It
wasn't 5 minutes into "After The Revolution" before I was thinking I
was back in a Broadway theatre--in the 1950s and 60s. The British
theatre, starting with "Look Back In Anger", brought the 'kitchen sink
drama' to Broadway and Paddy
Chayefsky was showing the American family falling apart. While his plays
took place in the Bronx this one is about a middle class
Manhattan/Massachusetts family.  The politics ring of Arthur Miller and the family dynamics of Edward Albee and in no way does the playwright Amy Herzog write the dialogue of the aforementioned or the drama of the situation.

The
basic situation is that a book will be published that could possibly
destroy the reputation of one Joe Joseph known for standing up against
Joseph McCarthy during the communist witch hunt in the 1950s. He is now
dead but, as the play opens, his granddaughter Emma is graduating law
school and she has founded the Joe Joseph Fund to fight injustice and is
being presented with the possibility of a huge donation. What she
doesn't know, and her father has lied about to her all these years, is
that the grandfather who is her hero, was a spy for the communists. Any
similarity between the Rosenbergs and Joseph is not coincidental. Emma turns against her father for not telling her the truth and making her believe in a lie..

Just
as Ben's mother had left him and his brother when they were young
Emma's mother has left her and her sister Jess. Ben's wife, Emma's
stepmother, tries to keep the family together while the grandmother uses
her deafness as a convenience. Others involved are Miguel, Emma's
boyfriend and her associate at the Fund along with Morty, a peer of her
grandfather who plans to leave teh Fund his money instead of giving it to his children.

Between
the family dynamics and the political aspects it is a big 'kitchen
sink'  which is not handled well just as is the case with the acting and
directing.

Jackie Rivera, as Emma, handles the vulnerability aspect well but falls down as the lawyer and Fund leader. Ben, the father, played by Gordon McConnell has 2 very effective monologues but falls in a couple of key spots. Jess, played by Tiffany-Leigh Moskow,
is the sister who has just returned from rehab and finds herself the
'favorite' daughter now that her father and sister are at odds. Howard Elfman as the benefactor throws what could be a strong role away and Harriet Oser, the grandmother, is not sure enough in her role to get all the laughs, and drama, provided by the author.

Nancy Barnett, as Ben's wife and the daughters stepmother sparkles in her role while Arturo Fernandez shows strentgh as a man standing up for himself both as as Emma's lover and associate. Michael H. Small, as Ben's brother and the
uncle Emma can depend upon is a package unto himself which is good as
his character doesn't seem to belong in this play with all his optimism
and good will.

Margaret M. Ledford,
the director, dropped the ball in getting the best out her actors
though certainly knows how to use them on the excellent set by Tim
Bennett. Only a decade away Erin Amico, the costume designer, doesn't have any problems and the lighting design is unobtrusive except, not his fault, when one of the actors step out of the spotlight.

Amy
Herzog, the writer of "After The Revolution", needed the sensibilties
that Chayefsky, Albee and Miller brought to their plays.

An aside: the audience was old enough to have lived through that period of time and their reaction was, "So what? People did what they had to do" or "There were a lot of anti-semites then and most of the ones McCarthy picked on were Jews."