Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. …Winston Churchill, 1948, House of Commons

The Joe Hill Revival is a lesson on history and the parallels it makes to today.  This play is a commentary on workers’ rights, police brutality, poverty, and the disparities between the robber barons and the working classes.  It is a story about activism, friendship, unity, and love.  And this is all based on the true life of a single immigrant who turned the heads of national officials, ambassadors, and even celebrities.   

The Joe Hill Revival takes a minimalist approach that focuses on the story and the actors.  The props are not extravagant but hit home with today’s current events.  The music is drawn directly from the music and poems that he wrote as a rally point for the International Workers of the World union and they would apply for today’s workers who are starting unions and striking for fair wages.  Yet, this is not the full story.

Dan Furman takes a deep look at the parallel story of the love between Joe Hill and Hilda Erickson, as narrated by “The Rebel Girl,” Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.  Furman’s decision to utilize a Man of Color to represent Joe Hill, a Swede, brings this story into the present.  Friendship, loyalty, and principle prevented Joe from implicating his friend, Otto Appelquist, as the person who shot him.  The relationship between Joe and Otto has a much more subtle implication – principles above personality for the greater good and Furman makes this point clear. 

I enjoyed this play very much.  Furman’s ability to suspend time in such a manner allows one to believe that this story could have been at any time between the early 1900’s and today.  He maintained his core actors from Strange but True and introduced us to some new ones.  The close proximity of the actors and the audience made me feel as though I was there in that time as another protester.  He blurred the line of the fourth plane, nearly breaking it, but I don’t believe I would have noticed if he had because he was so successful suspending time and space.  Furman has subtlety, professionalism, dedication, and attention to accurate, historical details that encourages a person to learn from history instead of just repeating it.