Red State/Blue State
A tragic comedy about the union of two souls as well as two segments of the U.S. population, Red State/Blue State uses a rocky marriage between a conservative woman and liberal man as a metaphor for America's idealogical divide.
Robert Brustein, founder of American Repertory Theatre and famously political playwright, calls the Red State/Blue State "witty, trenchant, and moving."
Originally written as a one-act for political festivals timed to coincide with the 2004 G.O.P. convention in New York City, Red State/Blue State was selected for staged readings at Ensemble Studio Theatre, HERE Arts Center, and Bowery Poetry Club. Gregory played Don, the troubled husband of the relationship.
Subsequent revisions and the addition of a second act at Robert’s urging have opened up the play’s relevance, making it timely far beyond the current political moment.
Red State/Blue State was a finalist for the 2005 Tennessee Williams Literary Prize for Drama and the 2005 StageWorks/Hudson Play-by-Play Festival. That same year the 2nd Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region selected the play for workshop. In 2007, it made the finals of the New Jersey Playwrights Contest, and last year New York’s Penguin Repertory Company produced a staged reading as part of its summer series. It was a semi-finalist in Washington, D.C.'s 2009 Source Festival.
Like modern candidates, the characters in Red State/Blue State pursue the politics of personal destruction, attacking vulnerabilities once considered too tender to touch. When unity finally seems possible, the compromises may prove too difficult to stomach.
Though it dives headlong into the fury of current events, my show is also a lot of fun, full of taut banter and mudslinging that can just as easily take place over the dinner table as “in the arena.”
Gregory Jones
