44 Plays for 44 Presidents Aiming to Break a World Record

The secret service called Sean Daniels and told him that former President Jimmy Carter was attending our play. He was to tell no one. So he didn’t.

Except he called me, Genevra, Chloe, Sean and Karen and told us that the play we co-wrote, 43 Plays for 43 Presidents, would be attended by an actual president. Tomorrow.

The production was in Atlanta, at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company. We were in Chicago, making theatre with The Neo-Futurists. None of us could afford to buy last-minute plane tickets.

So we missed when a cast member asked, sarcastically, “Who here knows ANYTHING about Benjamin Harrison?” Carter was the only one to raise his hand. “That’s not fair,” the cast member shot back. “It’s like you’re his cousin.”

We missed the Atlanta audience giving Jimmy a standing ovation after his play and we missed him laughing…hard…during the Reagan play.

Ten years after Jimmy Carter attended our show at Dad’s Garage, something even bigger is happening with (the now re-titled) 44 Plays for 44 Presidents.

This time I won’t miss it. In fact, I engineered it—with a lot of help from some awesome people. We’re attempting to inspire 44 separate productions of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents across the country to coincide with the election this fall. And if you want in, we’d love to have you!

In 2000, I had the idea to create 43 Plays for 43 Presidents. I gathered some talented writers, we met at my apartment and we wrote a Neo-Futurist show with a $400 prop budget that premiered above a funeral home in Chicago.

It sold out on opening night and never stopped. It was remounted by Dad’s; my boy Jimmy saw it; Playscripts rode in like Teddy Roosevelt charging San Juan Hill and published it…and then 30-something productions later it’s 2008 and the Actors Theate of Louisville is mounting a production complete with special effects and a large, replica Mount Rushmore.

I didn’t miss that show. The audience at Actors had the same level of excitement about our history, about a citizen’s responsibility as a voter, about the complicated gift that each election represents—that indescribable buzz that erupted into standing ovations most nights in Chicago…that’s when I knew that whatever this show had, it worked in high schools, colleges, and theaters of all sizes.

The election year added something extra: a broad view of history that felt like a respite from the temporary insanity of the political news cycle. It reminded people that we’ve been here before—like 60 times—and whatever it is…we’ve survived worse.

So then I thought, ‘why not spread this effect all over the country? Why not invite schools and theater companies of all sizes to participate in a good kind of political madness?’

It’s been the most grass-roots effort I’ve ever participated in. We’re closing in on 20 productions now (although I can only go public with 11 at the moment.) If 23 productions happen on the same day, we’ll set a record. (http://playsforpresidents.com/44-plays-for-44-presidents-on-track-to-set-a-world-record/)

The coolest part: we’re having each producer make a video of part of their show, and then we’ll string all those parts together into an online, composite production of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, which we’ll unveil on Election Day.

If you’re intrigued, shoot us an email: playsforpresidents@gmail.com.

Check out our website http://playsforpresidents.com/ and learn about what we’re doing. Or give us some leads! Honestly, the coolest part about this project has been getting to correspond with theatre people from all over the U.S. It’s such a close-knit, interconnected community. The effort itself has really been a gift.

--Andy Bayiates