Reading: 'The Tomb' at Somerset Valley Players

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away."

So once said General Douglas MacArthur, the legendary general of the Pacific. During a staged reading tonight at Somerset Valley Players, audience members will be able to see what happens when they do die. The theater will host a staged reading of  "The Tomb," an original play by local playwright Roy Barry, at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 20.

The play begins with WWI Army Private Reggie, a medic from Mississippi, as he finds himself tied to the exterior vicinity of The Tomb of the Unknown in Virginia, in a limbo he does not fully understand. He is visited by Joe, a World War II Marine, who arrives in a flash of white light, direct from his moment of demise on an island in the Pacific. Another white flash sends Reuben, a black Korean War Army captain, to join their ranks at the tomb. Last to arrive is Blake, a California-born, Vietnam-era soldier, still in a drug haze, unaware of and unable to accept his own death.

Life experience, cultural and religious differences, and differing values threaten these four and their newly formed, delicate brotherhood. Blake’s arrival becomes a catalyst to their conflicts . . . and the new mission they identify and accept at "The Tomb."

Theater doors open at 6:30 p.m. Attendance is free, with seating on a "first-come, first-served" basis. Reservations are not being taken for this reading. There will be light refreshments and a question-and-answer sessions with the playwright and the cast after the reading.

Somerset Valley Players is located at 689 Amwell Road, Hillsborough.