About the Play:

After the Revolution has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Female/Female Scenes, Female/Male Scenes, and Male/Male Scenes.

After the Revolution is a full-length drama by Amy Herzog. A starchily self-righteous young political activist is jolted to the marrow when she learns the ugly truth about her much-loved blacklisted grandfather. After the Revolution is an astute and ironic drama about how society appropriates history for its own psychological needs.

After the Revolution is about a Jewish American family forced to confront its radical legacy. Brilliant, promising Emma Joseph proudly carries the torch of two generations of American radicals, devoting her life to the memory of her blacklisted grandfather. He is much revered for refusing to "name names" during the McCarthy hearings and lionized in the family's mythology. But when history reveals a shocking truth about the man himself, the entire family is forced to confront questions of honesty and allegiance they thought had been resolved. Shaken and betrayed, Emma must weigh her fierce politics and family loyalty to decide if the ends really justify the means. After the Revolution is a bold and moving portrait of an American family, thrown into an intergenerational tailspin, forced to reconcile a thorny and delicate legacy. It is loosely based on an incident in Amy Herzog's own extended family, and the play features Vera Joseph, the widow of Emma's grandfather, who continues as one of the central characters in 4000 Miles.

After the Revolution premiered in 2010 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. It moved to New York City off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons and was heralded by The New York Times as one of the Ten Best New Plays of 2010. Since then the play has been successfully staged at several professional theatres across North America. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been mounted by colleges and community theatres.

Cast: 4 female, 4 male

What people say:

"After The Revolution is a shrewd, ironic meditation on what we do with history, how we appropriate it for our own psychological needs. Among the play's many pleasures – a firm grasp of historical paradox, sharp dialogue – the most satisfying is the way the characters struggle through their differences to listen to one another. The ability to listen is, perhaps, the definition of love. Herzog's accomplishment is to trap this rare sense of connection." — The New York Observer

"…crackles with intelligence and is laced with welcome wit." — Backstage

"…smart, engrossing… Ms. Herzog elucidates the personal history of three generations of Josephs with impressive ease, in scenes that crackle with lively, natural dialogue that illuminates the underlying strains in this unusual clan, always happier to argue the legacies of Stalin and Castro than to explore the pain they cause one another." — New York Times

"…a refreshing refusal to grant the audience easy answers." — New York Press

"After the Revolution is a smart, funny and provocative play. ...Herzog deftly avoids simple-minded polemics in favor of richly detailed people who are as ready to examine their relationships as they are their consciences." — Variety

"Herzog is one of the brightest and most politically attuned of American playwrights, and this play, and this production, is a stirring exemplification of her talent…. Herzog's play is smart, moving and a tense, provocative examination of big social and historical issues, as well as one family attempting to hold together amid generational and political conflict." — OC Weekly

About the Playwright:

Amy Herzog is an American playwright. One of the fastest rising stars in the American theatre, her streak of success since emerging on the theatre scene from the Yale School of Drama is unparalleled. She is a recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Helen Merrill Award, the Joan and Joseph F. Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity and the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award.