Roseburg

Adrienne Theater
2030 Sansom Street Philadelphia

The Wire's Russ Widdall portrays Robert F. Kennedy in the world premiere of Roseburg, a play that examines the past and present of our country's troubled relationship with gun control. In 1968, two weeks before a gun brought his life to an end, presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy was standing on the steps of the Roseburg courthouse and speaking out about our nation's need for gun control -- a speech that was met with heckles and may have cost him the Oregon primary. Fast-forward 47 years later to 2015, when that same sleepy logging town finds itself in the maelstrom of tragedy after a disturbed student kills nine in a classroom shooting before taking his own life. This New City Stage Company production of Roseburg examines the hot-button issue of gun control from both its Vietnam-era protest point-of-view, and its current position in the modern, bipartisan world of social media rants. This production features an ensemble of current Temple University students, as part of the Voices for a New City Educational program.