Heroes of the Fourth Turning is a dazzling, provocative play. It dares us to listen to perspectives that many of us in the audience will find abhorrent; however, if we do listen, we may learn something about those on the other side of the current political divide in this country.
At the beginning, the young adults seem almost familiar to us: they are revved up on whiskey, cocaine, and desire, and are ready and eager to lecture, argue, show off, and flirt. It takes us a while to figure out that these Millennials are very different—they are graduates of a Biblically-oriented Catholic college in western Wyoming, where they lived and learned within a bubble, separated from the “godlessness” of progressives born in the era of Obama. While they join in robust volleys of images and ideas, their words keep ending into insults and diatribes and we eventually realize they are complicated and complex individuals who have a shared history with each other. In a play that could be grim, we sometimes find them amusing and endearing in their earnestness.
The Fourth Turning is a controversial and disputed theory that posits that the world operates in 80-year cycles of generational growth, destruction and rebirth. It calls upon a new generation of “heroes” to rise up and save the world. These characters see themselves as potential heroes in the world, but what kind of heroes would they be?
Playwright Will Arbery specifies that his play is set in a town of 7,000 in western Wyoming on August 19, 2017, just two days before the solar eclipse and one week after the white supremacist riots in Charlottesville, Virginia. This date is crucial for understanding the beliefs of the characters as they consider the future of conservatism. One character outright condemns pro-choice activists; another refuses to do so, citing a close friend who works for Planned Parenthood. Both, however, believe abortion is murder. Two of the group think they must prepare for war given their perception that the country is increasingly morally lax and corrupt. One wants to attack liberals, going to war if necessary. Another thinks he should try living amongst them. A third wants to withdraw from the world until the ”hedonists” destroy each other. They discuss their education and whether it prepared them for life in the outside world. They dislike Trump but have high hopes for Mike Pence who they think will change the country back into a Christian republic.
In a deeply divided country where the Supreme Court just struck down Roe vs Wade, gun control laws in New York, hobbled the EPA and more, this play presents passionate, articulate, complex human beings. We find ourselves trying to find the weaknesses in their positions. In the end, we may not approve of their virulent ideas or beliefs, but they have certainly gotten our attention.
Kent Thompson
Director, Heroes of the Fourth Turning