A Wake Up Call

There aren’t too many dates I remember so well as November 22. Like most of my contemporaries, I can picture where I was standing and what I was doing on that date in 1963 as though it were yesterday. It came back to me vividly once again at a performance of “The Assassins” at the new ARC theater in Pleasantville. The play was more than just about the assassination of JFK. It was a litany of the deaths and near-deaths of American presidents. What was chilling was not just the awful circumstances of each, but the fact that there were so many within the space of little more than 200 years. It is sobering to be reminded of the fragility of our democracy, not just abroad, but here at home. It was a night at the theater and a wake up call.

While “The Assassins” is no longer running, stay tuned to the ARC theater’s upcoming roster of performances and educational programs at www.arcstages.org.