Thomas Paine lives through Ian Ruskin’s dramatic performance at the Florida Studio Theatre on Dec 7, 2017.
Tickets: Florida Studio Box office, on-line at: http://tickets.floridastudiotheatre.org/single/SelectSeating.aspx?p=40054
or call 941-366-9000. Tickets are only $35 for this special performance.
The eloquence and passion of Thomas Paine will be on full view in Ian Ruskin’s vivid portrayal of this fiery patriot and Founding Father. Actor-writer Ruskin captures Paine’s brilliance, contradictions and contrariness in his one-man play about the radical enlightenment figure that helped forge America’s core. He advocated for a society based on the common good individual freedom, and a belief in scientific and social progress. He was the first to introduce the concept of a guaranteed minimum income and strongly believed that men who did not own property should still be allowed to vote and hold office, beliefs not shared by other Founding Fathers. Paine was much loved and much hated.
No other Founding Father was anywhere close to Thomas Paine in his vision of democracy. Paine’s book Common Sense sold hundreds of thousands of copies to a population of two million and everybody read it or had it read to them. It was the spark that ignited the American Revolution and remains in print today over 200 years later. He helped shape our national character and inspires us to be better guardians of that legacy. Paine based his beliefs on one simple yet powerful idea, “justice for all.”
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