of the short story intact. It relates the effects of the first year of the Dust Bowl (and the second year of the Great Depression) on the farmers of a small town in rural Arkansas. Interjecting into this story are scenes in Washington, DC, that show a spectrum of reactions to the plight of those farmers. Flanagan added the Washington angle as new material. She also changed the short story's outcome in Arkansas from armed to non-violent confrontation—which Chambers had actually added in the first place, since the actual event itself was non-violent. In so doing, she changed the approach from Chambers' call to Communism to a call to stop Communism. "Chambers had presented a problem with a communist solution. Hallie and Margaret Ellen gave no solution. Instead, they ended their play with a question, Can you hear what the farmers are saying, and what will you do about it." Production details Theatrical runs By 1932, Flannagan, Clifford, and Chambers had all offered productions of the play free to "workers groups." From Japan, director Seki Sano wrote on behand of the Japanese Proletarian Theatre League for permission to translate and perform the play at the Tokyo Left Theatre and other theatres: some 35,000 Japanese workers saw the play. Chronology May 2, 1931: Experimental Theatre of Vassar College, directed by Flanagan: "The drama was presented without an intermission; lighting was used to indicate scene changes, while statistics and newspaper reports were flashed on a screen onstage and placed throughout the lobby." Between May 1931 and February 1932: Ford Hall Forum (Boston) Hedgerow Theatre (Philadelphia) Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts) Artef Theatre (New York City) Cleveland Play House (Cleveland, Ohio) Vineyard Shore School (West Park-on-the-Hudson, New York) Commonwealth College (Mena, Arkansas) Shanghai People's Theater (Shanghai, China) (Tokyo Left Theatre) (Japan) October 30-November 21, 2004: Steep Theatre (Chicago, Illinois) June 3-June 27, 2010: Pop-Up Theater by the Obie Award-winning Peculiar Works Project (New York, New York) Details of 1931 theatrical run The Vassar Miscellany News covered the play's opening on May 2, 1931. Cast Amelie von Behr: Hilda Francis Gwen Leys: Rose Fran Matteson: Frank Francis Helen Westerman: Harriet (senator's daughter) Details of 2010 theatrical run Billing "Can You Hear Their Voices? (a play of our time)": title "by Hallie Flanagan and Margaret Ellen Clifford": adaptation "from a short story by Whittaker Chambers": author Production Ralph Lewis: co-director Barry Rowell: co-director David Castaneda: lighting