About the Play:

An Early History of Fire is a full-length drama by David Rabe. Set in the US Midwest in the 1960s, the play centers around Danny, a small-town man who discovers The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road and marijuana by way of Karen, who has just returned from college back east. 

Longing and confusion. Hearts pounding, time ticking away. Early 1960s in a Midwestern town. Danny Mueller’s working class life is one of fierce loyalty to childhood friends, Jake and Terry. But the bigger world is stirring once he meets Karen, back from college in the east and alluring because of what she knows, and unsettling for that same reason. The grip of Danny's past is intensified by his father, a German immigrant mourning a vanished world of lost prestige. For Pop the question is how to let go of a son and life he never quite had now that the future has shrunk to almost nothing. While Danny hopes to change without betraying the bonds that have sustained him, Karen, a whirl of brilliance, looks to J.D. Salinger for answers and to Danny for a simplicity he does not possess. To fall in love, to have a destiny, to know what it is. That’s what they all want, even Benji hanging onto Pop, and Shirley, too, adrift in a way she could not have foreseen. old look backward and the young look ahead, while we watch from the future they long to inhabit. And it’s all about to burn in the heat of whatever's coming. The way it always does.

An Early History of Fire premiered in 2012 produced Off-Broadway by The New Group at the Acorn Theatre in New York City.

Cast: 2 women, 5 men.

What people say:

"Combustible quality... beautifully captures both the age of the characters and of the country they belong to. Their glazed but rapturous expressions summons an eternal chapter of youth.... Portraits of friendship... Testosterone-pumping friction... A tumultuous work... touchingly earnest anger and confusion." — The New York Times

"Suspenseful...an emotional roller-coaster of a party...humorous moments...Rabe creates memorable characters, moments of volatility and warmth, and phrases that stick in your mind." — Associated Press

About the Playwright:

David Rabe has been hailed as one of America's greatest living playwrights. Four of his plays have been nominated for the Tony Award, including one win for Best Play. He is the recipient of an Obie Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Drama Desk Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and three Hull-Warriner Awards for playwriting, among others. He is also the author of numerous screenplays, two critically acclaimed novels and a collection of short stories. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, David Rabe lives with his family in Northwest Connecticut.