Here's what people are saying about Republic For Which We Stand:
Henry’s play... burns with a hard gemlike flame, throwing off beams of light as well as heat, cool as well as astringent, witty as well as wise—a buoyant bonfire of all human vanities
heads will roll, literally!
It's going to take me a while to get over the lesson that our American experiment represents a little blip, an aberration, in history. I keep trying to overlook that . . .
I enjoyed your play in all it’s aspects – the citizen actors who performed with nerve and verve; the storyline... the humor, irony, and shared community of laughing at ourselves (lest we cry); and your imagination and creativity for inventing such a play.
Provocative, informative and entertaining.
The founders frequented Philadelphia theaters during the Constitutional Convention. George Washington loved the play “Cato” so much he had his soldiers perform it at Valley Forge. So I thought it would be in character for George and Martha to commission three history plays which would be performed by citizen actors. I chose the three greatest English warrior kings – William the Conqueror, Edward III and Henry V — because their imperial ambitions represented what the founders wished to avoid in establishing an American Republic.
Republic For Which We Stand revolves around the fight between James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Madison -- the genius behind our Constitution – argues for a Republic. Hamilton -- the controversial founder popularized by the Broadway musical – argues for empire. George Washington and the other founding fathers and mothers side with Madison in resisting Hamilton’s monarchical ideas and choose a Republic, not empire.
This play celebrates the founders as the greatest generation in history. They believed the war power is the most important in the Constitution. They entrusted sole responsibility for war in Congress – the branch with no incentive to exercise it except in self-defense. The founders recognized that getting the war issue right is indispensable to keeping our Republic. They worried that getting it wrong would destroy the last best hope on earth.
Republic For Which We Stand revolves around the fight between James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Madison -- the genius behind our Constitution – argues for a Republic. Hamilton -- the controversial founder popularized by the Broadway musical – argues for empire. George Washington and the other founding fathers and mothers side with Madison in resisting Hamilton’s monarchical ideas and choose a Republic, not empire.
This play celebrates the founders as the greatest generation in history. They believed the war power is the most important in the Constitution. They entrusted sole responsibility for war in Congress – the branch with no incentive to exercise it except in self-defense. The founders recognized that getting the war issue right is indispensable to keeping our Republic. They worried that getting it wrong would destroy the last best hope on earth.
This play was made possible in part by a grant from RAAC's Claudia Mitchell Arts Fund and sponsorship from the WNDC
The production script for Republic For Which We Stand is now available for download:
| republic.pdf |
