All My Sons

Filigree Theatre brings Arthur Miller's All My Sons to the Ground Floor Theatre starting October 30, with performances running Thursdays through Sundays through November 14. Elizabeth V. Newman directs this production, which falls under Filigree's eighth season, themed 'LEGACY'—a fitting umbrella for a play that spends its entire runtime digging into what a father leaves behind for his children.

The play is set in 1947, at the height of post-WWII America. It centers on Joe Keller and Steve Deever, machine-shop partners who turned out defective airplane parts during the war, causing numerous deaths. Deever went to prison while Keller escaped punishment and built a fortune on the back of it. From there, the story pulls in the family fallout: the love affair between Keller's son Chris and Ann Deever, the bitterness of George Deever, and Chris's own reaction to his father's guilt. It's the kind of play where explosive secrets buried deep within two families' shared history eventually come to light, and the fallout hits everyone in the room.

All My Sons was Miller's first major work, and it won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play as well as the Tony for Best Author. It also introduced the themes that would preoccupy him for the rest of his career: the relationship between fathers and sons, and the conflict between business and personal ethics. If you've seen his later work, this is where those obsessions first took root.

Filigree Theatre takes its name from the Latin words filum (thread) and granum (seed), and this production sits within their eighth season, themed 'LEGACY'. Tickets run from $25 to $40, and the show plays at the Ground Floor Theatre, 979 Springdale Rd #122, from October 30 through November 14, with performances on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.