“I want everyone to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in.” Once you read that line, you know why Remy Bumppo is producing this play—and doing it right now.

 

For Garson Kanin, there is nothing wrong with an America that cannot be righted by an informed citizenry. Kanin wrote Born Yesterday just after WWII, a time of huge transition. It was among a number of politically slanted Broadway plays that same year looking at what kind of democracy this victorious United States might be. Kanin set his play in the hustle of a newly energized post-war Washington, amidst the influx of those trying to take advantage of this new peacetime prosperity, as well as an economy--and a nation--that was essentially up for grabs.

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Throughout his prolific career, Kanin’s greatest artistic partnerships seem to have been with highly intelligent and witty women, including Katherine Hepburn and his wife (and frequent collaborator) Ruth Gordon. It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that in Billie Dawn he created one of the great female characters of the American stage, who battles the brawn of patriarchal politics through a dynamic combination of forthright sexuality, ingenuous spirit, and a crusader’s zeal fed by reading the likes of Tom Paine and Dickens. I can’t wait for you to meet her!

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—Nick Sandys, Producing Artistic Director

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