A Heart-Hitting ‘Grunt Childe’

Director Dana Lee skillfully mixes professional actors with local theater students in a heartfelt rendition of Lawrence O’Sullivan’s heavy-handed “The Grunt Childe,” at East Los Angeles College’s Little Theatre.

O’Sullivan’s play is an indictment of the process of war, the government’s need to find a scapegoat and the media’s need for sensational copy.

The grunt at the center of this controversy is 19-year-old Pvt. Nathaniel Childe (Jack Erdie), at first tried for murder and then finally for desertion. Fellow grunts (Mykal Aubry, Art Resendez, Gabriel Rodriguez, Lucas Brown and David Guerra), led by Sgt. Alessandro (Victor Duran), act as a Greek chorus, announcing the entrance of the principals and their particulars, summing up or commenting on some actions.

Prosecuting attorney Col. Wakabayashi (Kipp Shiotani, replacing Darrell Kunitomi) lumbers morosely through this tragedy, angry at the media hype stirred up by city-slicker broadcast journalist Bernard McElroy (Nathan Krause, alternating with Lamar Wilson). Defense counsel Donald Jordan (Wil Caceres) is fighting a desperate battle between the brass and the uncooperative, but obviously traumatized defendant. A military PR man, Capt. William Walker (Blake Bahner), uses Southern sweet talk to smooth things out.

Under Lee, the cast has a believable intensity with only a few exceptions. As the photographer whose published photos serve as a catalyst for this trial, Daniel Uribe (alternating with Krause) is too easily overwhelmed by the rest of the cast.

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* “The Grunt Childe,” East Los Angeles College Little Theatre, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park. Fridays-Saturdays, 8:30 p.m. Ends June 12. $12. (323) 265-8670. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.