Refuse. Resist. Organize.

FOUR PLAYS

     WDA sponsors free, readily down-loaded and easily mounted one-act plays that dramatize the refusal to yield to Donald Trump’s destruction of American democracy, and that then serve as catalysts for discussion, organizing, and building the movement solidarity necessary for resistance.

It Can’t Happen Here – Again! brings the Sinclair Lewis classic to life in a snappy adaptation that honors the nationwide theatrical phenomenon it inspired in 1936, a week ahead of an election that rescued the New Deal and turned back the tide of fascism that was sweeping Europe. This new production rides on the rails of the chilling parallels between the 1930s and 2026.

Paul Revere Resists, riffing on the iconic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a rousing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, which turns out to be unfinished. But the play is also a grievous charging of Donald Trump with the searing indictments brought against King George III by the Declaration of Independence.

Ban the Bans is a play in resistance to the banning of books. Books give us everything we most value in our liberal democracy, including liberal democracy itself. That is why would-be tyrants come for the books first, as is now happening in libraries and school districts across America. This time the mythic cry “To the barricades!” means to the bookshelves!

January 6: A Day Forever dramatizes the actual history of Donald Trump’s 2021 insurrection. Against his attempted rewriting of that history, WDA proposes, beginning with the anniversary itself, a forthright reckoning with the truth – a script excerpted from The Congressional Record’s starkly factual account of the day that shook America – and shakes it still.

Since Trump returned to power in 2024, hundreds of readings of these plays have been – and are being – staged in dozens of cities in all kinds of venues: theaters, but also living rooms, taverns, retirement communities, bookstores – wherever people can come together. Nothing fancy is required, and no permission is needed. The scripts, running about half an hour, can be done anywhere, any time.

Just download the plays –ICHH-A here; PRR here; BTB here; and JAN-6 here – recruit 4 or 5 readers and rehearse them briefly. Then gather people to defend our dangerously threatened democracy. Follow your performance with an audience conversation about carrying the refusal of Donald Trump to the next level. Folks will be grateful to express their fears and hopes – and to find resolve in the company of others. All that we ask is that you let us know that you are putting on a show by clicking on the registration/sign-up link below. And then – break a leg.