If the Constitution was a blueprint of the democratic ideals of the newly minted United States of America, then Born Yesterday is a plea to each citizen to remember, nurture and fight for those ideals and principles. It is also a cautionary tale in which Garson Kanin reminds us of the perils of remaining naïve and uninformed, of standing on the sidelines.

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In Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle made a choice to improve her own status in life. In contrast, the heroine of this play, Billie Dawn, has her civic education thrust upon her. But once her eyes are opened and her brain triggered by new-found knowledge, she unshackles herself from the oppression of her own making and finds her voice as a citizen of America and the world.

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Through wit and humor Kanin captures the dark side of Washington politics and hands us a treatise on the power of taking action against those who would corrupt, and damage those values on which our constitution was founded. In the play, when Harry Brock complains about “this law and that law, tariffs, taxes, etc.”, the Senator who finds himself in Harry’s pocket replies that "this country will soon have to decide if the people are going to run the government or the government is going to run the people." These words were written over seventy years ago and one wonders if Mr. Kanin was prescient or merely certain that History is bound to always repeat itself.

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–David Darlow, Director