Director’s Note

The Revolutionists is a show I have loved for years. Lauren Gunderson is, without question, my favorite living playwright, and I think the script is simply brilliant in its storytelling, skillfully balancing humor and drama. Perhaps the most impressive of its accomplishments, however, is its ability to entertain an audience in its consistent discussion of politics and the philosophy of art. Often, writing capital-I “Ideas” into a piece of dramatic art is challenging, as it can often become too high-minded to comprehend in an evening’s sitting, or too preachy and pedantic in its message. In this play, Lauren Gunderson has packed the age-old discussions of morality, bureaucracy, tyranny, anarchy, and the role of Art in our lives into a lively, funny, and dramatically sound play. As a result, it leaves so much for myself and our actors to mine, to sink our teeth into and to ponder all of these great questions ourselves as we tell a story of women striving to fight oppression: sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst.

I dreamt up quite a few concepts for this show, some of which didn’t come to fruition and some of which have changed and evolved over the course of the rehearsal process. However, one “Idea” that struck me very early on and has remained consistent throughout this show’s development is the correlation between the colors of the French and American flags: blue, white and red; and red, white and blue, respectively. Olympe de Gouges makes a remark in the opening moments of the play that she wants to write something “annoyingly prescient”, which, if nothing else, perfectly describes this show. Not to quote the cliche “history repeats itself” schtick, but the conflicts and questions of these characters in the midst of the French Revolution eerily mirror our own in the throes of 21st century American politics today.

What stands out to me most about this show, however, is that though they don’t all agree on the best way to fight the encroaching Reign of Terror taking their heads, each of these women use their voice and stand up for what they want. And despite their differences, they support each other along the way.

Election day is November 8th. I hope that we in Texas can set an example for the rest of our country in this fraught time. I hope we all fulfill our civil duty, but more importantly, our great privilege to use our voices and stand up for what we believe in. And I hope we can all support and uplift each other, despite our differences.

“You’re not at the end yet. You’re stronger than you think, and your words do matter. They are braver than you are. Let them loose and they’ll outlast you.”