TJ Dawe from Vancouver BC Canada presented Basic Training at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. A friend of mine wanted to see the show which wasn’t on my radar. The lobby quickly filled and the venue was packed when the audience was let into the theater.

This was an incredible one man show where Kahill Ashanti played 23 characters in a powerful true story of a soldier having to confront a childhood he had tried to forget. What made the show so exhilarating was the way Kahill snapped between characters in an instant. Each time he transformed it was instantly clear who he was portraying. Kahill joined the elite Tops In Blue performance troupe and came under fire while entertaining troops during the first Iraq war.

Kahill snapped between his delicate caring mother to his conspiracy theorist hate filled father on a dime. At boot camp he had to survive a drill sergeant who would exploit any soldier’s weakness. When he attacked a soldier with torrents, Kahill befriended the soldier under attack. There were tender moments and so much athletic physicality to the performance.

Surviving boot camp and excelling as a soldier ill-prepared Kahill for once again facing his abusive stepfather when her returned home. When he finally stood up to the vindictive small man’s abuse it was a glorious moment. Kahill was a mature man who would no longer tolerate the small-minded vindictive behavior. The military service didn’t leave him hardened but rather compassionate. At one concert he offered a solo performance for a terminally ill child.

I went into the show with no expectations, but this was absolutely a tour de force of a performance. Basic Training won the Best Show in the Critics’ Choice Awards, which was very well deserved.