After a war for independence, our country created a constitution and a form of government meant to keep tyranny from taking root.  Yet from that founding moment, Americans have struggled against dark authoritarian forces determined to make freedom a privilege to be enjoyed only by the few. Now that constitution and that government are being undermined, and the individual rights they protected are being eroded, by a resurgence of that authoritarianism. 

We at Resistance Theater stand with the Declaration of Independence,  our nation’s original document of resistance, returning to it for inspiration and guidance.  Our company will present works that are grounded in the unvarnished truth of American history, that illustrate the promise of the Declaration of Independence, and that show that the dark forces of authoritarianism have been before, and will again be, overcome!

Fifteen years ago Co-Founder Michael King had the extraordinarily good fortune to be welcomed into the theater by Arne and Claire Zaslove. From them and other members of their company, Global Works Productions, he received an education that covered all the steps by which a work of theater is brought to the stage. This experience culminated with the opportunity to write, produce, direct and act in a show that he entitled An American Pageant: A Decalogue on the Divided Soul of the United States of America, which had its first performance on January 20, 2025.

It was the realization that the forces which had gathered that day in our nation’s capitol, to celebrate the second inauguration of their leader, were also determined to drag us back into the authoritarian darkness, moved Michael to establish Resistance Theater.

The tyranny that has been spreading over the land ever since January 20 must be resisted, and theater can and should be a part of that resistance. Having retired from the practice of law at the end of 2024, Michael concluded that his part in the resistance should include establishing a vehicle for the creation and presentation of works of theater that address the history of the American struggle against authoritarianism, in all of its forms, from the 1600s to the present.

As the African-American Co-Narrator warns at the end of the penultimate act of An American Pageant, those who call themselves “MAGA,” and who took control of the national government on January 20, 2025, are determined to make America: