How the theater helps us to survive, and to challenge, politics

Jonson set his play in Jacobean London—in Southwark and Blackfriars—in real time.

Viertel tells many backstage stories about how the directors and composers managed to avoid a disaster, sometimes only a few hours ahead of opening night.

That is, if the promise of the New Testament is to be true that we might transcend our thorniest divisions.