Metropolitan Playhouse presents

The Virtual Playhouse Double Feature Screened Readings of

THE DOWNFALL OF JUSTICE AND THE FARMER JUST RETURN’D FROM MEETING ON THANKSGIVING DAY

Author UNKNOWN

Directed by ALEX ROE

Featuring KEN FERRIGNI, REGINA GIBSON, SJ HANNAH, MELISSA HURST, JON LONOFF, RON MORENO, & ERIN LEIGH SCHMOYER

Discussion follows with TIMOTHY H. BREEN, historian at the University of Vermont

AUNT BETSY’S THANKSGIVING

Written by KATHERINE DAVIS CHAPMAN TILLMAN

Directed by LINDA KURILOFF

Featuring MARIE LOUISE GUINIER, SJ HANNAH, MICHAEL HARDART, LAUREN MARISSA SMITH, & LILY SANTIAGO

Discussion follows with MICHAEL DINWIDDIE, Playwright and Associate Professor at NYU

November 28, 2020 8 p.m.

www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/virtualplayhouse

Yet another surprise discovery from Metropolitan Playhouse. THE DOWNFALL OF JUSTICE was written in 1777, during the Revolutionary War. It was issued as a sort of printed pamphlet, rich with woodcut illustrations. It may have been meant as a political comment piece, more to be read than performed. It highlights the stark class divisions at that time, which was an era of double-digit inflation. A rich New England farmer and his family sit down to Thanksgiving dinner after saying grace and praying for the poor. Then they spend the whole meal gloating over their bounty and laughing about the poorer people who will come begging at their door the next day. Native Americans used to come begging, too, but they’re gone now. The farmer is hoarding food in hopes that the prices will go even higher. Their black slave, Jack, has a few words to say about all this. He’s told to remember his “place”, his message ignored. HIS message is THE message of the piece.

AUNT BETSY’S THANKSGIVING was written in 1914 and reflects the emergence of black universities and the expansion of black education at that time. Aunt Betsy, a former slave, is to be evicted from her humble cottage. She leaves it in God’s hands, unhappy to be headed for the poorhouse. Will Heaven intervene on this Thanksgiving Day? The commentaries were excellent. Full of yummy facts that one never learns in history class. Truly enlightening and enjoyable.

-Karen D’Onofrio-