cover photo by T Charles Erickson
“Passing Veterans Green on
my way home from the Westport Country Playhouse last week, I was struck by the
suddenly ambiguous statue of a World War I doughboy carrying his kit bag, helmet
and rifle. Somehow, he looked burdened rather than glorious, more worn-out than
brave. Surely the memorial hadn’t changed; it was me. I was coming from David
Wiltse’s new play and my head was full of questions about America’s
participation in that tragic, famously unnecessary conflict.
A playwright who rattles the way you see things must be doing
something right. In SEDITION, Mr Wiltse reaches back to his own family history,
chronicling his grandfather’s World War I run-in with the enforcers of
patriotism. It’s a compelling story in itself, but Mr Wiltse pointedly
underlines the parallels between Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enter the war
against Germany and George W Bush’s decision to invade Iraq….”
Sylviane Gold, New York Times
“David Wiltse’s political drama SEDITION...is an eloquent, incisive
and witty play sure to push a theatergoer’s buttons and trample raw nerves.
In the tradition of Ibsen’s AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, Miller’s THE
CRUCIBLE and Mamet’s OLEANNA, SEDITION is a passionate plea for personal
freedom, honor and justice.
Just as Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE examines a (then) contemporary
injustice—HUAC’s bullying effort to ruin liberalism through the prism of a
bygone travesty, the Salem witch hunts of the 1690s—Wiltse’s use of the past
begs the question of the present....
...SEDITION is provocative theater filled with complexity and
expressiveness. To whichever side one leans, it is highly unlikely that the play
will leave anyone feeling indifferent.”
E Kyle Minor, New Haven Register
originally produced by Westport Country Playhouse (CT)
5 M, 1 F
I S B N: 0-88145-381-1, $12.95