"I have a whole new tremendous respect and appreciation for the military," said Mitchell, director of the Neuse Little Theatre's latest production, "A Few Good Men." He added that for the first time in years, he remembered to call his father on Veterans Day and thank him for his service to the country.

Mitchell hopes seeing the show will give audiences the same sense of admiration.

Having never been in the military himself, Mitchell enlisted the help of a consultant to make the show authentic. The consultant taught actors Marine Corps protocol and oversaw much of the production process, including the style of military haircut each character got.

The play is the story of two Marines on trial for the death of a comrade at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When their lawyer decides to fight the charges instead of take a plea bargain, the military mentality and the Marines' code of honor also end up on trial.

The cast includes a number of newcomers to the NLT stage, many of them Johnston Community College students. Also on hand are NLT veterans like Sammy Smith and Evelynn Martin.

Martin, the lone female cast member, says she identifies with her character, Navy Lt. Commander Joanne Galloway. "There's an awful lot of me in Jo," Martin said. "She's not just willing to roll over. Her flaw is that's she's very introspective and earnest."

Smith said he is the polar opposite of his character, Lt. Col. Nathan Jessup, making the role a challenge. "He is straight Marine Corps," Smith said. "He's untouchable. It's a great role to play somebody with such a strong personality."

Martin said she was attracted to "A Few Good Men" because of the realistic dialogue by writer Aaron Sorkin. "The dialogue is very quick; it's real," she said. "Sorkin's got a short, quick grittiness to it. It's just perfect the way he wrote it."

The cast faces perhaps its biggest challenge this week -- it has less than a week to adapt the show to the JCC stage, which is much larger than the NLT's regular venue, The Hut on Front Street in downtown Smithfield.