Confidence (and The Speech) is heading to New York!
November 15 – December 7 – The Lion at Theatre Row
We are in pre-production for our New York debut! We are casting, raising money and preparing for the Equity showcase debut of Confidence (and The Speech) in NYC. Join us at the Lion at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street). You can help us get there! Donate here. If you want to be more involved, please reach out here.
Synopsis
Confidence (and The Speech) is not the play you think it is, but it is the play we need right now.
On July 4, 1979 President Carter cancelled an important energy policy speech he was scheduled to give the next day and disappeared to Camp David. Ten days later, he emerged from his impromptu domestic summit and gave a new speech, the Crisis of Confidence speech, which became known as the “malaise” speech. The speech garnered overwhelmingly positive responses at first and many now view the speech as unprecedented, farsighted and insightful. Others think it may have ultimately cost him the White House.
Forty years later, college professor Cynthia Cooper is approached by a stranger, a young man, and asked to recall her time with the Carter Administration during the days before the now infamous Crisis of Confidence speech. If she is going to tell her story of that time – the story told from her perspective – she is going to play the President. And the young man who wants to know her story? Well, he is going to play her. This unique cross-gender play explores the confidence of a president, a nation in chaos and women in politics.
Development
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Charlotte’s Off-Broadway Workshop Production 2018
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Charlotte’s Off-Broadway 2nd Reading 2018
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Charlotte ‘Page to Stage’ Reading 2018
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News
134 West Presents A Benefit Reading Of A New Play (Broadway World)
‘Confidence’ asks us to look at gender, power and presidential politics (Charlotte Observer)
Charlotte’s off Broadway presents CONFIDENCE (Creative Loafing)
‘Crisis of Confidence’ Speech Reimagined in Charlotte Play (NPR)
Media
About the Speech
On July 15 1979, President Jimmy Carter addressed a nation in crisis. Mystery surrounded his plans after he spent many days in Camp David with his advisors. His mission: to address the energy crisis, unemployment, inflation and perhaps the heart of the nation’s problems: confidence. What followed was an outpouring of positive feedback and a dose of introspection from a nation that had been down on its knees.
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Want to know about the relationship between the speech and the play? Read what playwright Susan Lambert Hatem wrote about the speech.
Support Us
If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation for Confidence (and The Speech), you can do so at our Fractured Atlas page.
Thanks to all of our Confidence builders, Charlotte’s Off-Broadway partners, and Fractured Atlas donors!
Contact Us
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For press inquiries, contact press@confidenceandthespeech.com
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