as you also see (African-Americans) as Malcolm, as Ali, in all
the beautiful colors we can be,” Van Peebles said.
“I didn’t choose “˜War Letters’ because
it had relevance to the black experience, though it does, but the
human experience,” Van Peebles added. “Good film and
good stage transports you across racial and gender lines.
That’s the power of it.”
Van Peebles takes advantage of having the power to transport
viewers across these lines with his many enterprises, and feels
blessed for having found a home in the arts.
His earlier experiences include modeling and singing, although
he says most of his requests were limited to those asking him to
“shut-up.”
Also, his economics degree from Columbia University and his
initial finance career has guided him in understanding the business
side of the entertainment industry.
For Van Peebles, show business is business as usual ““ he
can manage producing a film, raising the money, reading a few war
letters on stage, and still have time for a 20-minute interview and
salsa classes.
THEATER: “War Letters” plays
Tuesday-Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday
at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. The
show will run indefinitely with a rotation of actors. Ticket prices
range from $25 to $50 and can be purchased by calling the theater
at (310) 859-2830.
