The America Play

Thick Description, Potrero Hill’s professional theater, continues its 20th anniversary year – with a revival of its 1994 hit, The America Play, by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Tony Kelly.

Powerful imagery, poignant metaphor and lyric prose drive Parks’ exploration of the American dream of greatness, and the impulse – creative, and destructive – to find one’s place in the pattern of history.

Through the character of the Foundling Father — a black man, a gravedigger, and a look-alike for
Abraham Lincoln — and the family searching for him, The America Play explores the American
dream of greatness, and the impulse – creative, and destructive – to find one’s place in the Great
Hole of History.