Originally as POSTCARDS FROM WORLD WAR ONE:
FULL PRODUCTION
Minneapolis, June 1997
STAGED READINGBoston, March 1997 STUDIO CAST ALBUM NYC, June 1996
STAGED READINGBoston, March 1997 STUDIO CAST ALBUM NYC, June 1996
In 1917, after America entered the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson formed the Committee on Public Information (CPI), with George Creel as its national director, to create multiple types of propaganda to “persuade” Americans to support the war effort.
THE WAR TO END ALL DISSENT presents this propaganda through the eyes of two family units: • An upper middle class Black American family (Soldier, Wife, and Mother) • A lower middle class German-American family (Sailor, Girl, and Mama)All 6 of these characters navigate the war while singing authentic propaganda songs from 1917-1918, without realizing that it IS propaganda.
At the same time, a nationwide citizen-created vigilante group called the American Protective League (APL) took the opposite approach, terrorizing and killing Americans who refused to be swayed by the government propaganda. This dark side of the APL is shown by Albert Briggs and Charles Frey (the two top officers of the APL), whose influence directly affects all 6 members of both families.
Federal Judge Kenesaw Landis handed down 20-year prison sentences to Americans who spoke out against this propaganda using their First Amendment free speech.
Crystal Eastman, the co-founder of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (the precursor of today’s American Civil Liberties Union), worked to defend Americans caught up in the CPI and the APL.
As we watch George Creel (the CPI director) orchestrate all of this, we become aware of the frightening parallels between 1918 propaganda and vigilantism, and 2025 political extremism. Can we learn lessons from World War One that might help us to better navigate our current national political environment?
THE WAR TO END ALL DISSENT presents this propaganda through the eyes of two family units: • An upper middle class Black American family (Soldier, Wife, and Mother) • A lower middle class German-American family (Sailor, Girl, and Mama)All 6 of these characters navigate the war while singing authentic propaganda songs from 1917-1918, without realizing that it IS propaganda.
At the same time, a nationwide citizen-created vigilante group called the American Protective League (APL) took the opposite approach, terrorizing and killing Americans who refused to be swayed by the government propaganda. This dark side of the APL is shown by Albert Briggs and Charles Frey (the two top officers of the APL), whose influence directly affects all 6 members of both families.
Federal Judge Kenesaw Landis handed down 20-year prison sentences to Americans who spoke out against this propaganda using their First Amendment free speech.
Crystal Eastman, the co-founder of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (the precursor of today’s American Civil Liberties Union), worked to defend Americans caught up in the CPI and the APL.
As we watch George Creel (the CPI director) orchestrate all of this, we become aware of the frightening parallels between 1918 propaganda and vigilantism, and 2025 political extremism. Can we learn lessons from World War One that might help us to better navigate our current national political environment?