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{{Short description|1985 play written by Tony Kushner}}

'''''A Bright Room Called Day''''' is a play by [[United States|American]] [[playwright]] [[Tony Kushner]], author of the better-known [[Angels in America]].

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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

'''''A Bright Room Called Day''''' is a play by [[United States|American]] [[playwright]] [[Tony Kushner]], author of the better-known ''[[Angels in America]]''.

==Synopsis==

The play is set in [[Germany]] in [[1932]] and [[1933]], and concerns a group of friends caught up in the events of the fall of the [[Weimar Republic]] and the rise to power of [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[National Socialist German Workers Party|Nazi partyParty]]. The plot is centered aroundon a woman named Agnes Eggling, a middle -aged actress, and all of the action takes place in her apartment. The action is occasionally interrupted by scenes featuring Zillah, a young woman in the 1980s living in [[1990Long Island]] who hasbelieves movedthat from[[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] is becoming too much like Hitler. In the version performed by the [[LongNew IslandYork Shakespeare Festival]], Zillah has moved to [[Berlin]]. Zillah has fled to Germany out of frustration and anger at the growing power of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican partyParty]] in America during the [[1980s]].

===2018 version===

Kushner revised the script in 2018 to include a new character, Xillah, who only interacts with Zillah. As explained by the character in the 2019 Public Theater production, ''A Bright Room Called Day'' was a play he wrote 34 years ago that never worked until [[Donald Trump]] was elected and suddenly everyone wanted to produce it, so he decided to give it an update.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McCall |first1=Tulis |title=Review of Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day at the Public Theater |url=https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/reviews/review-of-tony-kushners-a-bright-room-called-day-at-the-public-theater |website=New York Theatre Guide |accessdate=27 March 2020 |archive-date=27 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327052220/https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/reviews/review-of-tony-kushners-a-bright-room-called-day-at-the-public-theater |url-status=live }}</ref> Xillah serves as Kushner's own commentary on his play, occasionally cutting into the proceedings to comment on issues with the play and getting into arguments with his "failed theatrical device" Zillah on the content of the play. Throughout the play, the two characters frequently discuss Kushner's prior comparison of Hitler to Ronald Reagan with present-day Hitler comparisons to Donald Trump. Zillah spends much of the play asking Xillah to write a new ending where she can interact with Agnes instead of having her just write hate mail to Ronald Reagan, while Xillah insists it is naïve to think one can speak to the dead.<ref name="theatermania">{{cite web |last1=Levitt |first1=Hayley |title=Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day Corrects Its Past Mistakes — and Hopes America Will Too |url=https://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/reviews/a-bright-room-called-day-public-theater_90219.html |website=TheaterMania |accessdate=27 March 2020}}</ref> The result has been characterized by Kushner and Oskar Eustis (who directed the original Eureka production and the Public Theater revival) as turning the play from a critique of the American right to a discussion on the role of art as social or political action.<ref name="slate">{{cite web |last1=Butler |first1=isaac |title=Tony Kushner Versus the Apocalypse |url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/12/bright-room-called-day-kushner-rewrite-new-character-trump.html |website=Slate |date=4 December 2019 |accessdate=27 March 2020}}</ref>

==Production history==

''A Bright Room Called Day'' was first presented in a workshop production by Heat & Light Co., Inc., at Theatre 22 in [[New York City]] in April [[1985]], [[Theatre director|directed]] by Kushner himself.

The play premiered at the [[Eureka Theatre]] in [[San Francisco, California]] in October [[1987]], directed by [[Oskar Eustis]].

In January [[1991]], it was produced at the [[Joseph Papp Public Theater]] by the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]], where it was directed by [[Michael Greif]].

The segments of the play set in the [[1930s]] remained substantially the same throughout the various productions, but Zillah's interruptions changed drastically from version to version. Her scenes were the primary point of contention for [[critic]]s of the show, some of whom took offense at her comparisons of [[Ronald Reagan]] to Adolf Hitler.

In 2009, ''A Bright Room Called Day'' was translated into French by Hillary Keegin and Pauline Le Diset. It was presented by I Girasoli at the Théatre de la Boutonnière, Paris, France in January 2010 under the title ''Bright Room''.

In July to August 2014, the play got its first London revival at the Southwark Playhouse, directed by Sebastian Harcombe.

