Father Anonymous' Premieres Off-Broadway for America’s 250th

 

Father Anonymous Cast and Staff: Photo Credit: Michael Smilek

A Forgotten Founder Takes Center Stage: 'Father Anonymous' Premieres Off-Broadway for America’s 250th

As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, a new Off-Broadway play is turning to the past to offer perspective on the present. Father Anonymous, written by playwright and constitutional historian Robert Blecker, will premiere at the AMT Theater on West 45th Street from June 13 through July 2, 2025. The production dramatizes the life and sacrifice of Dr. Joseph Warren, an often-overlooked figure of the American Revolution.

Set between the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, Father Anonymous places Warren at the center of the Founding era’s turmoil and transformation. As the man who sent Paul Revere on his famed midnight ride and later commanded American forces before falling in battle, Warren is positioned in this production as a moral compass for modern audiences—an embodiment of constitutional ideals that transcend politics.

“On the 250th anniversary of the Revolution, it’s about time to restore to American consciousness the man who helped spark it,” said Blecker, a Harvard-trained legal scholar who taught constitutional law at New York Law School for more than four decades. “With tears, laughs, and good history, the play aims to rescue Joseph Warren from obscurity.”

The cast is led by Craig Cartwright, a Nashville native making his Off-Broadway debut as Dr. Warren. Cartwright trained at the University of Tennessee and 4th Wall Acting Studio. Al Minor plays firebrand Samuel Adams, with Elizabeth Officer as Betsy Adams. Joshua Koehn, also the show’s director, portrays John Hancock, and Robert Spiker takes on the role of Paul Revere. The ensemble includes Orson Ansari-Cox (as Samuel Adams), Andrew Krautheim (Will Cooper), John Ramaine (Governor Thomas Hutchinson), Linus Gelber (Thomas Marshall), Logan Dean (Colonel Prescott), Danielle Hudson (Dolly Hancock), Mandy Greenberg (the Boy), Seth Thompson (John Adams), and Victor Blasingame (Henry Gale).

Koehn, founder of Stag & Lion Theater Company and a seasoned director with more than 40 plays to his credit—half of them Shakespeare—takes on a new challenge here: working with a living playwright. Producer Michael Smilek, a veteran of both on- and off-Broadway productions and current Vice President of the Sons of the American Revolution Jockey Hollow Chapter, joins the team to shepherd this ambitious production.

Blecker’s previous dramatic works include Vote ‘NO!’, a monologue based on the arguments of the Constitution’s original opponents, which premiered at the Kennedy Center and toured 16 states. His upcoming project, Voices from the Inside, draws from 12 years of research inside the now-closed Lorton Central prison in Virginia and will debut after the run of Father Anonymous.

“America today feels deeply divided,” Blecker said. “But there are principles—constitutional ones—that still have the power to unite us. This play is our attempt to remind people of that.”

Tickets for Father Anonymous start at $30 and are now available at https://fatheranonymousplay.com. The AMT Theater is located at 354 West 45th Street.