HERE IN AMERICA to Have US Premiere at Burning Coal Theatre Company

Burning Coal Theatre Company will present Here in America (US Premiere), directed by Jerome Davis. Here in America will run December 4th - 21st, 2025 at the Murphey School.

About Here in America

Here in America is a powerful play by David Edgar that follows four artists caught between political fear and personal conviction during two key moments in U.S. history: the Red Scare of 1952 and the aftermath in 1960s New York. As they face loyalty tests, public pressure, and the threat of blacklisting, each must choose between self-preservation and standing up for their beliefs. The emotional cost of these decisions comes crashing back a decade later, revealing how political repression reshapes not just careers, but relationships and faith in one’s self. Through their stories, the play captures a nation wrestling with truth, freedom, and the legacy of fear.

About The Writer

David Edgar, one of Britain’s most influential political playwrights, is known for exploring how personal belief and public policy collide. Born in Birmingham in 1948, he began as a journalist, a background that still informs his sharp, socially urgent writing. Since the 1970s, Edgar has written over 60 plays that have been performed worldwide, often focusing on individuals confronting political or social upheaval. His breakout play, Destiny (1976), tackled the rise of the far right in Britain, and his acclaimed adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby for the Royal Shakespeare Company showed his range and ambition. Other key works, such as Maydays, Pentecost, and Playing with Fire, continue his profound engagement with ideology and its profound impact on humanity. Edgar also founded the UK’s first MA in Playwriting Studies, shaping future generations of writers such as Sarah Kane, Steve Waters and Clare Bayley. In Here in America, he brings his signature political insight and emotional depth to a story rooted in U.S. history. Here in America will be the twelfth time Burning Coal has produced a play by David Edgar.

About Jerome Davis

For Burning Coal Theatre: Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music, Copenhagen,  Arcadia, Evita, Ashe in Johannesburg, The Weir (twice), Rat in the Skull, Pentecost, Winding the Ball, Steward of Christendom, Night & Day, Company, Road to Mecca (twice), Juno & the Paycock, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Taming of the Shrew, Inherit the Wind, Hamlet, Hysteria, Prisoner’s Dilemma, 1960, The Seafarer, Shape of the Table, Enron, Jude the Obscure Parts 1 & 2, Shining City, The Heretic, Iron Curtain Trilogy (Raleigh and London), Sunday in the Park with George, Spoonface Steinberg, Written on the Heart, Dark Vanilla Jungle (London), Iphigenia in Splott (Raleigh and DC). Acting: Love’s Labour’s Lost, Mound Builders, St. Nicholas, Skylight and Talley’s Folly (Raleigh and London). Also, Skylight in Orlando and King Lear (Lear/Wilmington). Other: See How They Run (Southern Pines), Twelfth Night in Apex and Turn of the Screw for NC Opera. Jerry worked with or studied with Uta Hagen, Adrian Hall, Richard Jenkins, Hope Davis, Horton Foote, Denis O’Hare, Nikos Psacharapolous, Julie Bovasso, Ralph Waite, Oliver Platt, Ben Gazzarra and Ellen Burstyn at Trinity Rep (Providence), People’s Light & Theatre (Philadelphia), NJ Shakespeare, SoHo Rep, Barrow Group, Columbia University, Phoenix Theatre (SUNY/Purchase). This is his 29th year running Burning Coal which he and his wife Simmie Kastner founded in 1995. He received the 2019 Raleigh Medal of Arts.

About the Cast

The cast of the US premiere of Here in America includes Andrew Goins as Art and Chip Carey as Gadge. Both Andrew and Chip are newcomers to Burning Coal Theatre. Emma Roe, who was recently in the Burning  Coal production of Merrily We Roll Along, will play Miss Bauer. Sarah Winter, who will play Day, is an active member of Burning Coal. She has been in productions including Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, and A Little Night Music.

About the Team

The production team includes Jerome Davis as Director, recent NCSU graduate Rebecca Peace as Stage Manager, Tom Burch of UNC-Charlotte as Set Designer, Matthew Adelson (Yale University MFA) as Lighting Designer, Raleigh’s Lynda Clark as Costumer and Properties Designer and Juan Isler as Sound Designer, Lauren Hess, Ella Bryant, and Asia Mayfield serving as Assistant Stage Managers, Durham’s Susan Gross and Raleigh’s Natalie Rose Cooper as Assistant Directors, Barry Jaked as Technical Director, and Meredith Riggan as Scenic Charge.

* * * * *

CALENDAR LISTING: Please run in your theater listings, events calendar and/or other applicable sections every day or as often as possible from receipt date through February 16, 2025.

Burning Coal Theatre Company presents Here in America by David Edgar, directed by Jerome Davis, December 4 – 21, 2025.  Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2pm at Burning Coal Theatre, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. Tickets range from $5-$30 and can be purchased online or at the door.  More information at 919.834.4001 or at www.burningcoal.org.

Raleigh Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. WAITRESS: THE MUSICAL (Theatre Raleigh)

17.2% of votes

2. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Playmakers Reperatory Company)

12.6% of votes

3. TUCK EVERLASTING (Studio 1)

9.4% of votes

Vote Now!