The Barn Theatre opens its production of 1776 on June 25, running through July 5 — including performances on Independence Day — just in time for the nation's 250th anniversary. The Tony Award-winning musical, written by Peter Stone with music by Sherman Edwards, follows the fractious debates of the Continental Congress as they work toward signing the Declaration of Independence.
Veteran Barn actor Eric Parker plays John Adams, the Massachusetts firebrand driving the push for independence. Parker says the show captures what those debates felt like, even if it takes some dramatic license. "To see the show is to get a sense of what those issues were and how they were debated," he explains. Joining him is Richard Marlatt, who plays Adams' chief antagonist, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania — a loyalist who studied in England and, as Marlatt puts it, "does not want to do away with any of those old cultural norms."
The two actors previously appeared together in last season's My Fair Lady as Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering, and both say that rapport carries into their adversarial dynamic in 1776. "There's validity to every argument it seems, in this play," Parker notes, "which makes it fascinating."
Director Patrick Hunter leads a cast that draws heavily from the Barn's apprentice company. Notable roles include John J. Espino as Benjamin Franklinand Luke Ragotzy as John Hancock. The production marks the fourth time the Barn has staged 1776, having first produced it in 1972, again during the bicentennial year of 1976, and once more in 2006.
Marlatt, a Central Michigan University alumnus who later studied at the National Theatre in London and the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York, reflects on the resonance of playing real historical figures amid today's political climate. "With everything that's going on politically in our country today," he says, "it's fascinating to think about the fights that were happening then to come to some common understanding about what it would be to form a nation."
This production is part of the Barn's 80th anniversary season. Tickets and details are available at BarnTheatreSchool.org.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
