About the Play:

A Bright Room Called Day is a full-length drama by Tony Kushner. A group of artists slowly realize the political terror about to unfold around them, and must decide to flee or fight for their true beliefs. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angels in America, comes this eerily prophetic portrayal of individual resolution, irresolution and dissolution in the face of political catastrophe in 1930s Berlin, as well as the morally outraged outpourings of a modern day activist who insists on taking action to fight repression and authoritarianism.

A Bright Room Called Day is set in parallel worlds of 1930s Germany and present day. What are the consequences of choosing not to engage? In the early 1930's, the future of Germany teeters between the debilitated Weimar Republic and the upspring of Hitler's Nazi Party. A small group of left-leaning friends searching for stability convenes at the apartment of central character Agnes Eggling – a middle-aged actress whose greatest concern is maintaining her low-rent housing – to share stories, lament the rise of fascism over drinks, and summon the devil for a chat, among other things. The group, like their government, shares the same pitfall by remaining inactive in the face of impending crisis. Meanwhile, in present-day America, activist and self-titled "humorless paranoiac" Zillah Katz insists on taking action to fight the lack of civil liberties and authoritarianism. This potent and poetic play raises questions about the power people have to change their fate, and the price we may pay for neglecting our duty to act.

A Bright Room Called Day was first presented as a workshop in 1985 at New York's Theatre 22, before receiving its premiere at San Francisco's Eureka Theatre in 1987. It was subsequently produced at the Joseph Papp Public Theater by the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1991. Since then it has become a popular choice for college theatre productions.

Cast: 5 female, 4 male

What people say:

"Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day … is unabashedly political, thought-provoking, a little scary, and frequently a good deal of theatrical fun … A Bright Room Called Day is … an examination of Nazi Germany in an attempt to shed insight on our own time. It's brash, audacious, and, depending on your politics, anything from infuriatingly naïve to intoxicatingly visionary. In its 1932-33 span, it tells of a group of Berlin artists and friends, with varying degrees of communist leanings, and of the changes in their lives as democracy falls and Adolph Hitler takes over." — Chicago Tribune

"A juggernaut of a play." — San Francisco Weekly

"Not since Williams has a playwright announced his poetic vision with such authority." — The New Yorker

About the Playwright:

Tony Kushner is one of America's most acclaimed playwrights. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, best known for his 1993 two-part epic Angels in America, as well as the screenplay for the 2012 film Lincoln. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Nation, and The Advocate. He grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and lives in New York.