Theater Company Behind Play about Chelsea Manning Celebrates Huge Eleventh Hour Victory for the Whistleblower

Playwright Stan Richardson of The Representatives, whose most recent work, PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON, imagines a secret meeting between transgender Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning and President Barack Obama, has released a statement in response to the President commutation of Manning's sentence:

"In the summer of 2012, when the Reps produced my play, INCREDIBLE THINGS, AWFUL THINGS, Chelsea was still awaiting trial after two years in prison and most of our audience was hearing about her for the very first time. Since then, my admiration has only grown for what she gave us--proof that the United States was gaslighting its own citizens and the rest of the world about military atrocities and abuses of diplomatic power.

I chose to revisit Chelsea as the subject of the Reps first production at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this past August, because I wanted to use this international platform to combat America's increasingly xenophobic appearance in global politics. I wanted to signal to the world that a great many of us recognize the danger of our nation's audacious hypocrisy. I wanted to urge Americans to fight for greater accountability, as we rapidly hemorrhage all claims to integrity and credibility.

But I called the play PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON, because I believed that President Obama owed Chelsea, who is serving the harshest prison sentence an American whistleblower has ever received, a chance to at least explain the nature of her transgressions. I was not so idealistic to expect it to happen, but I had to believe that such a gesture of mercy was possible. I am overjoyed at the President's decision to commute Chelsea's sentence and I hope it's the harbinger of a greater popular appreciation for transparency as our country enters a terrifying era of funhouse mirrors and brute force."

The play, which premiered this past summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and of which The Guardian said, "This intelligent, thoughtful play couldn't be more urgent", recently finished a limited, site-specific run in New York at The Studio @ 345.

The Representatives began as the collaboration between Stan Richardson and actor Matt Steiner and now includes Donny Repsher (Executive Director) and Caitrin Sneed (Outreach Director). The company's mission states, "We believe that theater can and should be a force for change in society. We are committed to using our platform to tell stories about the unapproachable, the untouchable, the unknown and the forgotten, and we are interested in creating experiences that begin with a play and continue with a broader conversation that encourages cultural and political awareness, information-sharing and action."

For more information on The Representatives and PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON you can visit therepresentatives.org.

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