Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those others that have been tried." That sentiment that democracy is beautiful, messy and worth the fight is at the core of Lauren Gunderson’s 2013 play, The Taming.
The play opens Friday at Next Act Theatre, and features an all-woman cast that travels back and forth between present day and the 1787 Continental Congress.
Director David Cearini says he's a big fan of the script and Gunderson's wit. "She was frustrated by the impasse of government that we've been experiencing these last years, and she just took out her frustrations by writing," he says.
Cearini also notes that the play offers a unique challenge of delivering quick comedy while keeping the focus on the humanity of the characters we so often idealize.
"We're trying to figure out how all the funny lines can get across and maintain the rhythm and maintain the exchange between these people as real human beings," he says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcxLTjD1M9k
James Madison is just one of actress Marti Gobel's characters in the show, and in preparation, she did a lot of research about the people who were so crucial to the formation of our government.
"It's very easy to forget that the Founding Fathers did not know what they were doing," she says. "They had some grand ideas and developed political philosophies that introduced to not only our country, but the world, for the first time."
Gobel also notes that democracy is a "hot mess," but just because that is what is happening on stage, it does not mean that something wonderful cannot come from it.
"(This play) allows all of us to laugh at ourselves and the happenings out there, but I think it also ends with this wonderful message of encouragement and inclusion," Cearini says. "As Madison at one point says, 'Just keep working on it future America, it's not done, it's needs your participation.' Jefferson and Madison were each very instrumental in public education - believing that a democracy needed educated people to function properly."
Gobel hopes that the audience will not only find the work humorous and entertaining, but a reminder that "democracy was designed for us continue to work on. "Not just talk about, but to physically and actively work on and move things forward that we want to see happen in this country," she adds.
