At a time when fear and political intimidation silenced many voices in Washington, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith chose to speak. On June 1, 1950, the Republican senator from Maine became the first to publicly rebuke Sen. Joseph McCarthy on the Senate floor, condemning his tactics in a speech that became known as the “Declaration of Conscience.”
International City Theatre presents the Los Angeles premiere of Tony Award®-winning playwright Joe DiPietro’s fast-paced drama about trailblazing Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, whose “Declaration of Conscience” speech became a defining act of political courage. Directed and produced by caryn desai, Conscience runs August 28 through September 13, with low-priced preview performances on August 26 and 27.
Sharon Gardner stars as Smith opposite Jon Root as McCarthy. The cast also features Dylan Wittrock as Smith’s longtime personal aide, William Lewis, Jr., and Hollis Dohr as Jean Kerr, McCarthy’s devoted young assistant who later became his wife.
Fast-paced and emotionally charged, Conscience explores political courage, personal conviction and the personal cost of speaking truth to power. It also highlights Smith’s groundbreaking role as a woman in American politics. She was the first woman elected from Maine to Congress and later to the U.S. Senate and, in 1950, the only woman serving among the Senate’s 96 members.
Reflecting on Smith’s defining moment, DiPietro says her speech remains one of the most remarkable events in modern political history.
“It was an electrifying moment, not only because a member of the Senate had criticized McCarthy when he was at the height of his power, but because Smith was a moderate conservative and a fellow Republican. They were in the same party, and she still had the guts to go against him.”
Hollis Dohr, Sharon Gardner, Jon Root, Dylan Wittrock. Courtesy photos
The creative team for Conscience includes set designer Brittany Bodley, lighting designer Donny Jackson, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Hunter Moody and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. The production stage manager is Darlene Miyakawa.
A playwright and lyricist, DiPietro is the recipient of two Tony Awards®, a Drama Desk Award, and three Outer Critics Circle Awards. His musicals and plays have received thousands of productions across the country and around the world, including in the West End: Sinatra The Musical (currently running at the Aldwych Theatre); on Broadway: Nice Work If You Can Get It starring Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara (10 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Book, Best Musical), Memphis (4 Tony Awards® including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score), All Shook Up, and Living on Love (starring Renée Fleming); and Off-Broadway: Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, Clever Little Lies (starring Marlo Thomas), The Toxic Avenger (Outer Critics Circle Award – Best off-Broadway Musical), The Thing About Men (OCC Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical), the much-produced comedy Over the River and Through the Woods, and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change — the longest running musical revue in Off-Broadway history, which ICT produced earlier this season.
Photo by Justin Patterson
Conscience premiered at George Street Playhouse and joins a long list of DiPietro’s acclaimed regional productions, including The Second Mrs. Wilson (Long Wharf Theatre & George Street Playhouse), Hollywood and Chasing the Song (La Jolla Playhouse), The Last Romance (The Old Globe), and Creating Claire (George Street Playhouse). His murder mystery, The Art of Murder, won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Play and his adaptation of Schnitzler’s La Ronde, called F**king Men, is the longest running Fringe play in London history.
Conscience runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., August 28 through September 13. Two preview performances take place on Wednesday, Aug. 26 and Thursday, Aug. 27, both at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $56 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, except opening night (Friday, Aug. 28), and $59 on opening night and at Sunday matinees. Low-priced tickets to previews are $44.
International City Theatre performs in the Beverly O’Neill Theater at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center at 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA 90802. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (562) 436-4610 or go to InternationalCityTheatre.org.