Off-Off Broadway – and The Tank in particular – is a place where experimentation is encouraged and celebrated. Anthony J. Piccione’s play One Empire, Under God is a wildly overwritten treatise primarily covering politics and religion. Seemingly every single current hot button topic is also thrown into the mix. The stew is jumbled with tasty bits and muddy flavors.
Four hundred years from now a born again alcoholic will rise to save America from the deranged liberal socialists. Slander and prejudice continue to rear their ugly heads in society. Jesus and Christianity will return to their rightful place as the real religion. More specifically that refers to Protestantism not the misguided Roman Catholics and other assorted heathen beliefs. Juicy material for sure.
The story follows Damian Cunningham (Trey Shields) who wants to be more active in his conversion. He receives guidance from an inky priest (Mark Verzatt). He creates a Virtue Cast and quickly there are tens of millions of followers. His ego swells and his didactic self-aggrandizement leads him to the Republican nomination for President of the United States. The basic message is simple: Republicans are good and moral while Democrats swim with Satan. (Think Breitbart 2401 A.D.)
The play is completely serious not silly or ironic. The first act, Dawn of a New Evangelism, centers around the creation of a new political savior. There is a long, extended path to get to the Presidency including primaries, debates, vote counting, etc. Despite occurring centuries into the future, the issues are no different than today including climate change which is mentioned but not explored. The current President is a woman (Mary Miles). Her transgender Vice President is now running for the highest office. You can guess how the Republicans will paint that picture for America.
There is a large cast for this production and they function in multiple roles but also as a type of media chorus. News tidbits are flung far and wide. It is both effective in moving the plot forward and also repetitive. Most scenes in the play underscore the plotting at least twice so things often get bogged down. To say the White House scene in Act II is laborious is an understatement.
The second act, Dusk of the American Millennium, takes the play in an interesting new direction by moving time significantly forward three hundred years. The tone and situation completely changes. Like the first half, however, most scenes take too long to nail their points and move on. The experience is less like watching a play and more like sitting through a staged reading of a screenplay.
Many performances stood out and embraced the weighty subject matter with gritty realism. As the rebel alliance partners in Act II, Marcus R. Smith (General River Kalvin) and Gian Caro (Josh Garcia) render their characters with realistic and believable life. The bond is obvious and naturally played. The central character of Josh has the most depth and a backstory that plainly explains his motivations. Mr. Shields nicely conveys a conflicted and misguided Damian, the Republican leader who rises to the throne. As the transgender candidate, Clara Tan has some nice moments in an underwritten role. There is no other defining feature for them except gender.
If this highly topical play (or movie) moves forward, editing would be helpful in reducing plot repetition and scene length. Since the story is set in a distant future, a few more surprising details would be helpful in placing the events outside our current tumultuous time. The hologram device works particularly well. An ambitious effort, One Empire, Under God is meant to provoke and challenge. That the story is not so far-fetched is the dire warning here.
One Empire, Under God will be performed at the Tank through November 21, 2021.