A regional premiere of Joe DiPietro's play about Senator Margaret Chase Smith and her Declaration of Conscience, set in Washington D.C. in the 1950s.
Conscience is running at the Taproot Theatre through October 17, a regional premiere of Joe DiPietro's play about Senator Margaret Chase Smith. It's based on the true story of Smith, who stood alone on the Senate floor in the early 1950s to deliver her Declaration of Conscience while McCarthyism gripped the country, defying the fear of the moment and holding her own party publicly accountable at a high personal cost.
Set in Washington, D.C., the play follows Smith as one of the first members of Congress to openly challenge Joe McCarthy and his methods of fear-mongering. It mixes that history with an intimate look at the people behind it, moving between context presented directly to the audience and traditionally dramatic scenes. The production runs two hours and twenty minutes, including a fifteen-minute intermission, and is set to music of the 1950s. Its themes—how fear becomes a political weapon and how self-preservation can replace principle—feel strikingly contemporary.
On stage, Alyssa Keene plays Margaret Chase Smith, with Jonathan Swindle as Joe McCarthy, Christopher Clark as William Lewis Jr., and Kelly Karcher as Jean Kerr. Karen Lund directs. The production is playing at the Jewell Mainstage Theatre, part of the Taproot Theatre at 204 N 85th St in Seattle.
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Tickets run from $28 to $57, and the show continues through October 17.
