Broadway World

'Year One of the Empire' Premieres Feb.29

Metropolitan Playhouse will present the long-awaited New York Premiere of Year One of the Empire by award-winning theater critic Elinor Fuchs and historian Joyce Antler. Directed by Alex Roe, performances begin February 29 at The Metropolitan Playhouse.

Year One of the Empire presents in bracing, yet often hilarious detail the exact moment when America became an imperial power -- the little known Philippine-American War at the turn of the last century.  Its rich brew of U.S. belligerence, election politics, and public outrage offers shocking parallels to American wars in Vietnam (which inspired the play) and Iraq (which made the play "contemporary" again ).

"Few Americans know that, on the heels of the Spanish-American war (waged to free Cuba from Spain), the U.S. occupied Spain's most important Pacific colonial trophy, the Philippine Islands, and became embroiled in a prolonged, bloody insurrection. Straight from the historical record, the play shows avowed imperialists like Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the fast-rising Theodore Roosevelt, and President William McKinley, maneuvering the US into empire and stumbling into war. The Army assured the public it would end Filipino resistance in a month, but it took more than three years. The US committed 125,000 American troops, suffered 4,000 combat deaths, and finally resorted to extreme methods, including the widespread use of water torture, or "waterboarding" as it is called today.

As young women with their present distinguished careers still years ahead of them, Fuchs and Antler met by chance in a beauty parlor and decided to collaborate on what became Year One of the Empire as a response to the war in Vietnam. First published by Houghton Mifflin in 1973, it won the Los Angeles Drama-Logue playwriting award in 1980 after its production at the Odyssey Theatre. The published text has since been studied at numerous universities,"states a press release.

Elinor Fuchs began her career as an actor, television producer, and dramaturg before deciding to earn a Ph.D. in Theater Studies. She is professor of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the Yale School of Drama, and is the author or editor of several books, including The Death of Character, for which she won the George Jean Nathan award in Dramatic Criticism (an honor she shared that year with Ben Brantley).

Joyce Antler is the Samuel Lane Professor of American Jewish History and Culture at Brandeis University, where she teaches in the American Studies Department and Women's and Gender Studies Program. She is the author or editor of ten books including the recent You Never Call! You Never Write! A History of the Jewish Mother, published by Oxford University Press.

Director Alex Roe has been Artistic Director of Metropolitan Playhouse since 2001 and celebrated American culture on its stage through over 30 productions and festivals exploring local history, national themes, and the American theatrical canon. Recent productions he has led for Metropolitan include Peter Sagal's Denial, The Octoroon, James Herne's Margaret Fleming, The Scarecrow, Fashion, Metamora as well as the popular Alphabet City Project.

Year One of the Empire  runs February 29 - March 30, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. There will be a special, Pay-What-You-Can performance on Monday, March 3 at 7:30 pm. Talk-backs follow every Sunday matinee, featuring guest artists, historians, and veterans of American wars. (Schedule to come.) The Metropolitan Playhouse is located at 220 East Fourth Street between Avenues A & B -- accessible from the F train at 2nd Ave. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and preview performances, $12 Students, $10 for Children under 12. Call 212-995-5302 to purchase tickets, or for more information visit www.metropolitanplayhouse.org