Nikolay Levin: sets Deb O: costumes Gwen Orel: dramaturg Matthew Tennie: projection Seth Bedford: music Peculiar Works Project: archival video Ryan Holsopple: sound Marte Johanne Ekhoougen: props Cathy Carlton: production associate/swing actor Set and light crew included: Christoper Hurt, Janet Bryant, Dror Shnayer, Diana Byrne, Tricia Byrne, and Skip LaPlante. Video came from The Plow That Broke the Plains by Pare Lorentz, Universal Pictures newsreels, Reaching for the Moon by Edmund Goulding, Champagne (film) by Alfred Hitchcock, and Rain for the Earth by Clair Laning/Works Progress Administration. Duration is about 70 minutes. Cast (in order of speaking) Ben Kopit: Frank, Bill Derek Jamison: Davis, ensemble Catherine Porter: Ann, ensemble Christopher Hurt: Wardell, ensemble Ken Glickfield: Sam, Congressman Bagehot Carrie McCrossen: John, ensemble Tonya Canada: Doscher, Harriet Rebecca Servon: Rose, ensemble Mick Hilgers: Drdla, ensemble Patricia Drozda: Purcell, ensemble Sarah Elizondo: Hilda, ensemble Orchestra Aaron Dai: piano Brian Mark: clarinet Samuel C. Nedel: bass Reviews 1930s Reviews Flanagan's changes (cited under "Differences," above) are reflected in critical responses in the press: Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier (May 3, 1931): "If a certain crusading congressman could have seen last night's production he would have probably branded the whole company as dangerous, if not Red agitators." Vassar Miscellany News (May 6, 1931): "With restrained yet powerful acting, the cast carried the audience from the drab hopelessness of life in the drought-stricken areas to the extravagant, gay (shall we say, voluptuous) carelessness of social life at the Capitol, and back again... It would be difficult to pick out a climax in the play, unless it is, perhaps, the moment at which Hilda Francis (Amdie von Behr, who, by the way, did one of the finest pieces of acting of the veiling) smothers her baby to keep her from starvation... But, for the most part, the play was too tense, too fast-moving, too well acted to give one time to stop feeling and think. The effectiveness with which the producers secured the desired emotional sweep was, in my opinion, one of its chief merits. Another much to be commended feature of the performance was the absolute unity achieved throughout the play in spite of the constant shifting between two such sharply contrasted backgrounds..." The New York Times (May 10, 1931): "a searing, biting, smashing piece of propaganda" Theatre Guild Magazine (July 1931): "frankly propagandist play... (that) deeply moved its audiences." Theatre Arts Monthly (undated, probably 1931): "a