Event

PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON

In December 2010, before his federal indictment for data theft, internet activist Aaron Swartz requested information from the American government regarding the treatment of Chelsea Manning, the soldier who would be found guilty of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. Playwright Stan Richardson uses this fact as a springboard to imagine Swartz creating a piece of theatrical activism intended to free Manning, as the countdown continued on his own impending imprisonment. PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON is a timely and trenchant new play about the power of theater to create empathy, understanding, and justice in an age of virtual realities and manufactured truths.

The play, which imagines a secret meeting between the Army whistleblower and President Barack Obama, premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Lyn Gardner of The Guardian said of the Edinburgh production,"This intelligent, thoughtful play couldn't be more urgent."

The Representatives will present a new site-specific expanded version of the play, running from Nov. 29th through Dec. 12th at The Studio @ 345 in the Meatpacking District. As with every production by The Representatives, there will be a party after every performance.

The New York production, which was named one of Playbill's "5 Out-of-the-Box Shows" to see this winter, will feature Representatives co-founder Matt Steiner & E. James Ford, with design by Paul Hudson, and dramaturgy by Jordan Schildcrout.