Heroes of the Fourth Turning at Studio Theatre

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Studio Theatre
1501 14th St. NW Washington

On the edge of the Wyoming wilderness, the last guests linger late into the night at a celebration for the new president of their conservative Catholic college. Reunited after seven years, the friends toss back whiskey and name-check Thomas Aquinas, Hannah Arendt, Steve Bannon, even "Bojack Horseman," tracking their distance from each other and the people they thought they'd be by now. Will Arbery's portrait of conservatives trying to make sense of where they - and their country - stand is an incisive yet personal look at the intelligence and despair of the Catholic right.

Thru - Oct 30, 2022

Show Type: Drama

Box Office: 202-332-3300

www.studiotheatre.org

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Heroes of the Fourth Turning Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...Set around a fire pit in a Wyoming backyard, where a late-night celebration among a group of conservative millennials grows combative, “Heroes” makes for a piercing deconstruction of evangelical ideals, right-wing moralism and intergenerational politics. Lillis plays the chronically ill Emily, the youngest, most open-minded member of the four friends on hand and the daughter of the local Catholic college’s newly appointed president."

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- Thomas Floyd

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...There's a lot of mental shrapnel flying from brain to brain in Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Will Arbery's breathtaking late-night bull session just opened at Studio Theatre. Arbery's five fascinating characters all share, in addition to their Catholic faith and conservative politics, a connection to an echo-chamber Christian college out in the boonies of Wyoming. For two-plus totally engrossing hours, we get to eavesdrop on their epic conversations, their contradictions and counterpoints, their discursive head trips, their philosophical arias - and the experience is mind-blowing. Because we get to hear how they think."

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- John Stoltenberg

MetroWeekly - Recommended

"...Entering a performance of a play that runs over two hours with no intermission, one takes a seat with the hope — nay, with the expectation — “Well, this better be riveting.” Sivan Battat’s well-acted production of Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning at Studio Theatre, might be a few degrees shy of riveting, but it’s very good."

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- Andre Hereford

Washington City Paper - Recommended

"...Along with unlikely sympathy, Heroes of the Fourth Turning gives each of the five actors a major moment to dominate the stage. Jacobson is memorable as the professor, a kind of middle-aged woman who tolerates youthful bullshit up to a point, and uses nasty language to deflect from her dubious past. She has a fierce scene with Harris, who as Teresa wants to recruit the others for a big conflict she struggles to define. McWilliams’ performance as Kevin, someone both intimidated and drunk, is more reactive, and yet his increasingly unhinged behavior suggests his internal rot is part of a bigger identity crisis than he—or anyone else—can handle (i.e., he is not as conservative as he thinks). "

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- Alan Zilberman

MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended

"...It is also not a show designed to diagnose, even if that's what audiences, especially New York or DC audiences, might want and expect from it. Instead, the driving force behind "Heroes"-and what makes it work-is the emotional tension that builds as a result of the characters' crises and conversations. The actual substance of the debates they have is often inconsequential compared to the play's subtext, which grows in tension throughout the play. That subtext makes "Heroes" as compelling and fascinating a character study as it is a window into our political moment."

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- Jakob Cansler

BroadwayWorld - Recommended

"...Much of the writing is conveyed in such a style that the audience can draw their own conclusions from the material----no easy answers are attempted or given by playwright Arbery. A cacophonous noise -ostensibly from a generator in need of repair ---occurs whenever the debates and emotional contradictions of the characters come to the fore (credit to Sound designer/composer Sinan Refik Zafar)."

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- David Friscic

Heroes of the Fourth Turning at Studio Theatre