the Reduced Shakespeare Company
The Complete History of America (abridged)
Play Description
600 years of history in 6000 seconds … history will never be the same! From Washington to Watergate, yea verily from the Bering Straits to Baghdad, from New World to New World Order – THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (ABRIDGED) is a ninety-minute rollercoaster ride through the glorious quagmire that is American History, reminding us that it’s not the length of your history that matters — it’s what you’ve done with it!
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (3 male, as written; gender-diverse and/or expanded casts welcome)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
- Revisions
- Productions
Press Quotes
“… Just as the company’s members good-naturedly bash the Bard in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED), so do they cheerfully run riot over five-hundred years of our country’s history. During the manic, ninety-minute program … [they] mine dozens of landmark events and trends for comic gold … Not only do they know how to give American history an irreverent boost, they actually turn it into something accessible and alive.” —Pamela Sommers, The Washington Post
“… THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA interprets the past as a breathlessly paced sequence of silly vaudeville sketches, word-association games, puns and crude parodies of movie and television genres. Nothing is sacred, and many of the facts have been skewed to suggest the paranoid ravings of a particularly loony tabloid …” —Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“… In a series of sketches that move at breakneck speed, the Reduced Shakespeare Company scampers through American history … This HISTORY OF AMERICA should be a required course.” —Terry Byrne, The Boston Herald
“History has never been this much fun. Or as delightfully mutilated … Doubtless, reputable historians like Will and Ariel Durant would cringe at this slapstick telling of the American saga. But the rest of us can just giggle uncontrollably …” —Bill Brownstein, The Gazette (Montreal)
Book Information
Publisher | BPPI |
---|---|
Publication Date | 7/1/1999 |
Pages | 102 |
ISBN | 9780881453331 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
Originally produced by Reduced Shakespeare Company
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
Revisions
The following revisions are approved by the authors as a substitution for the passage in the play on Barack Obama:
“Hello I’m Donald Trump, it’s great to meet me. Really I’m tremendous. I’m terrific. I’d like to say a few words and believe me I know words. I have the best words. They’re huge. I’d like to say a few things about my Vice President Mike Pence. Many people were recommended to me to be my running mate. I interviewed many many people. But he was the only one who had the one qualification I needed. He said yes. As your president I will attack enemies of America like Meryl Streep and emulate leaders I admire like Vladimir Putin. He doesn’t put up with crap like freedom of the press or freedom of speech. If he wants part of the Ukraine he just goes and takes it. You are very, very lucky that America now has a strong leader along the lines of Vladimir Putin or Darth Vader. (He mimes choking the “Austin” character — à la Darth Vader — then let’s him go. He gasps). Thank you.”
Another good bit is to make a big sniffing sound just before Trump answers the first audience question.
Trump can also just loudly say “Wrong!” to any question or comment.
In the show Trump can respond to women who ask him a challenging question by just saying “You’re ugly. Next question.”
At some point in the Q&A the Austin character can ask Trump, “We know that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are big fans of the musical Hamilton. Do you have a favorite musical?” And Trump can answer, “Yes, I do. My favorite musical is The Wiz.”
And then for the final question the Austin character can ask Trump, “One final question that seems to be asked of all Presidents — boxers or briefs?” Trump responds with a shrug, “Boxers. Briefs. Depends.”