In February 2018 a revised version of the play, titled "A Bright Room Called Day (Revisited)", was performed at the [[University of Southern California]] School of Dramatic Arts. The revised version included the addition of the character Xillah, who also interrupts the play and comments on the modern parallels of the play in contrast to the parallels made to 1985. The production was directed by [[David Warshofsky]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/a-bright-room-called-day/|title=A Bright Room Called Day (Revisited)|access-date=2024-12-15|archive-date=2024-07-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708084006/https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/a-bright-room-called-day/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Oskar Eustis helmed a revival of the play at the Public Theater in the fall of 2019, running from October 29 to December 22 after two extensions from an original end date of December 8. The production, using the revised version of the script, featured [[Nikki M. James]] as Agnes, [[Michael Urie]] as Gregor, [[Linda Emond]] as Annabella, [[Jonathan Hadary]] as Xillah, and [[Estelle Parsons]] as Die Älte, with [[Michael Esper]] as Vealtninc, [[Grace Gummer]] as Paulinka, Crystal Lucas-Perry as Zillah, Nadine Malouf as Rosa Malek, [[Mark Margolis]] as Gottfried Swetts, and Max Woertendyke as Emil Traum.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lefkowitz |first1=Andy |title=A Bright Room Called Day Extends Again at the Public Theater; Bill Heck to Join the Cast |url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/197770/a-bright-room-called-day-extends-again-at-the-public-theater-bill-heck-to-join-the-cast/ |website=Playbill |accessdate=27 March 2020 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927151812/https://www.broadway.com/buzz/197770/a-bright-room-called-day-extends-again-at-the-public-theater-bill-heck-to-join-the-cast/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Hayley Levitt of ''TheaterMania'' noted the revised script resembled a commentary on an old play rather than a revival of the play itself.<ref name="theatermania"/>

==Critics==

The play premiered at the [[Eureka Theatre]] in [[San Francisco, California]] in October [[1987]], directed by [[Oskar Eustis]].

* "Tony Kushner's ''A Bright Room Called Day''...is unabashedly political, thought-provoking, a little scary, and frequently a good deal of theatrical fun. ...''Bright Room'' is...an examination of Nazi Germany in an attempt to shed insight on our own time. It's brash, audacious, and, depending on your politics, anything from infuriatingly naive to intoxicatingly visionary. In its 1932-33 span, it tells of a group of Berlin artists and friends, with varying degrees of communist leanings, and of the changes in their lives as democracy falls and Adolph Hitler takes over." Sid Smith, ''Chicago Tribune''

* "It's fun to see a show this engaged. This passionate and ready to talk. Wild, uneven, pugnacious, ragged, committed, smart, dumb, satirical, and utterly serious. Always dramatically and intellectually forceful. And most important, always passionately committed. More than a diatribe against Reagan or a falling-into-the-Nazi-abyss history play, ''A Bright Room Called Day'' is an assertion of the need for commitment." Anthony Adler, ''The Reader''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broadwayplaypubl.com/Kushner.htm |title=Plays by Tony Kushner |accessdate=2010-01-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219074326/http://www.broadwayplaypubl.com/Kushner.htm |archivedate=2008-12-19 }}</ref>

==References==

In January [[1991]], it was produced at the [[Joseph Papp Public Theater]] by the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]], where it was directed by [[Michael Greif]].

{{reflist}}

==External links==

The segments of the play set in the [[1930s]] remained substantially the same throughout the various productions, but Zillah's interruptions changed drastically from version to version. Her scenes were the primary point of contention for [[critic]]s of the show, some of whom took offense at her comparisons of [[Ronald Reagan]] to Adolf Hitler.

* [http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=1273 Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101226170842/http://www.brightroom.fr/ French adaptation]

*[http://www.broadwayplaypubl.com] Broadway Play Publishing Inc: licensor of stage production rights in U S & Canada

{{Tony Kushner}}

In July of 2006, it was produced off broadway at [The Mint 5] by a group of students from the [[Stella Adler]] Studio of Acting. It was directed by the studios artistic director Tom Oppenheim.

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:1985 plays|Bright Room Called Day, A]]}}

[[Category:American1985 plays|Bright Room Called Day, A]]

[[Category:Plays by Tony Kushner]]

[[Category:Plays set in Germany]]

[[Category:Anti-fascist plays]]