Synopsis
Recently widowed, Peg tends to the 40 acres of native prairie that rises behind her rural Wisconsin home. Her solitary days are interrupted only by visits from Ryan, a family friend with a checkered past. When her late husband’s footlocker is ransacked in her barn, she places a call to the local authorities—unwittingly setting off a series of events that will forever change their lives. As Peg and Ryan fight to regain each other's trust, they learn how to help one another in a new and meaningful way and how to forge a sense of hope in a time when it feels like everyone’s way of life is in danger of disappearing.
Notes
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Details
-
Status
In stock
- Type of Show Full-length Play
- Product Code S4U000
- Cast Size 4
- Min. Royalty Rate $110/perf
- Cost $11.95
- Approx. Run Time 105 min
Categories
- Target Audience College and Adult | Senior Adults
- Performing Group College Theatre | Community Theatre | Professional Theatre
- Genre Drama
- ISBN(13) 9781619593060
Media Reviews
“Swing State—frugal with themes, meticulous about motivation, minutely sensitive to the timing of revelations—could serve as a case study in dramatic construction.” —The New York Times
“This deeply complex … play, peopled with characters and ideas that gradually rise to the surface in a surprising climax, will leave audiences moved and saddened, only to be assuaged during the play’s gentler final moments.” —Chicago Theatre Review
“Perfect for this divisive and antagonistic point in history, where good intentions are often nowhere near enough.” —ChicagoOnStage
“Swing State focuses, with refreshing directness and immense grace, on issues that have been dividing humankind since long before our republic was formed: community and loss, and how we all struggle to sustain a sense of the former and deal with the latter.” —The New York Sun
“Gilman’s drama takes audiences on a wayward chase through the pits and peaks of humanity to find the culprit.” —New York Theatre Guide
“Like the dwindling prairie land, of which there is only four percent remaining in the U.S., the characters in the play must learn to fight the droughts and fires of life in order to regrow and survive.” —New York Theatre Guide
“Swing State is perhaps the first of the great American post-COVID plays, the first work I’ve seen not just to wrestle with what happened during the pandemic but also to explore, and call out, the fundamental changes it has wrought on our collective psyche.” —Chicago Tribune
Productions
| Location | City | State | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Next Act Theatre | Milwaukee | Wisconsin | 2/11/2026 | 3/8/2026 |
| Merely Players | Durango | Colorado | 2/7/2025 | 2/16/2025 |
| Studio 101 | Houston | Texas | 9/19/2024 | 10/5/2024 |
| Theatrikos Theatre Company | Flagstaff | Arizona | 9/4/2025 | 9/14/2025 |
| Prescott Center for the Arts | Prescott | Arizona | 8/23/2025 | 8/23/2025 |
| Sedona International Film Festival | Sedona | Arizona | 8/30/2025 | 8/30/2025 |
Downloads
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