Off-Broadway’s Father Anonymous Announces Cast Ahead of June Premiere

History Comes Alive on Stage as “Father Anonymous” Brings America's Forgotten Founder to Light

Off-Broadway will turn its spotlight on one of America’s least-remembered patriots this summer as Father Anonymous, a new historical drama by constitutional historian and playwright Robert Blecker, premieres at the AMT Theater (354 West 45th Street) from June 13 to July 2, 2025.

Timed to help kick off the country’s 250th birthday celebration, Father Anonymous dramatizes the riveting life of Dr. Joseph Warren, a founding figure too often overshadowed by his more famous compatriots: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere. From the Boston Massacre to Warren’s death at Bunker Hill, the play offers a powerful reminder that the American Revolution was led not by mythic giants, but by real, fallible, passionate people — and that their constitutional principles still hold meaning today.

Meet the Cast

Leading the cast is Craig Cartwright as Dr. Joseph Warren, making his Off-Broadway debut. A Nashville native, Cartwright trained at the University of Tennessee and 4th Wall Acting Studio.

The ensemble includes:

• Al Minor as Sam Adams, recently seen in Trojans at The Cell Theatre

• Elizabeth Officer as Betsy Adams (Manhattan Repertory Theatre, The Shrill Collective)

• Joshua Koehn (also the director) as John Hancock, founder of Stag & Lion

• Robert Spiker as Paul Revere (Stag & Lion)

• Orson Ansari-Cox as Samuel Adams

• Andrew Krautheim as Will Cooper

• John Ramaine as Governor Thomas Hutchinson

• Linus Gelber as Thomas Marshall

• Logan Dean as Colonel Prescott

• Danielle Hudson as Dolly Hancock

• Mandy Greenberg as the Boy

• Seth Thompson as John Adams

• Victor Blasingame as Henry Gale

Produced by Michael Smilek, who brings both Broadway experience and a deep passion for Revolutionary history (he currently serves as VP of the Sons of the American Revolution Jockey Hollow Chapter), the play is directed by Joshua Koehn, whose previous credits include more than 40 productions, over half of them Shakespearean.

About the Playwright

Robert Blecker brings more than four decades of experience as a professor of Constitutional History at New York Law School. A graduate of Harvard Law School and a nationally recognized expert in criminal law and philosophy, Blecker’s past dramatic work includes Vote ‘NO!’, which toured 16 states and aired on NPR’s All Things Considered. His next play, Voices from the Inside — based on 12 years spent inside the nation’s only all-Black prison — will follow the run of Father Anonymous.

“This talented and enthusiastic ensemble has embraced this project as larger in purpose than any of us,” said Blecker. “With tears, laughs, and good history, I hope the play will dramatically rescue from obscurity America’s Forgotten Founder and the principles for which he stood — and fell.”

 

As America approaches the 250th anniversary of its revolution, Father Anonymous arrives as a timely invitation to rediscover the man who sent Paul Revere on his famous ride and briefly commanded America’s earliest fight for independence. The themes — and tensions — of 1775 still echo today.

“You can’t help but notice profound parallels between 1775 and our world today,” Blecker adds. “You can’t help but wonder: Is America condemned to learn from history — yet still repeat it?”

 

Tickets for Father Anonymous start at $30 and are available now at www.fatheranonymousplay.com.