The Great Society at Arena Stage

Robert Schenkkan’s Tony Award-winning play All the Way set the stage for President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s sudden ascent to the White House. In its D.C. premiere, The Great Society brings the second half of Schenkkan’s epic story to its harrowing conclusion. As America is divided by civil rights protests and the anguish of the Vietnam War, LBJ struggles to maintain his relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., keep his political opponents in check and complete a raft of impossibly ambitious social policy projects. With Kyle Donnelly again directing and Jack Willis reprising his “stunning performance” (Broadway World), this political thrill ride explodes the America of our past to better understand the America of today.