Hero’s of the Fourth Turning

[jbm2]

I see this was extended at Playwrights and don’t see a thread on it. 
any thoughts? Is it worth seeing?

[OffOnBwayHi]

A huuuuuge MEH! Interesting, important concept, but overhyped imho.

[CarmenA3]

It's 2 intermission-less hours of super conservative pro-Trump religious monologues (because the characters never have a real conversation...they all just put on their speech IMO). If that's your thing, then sure, otherwise skip it.

[ClydeBarrow]

CarmenA3 said: "It's 2 intermission-less hours of super conservative pro-Trump religious monologues (because the characters never have a real conversation...they all just put on their speech IMO). If that's your thing, then sure, otherwise skip it."

If that’s what you took away from the play then you clearly didn’t understand it. While the play is about conservatives it’s hardly characterized as “pro-Trump.” I think the reason people are so divided on the play is because a lot of people couldn’t imagine seeing people with differing viewpoints from theirs. There is a LOT to unpack in this show. If you’re looking for simplistic schlock that beats you over the head with how horrible Trump is then see Soft Power. 

[JBroadway]

I fell in between the above posts. I don’t think the play was very well-written.

But overall I appreciated the experience of it. When I saw it, the audience was very vocal, and it was clear that the performance had turned into a kind of endurance test for us, which fostered a strange sense of community in the House. There was an atmosphere in the room of “alright, we have to get through this together.” Not because the play was bad, but because the content was so viscerally discomforting for liberal audiences, and yet it was so important for us to hear them out, and wrap our minds around their logic. Because if we don’t, we’ll never even begin to gain any ground.

So while I don’t think it’s a very good play, I think it’s an important play for liberals to see, and the experience of seeing it was one I won’t forget.

[UncleCharlie]

"The perfect evening of theater for those who think just watching Trump and reading his tweets is not viscerally discomforting enough."

Take my money!

[After Eight]

Horrendous.

Takes its ignoble place in the worst-of-all-time club.

 

 

[ClydeBarrow]

After Eight said: "Horrendous.

Takes its ignoble place in the worst-of-all-time club.”

That’s a glowing recommendation if I’ve ever seen one. 

[LightsOut90]

For anyone that missed this looks like it will be live streamed as a reading in a few weeks

https://www.playbill.com/article/pulitzer-prize-finalist-heroes-of-the-fourth-turning-will-stream-live

[HogansHero]

the tickets are limited and tiered in price (the ticket price is a donation to Playwrights). When I checked yesterday, the first 2 tiers ($5 and I believe $10) were sold out. I bought for $25 because I wanted to see it again but I assume soon they will be into the 4th and 5th tiers. The way they are doing this, including charging tax on top of the donation, seems odd to me but not so much so that I feel compelled to investigate. 

[LightsOut90]

I think it is eventbrite processing fees? I could be wrong though

I didn't get a chance to see this off-broadway but I am excited to get to see kind of a version of the production, nothing will probably beat seeing this with 150 other people though based on the comments on this thread lol

[Alex Kulak2]

HogansHero said: "the tickets are limited and tiered in price (the ticket price is a donation to Playwrights). When I checked yesterday, the first 2 tiers ($5 and I believe $10) were sold out. I bought for $25 because I wanted to see it again but I assume soon they will be into the 4th and 5th tiers. The way they are doing this, including charging tax on top of the donation, seems odd to me but not so much so that I feel compelled to investigate."

It's a live-stream that theoretically an infinite number of people can watch. How do they "sell out"?

[iluvtheatertrash]

I know the person who runs Play Per View and he is wonderful, and honest and very kind. Trust that whatever fees there are make sense.

As for the sell out, I think he may add tickets if it does. Could be wrong. But I think he uses the limit to help incentivize their purchases. He has currently raised 40K!

[Jordan Catalano]

I’ve seen that done a couple other times already, limiting the amount of cheaper “tickets”. I get it’s a fundraiser but c’mon. I don’t have an extra $25 right now. I’d donate the $5 to watch if I still could, but I guess that won’t be happening.

[LightsOut90]

Looks like they just released some more of the lower priced tickets, jumped on it and grabbed one while I could

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/play-perview-heroes-of-the-fourth-turning-2020-pulitzer-finalist-tickets-106548738144

[Jordan Catalano]

Thanks for the heads up!!!

[mikem]

LightsOut90, thanks for the heads up!  The $5 tickets were sold out, but I was able to get one of the $15 ones.

[LightsOut90]

Another heads up another 100 $5 tickets were just released

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/play-perview-heroes-of-the-fourth-turning-2020-pulitzer-finalist-tickets-106548738144

[SouthernCakes]

Is it like a Zoom reading?

[AC126748]

I hated this play when I first saw it. It feeds on the false narrative that conservatives are a persecuted minority in need of greater empathy. Vomit. And honestly, I find it in incredibly poor taste to bring back a play that essentially boils down to "White Conservative Lives Matter" in this current cultural moment.

[Kad]

AC126748 said: "I hated this play when I first saw it. It feeds on the false narrative that conservatives are a persecuted minority in need of greater empathy. Vomit. And honestly, I find it in incredibly poor taste to bring back a play that essentially boils down to "White Conservative Lives Matter" in this current cultural moment."

I don’t think that’s what the play is conveying at all. 
It does show the characters empathy, but only in the sense that they are all young and already tragically adhering to ideology that doesn’t really care about them, but they struggle with the fact that there’s a whole world they don’t know. 
It may accurately depict these ideologies, but it doesn’t endorse or excuse them. Will Arbery himself came from such an extreme background and I imagine he struggles a great deal with what to do with his family and friends from his upbringing. Cutting them off isn’t necessarily a solution, and I don’t think cutting them out of theater is either. 

[Pashacar]

Kad said: "I don’t think that’s what the play is conveying at all.
It does show the characters empathy, but only in the sense that they are all young and already tragically adhering to ideology that doesn’t really care about them, but they struggle with the fact that there’s a whole world they don’t know.
It may accurately depict these ideologies, but it doesn’t endorse or excuse them. Will Arbery himself came from such an extremebackground and I imagine he struggles a great deal with what to do with his family and friends from his upbringing. Cutting them off isn’t necessarily a solution, and I don’t think cutting them out of theater is either."

Agree with this 100%. There's no endorsement of the characters or the dialogue. It's a convincing and compelling glimpse into a world many of us left-wing NYers never get to see.

In addition to thinking it was flabbergastingly well written, I ultimately took a bit of hope (more than I did from every at-the-diner article combined) from watching three-dimensional people wrestle with their own beliefs and institutions.

[LightsOut90]

SouthernCakes said: "Is it like a Zoom reading? "

yes but this one seems to have a whole design team involved...?

[Kad]

LightsOut90 said: "SouthernCakes said: "Is it like a Zoom reading? "

yes but this one seems to have a whole design team involved...?"

No, it’s a filmed version of the production from last year.

[LightsOut90]

I think it is a reading based on the ticketing page stating the following.

"Proceeds from this reading will be paid directly to artists -- writers, actors, directors and designers -- in the form of commissioned works, to be collected in a new publication from Playwrights Horizons "