Soldier’s story: Stage play salutes Tuskegee Airman

U.S. AIR FORCE

Benjamin O. Davis Jr., commander of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, is the subject of the one-man play “Ben Davis – Watch Him Fly” written and starring J. Leon Pridgen II.

J. Leon Pridgen II is bringing an overlooked American hero to the stage.

Pridgen wrote, produced and stars in the one-man play “Ben Davis – Watch Him Fly,” a tribute to the commander of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II that will debut at Carolina Theater Sept. 20. Tickets are available at carolinatheater.com. The production comes from a place of reverence and appreciation for Pridgen, an actor and author who served with the 82nd Airborne Division.

“I’m a military kid as well,” said Pridgen, who grew up in Fayetteville. “My father was a career soldier. I have great uncles who were part of the first class of Black paratroopers, so in my house, the Harlem Hellfighters, the Buffalo Soldiers, Benjamin Davis, the Tuskegee Airmen, they were talked about. To me, it seemed like that should be something that everybody knows.” 

Pridgen, who lives in Mooresville, is a veteran of stage and screen. His movie credits include “The Program” alongside Halle Berry and Omar Epps; the daytime drama “As The World Turns” and the romantic comedy “Heaven Sent” now streaming on PureFlix and Prime. His original brush with playing Davis was for a movie project that fell through.

“Several years ago, I thought I was going to play him in a film,” Pridgen said. “The way I work as an actor, I like to study and understand who the people are. Well, the more I found out about him, the more I really wanted to know about him because not only was he the commander of the Tuskegee Airmen, he was the first Black man to attend West Point in the 20th century.”

Davis, whose father Benjamin Sr. enrolled at West Point in the 19th century, led the Tuskegee Airmen during a time when the military was segregated by race and hostile to the prospect of Black combat pilots. Under his command, the Army Air Corps (forerunner to the Air Force) unit distinguished itself over the skies of Europe, especially as escorts who never lost an Allied bomber to Axis fighters. 

Davis’ story – from West Point, where he endured four years of silence from cadets and teachers alike to the pinnacle of leadership as a three-star general – was worthy of sharing. Pridgen decided a traveling one-man production was the best move.

“When I looked at it, I said, ‘How can I tell this story?’ he said. “I'm not looking at just one place, I'm looking at moving it to different areas and traveling it. And when you start to look at budgets, and what does it take to move a 12-person cast, and then the crew, and then the stage manager, or if I do a one-man stage play where I’m able to at least get this part of the story out. 

“There’s other visions of what’s going to happen as we move on and things expand, so as we’re able to do more, we’re going to definitely do more. This is a show that is very simplistic in the fact that it’s three set pieces, so it doesn't take a whole lot to travel – a table, a chair and a box – but there are visual elements and an immersive experience.”

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