New Mexico Actors Lab to Present Pulitzer Prize Finalist HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING By Will Arbery

With a high-stakes election fast approaching, the New Mexico Actors Lab production of Will Arbery's Heroes of the Fourth Turning couldn't be timelier: this Pulitzer Prize finalist is an in-depth exploration into the hearts and minds of Christian Conservativism that offers grace and disarming clarity, speaking to the heart of a country at war with itself. Zoe Lesser, who directed last year's sci-fi thriller The Nether, returns to direct Joey Beth Gilbert, Lynn Goodwin, Riley Samuel Merritt, Emily Rankin, and Hania Stocker in NMAL's fifth production of the 2024 season. It opens on Thursday, October 10 and runs through Sunday, October 27. Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday performances begin at 2 p.m. A talkback session will be held after the show on Sunday, October 20.

All performances will be held at NMAL's permanent home, the Lab Theater, located at 1213 Parkway Drive in Santa Fe - one block from Meow Wolf. Tickets are now on sale at the NMAL website, www.nmactorslab.com or at www.tix.com/ticket-sales/NMActorsLab/6585. Individual tickets are $35, with two limited-seating preview performances (October 9 and 10) costing $15. Students, as well as workers in the food and beverage industry and in theater, receive the $15 discounted rate in the first two weeks of performances only.

Set in Wyoming, the play centers on four young alumni of a conservative Catholic college who have gathered at a backyard after-party. But as they confront themselves and each other, clashing over theology, politics, and personal responsibility, their reunion becomes less a celebration than a fight to be understood.

The title is a reference to a concept in the Strauss-Howe generational theory, which posits that historical events are associated with recurring generational personas (archetypes), and that each generational persona launches a new era (called a turning) lasting around 21 years, in which a new social political, and economic climate emerges. Throughout the writing process, Arbery, who was a writer and co-producer on HBO's major hit, "Succession", grappled with how to invite audiences to engage with the characters' ideas without asking them to empathize with them or providing a platform for hateful speech.

Lesser states, "Heroes of the Fourth Turning has been one of my favorite plays for a while now. It so steadily fixes its gaze on some of the hardest conversations of this moment, and meets its characters with neither love nor condemnation, but with solely curiosity and interest. While the characters love and condemn each other, I have gotten to watch and understand more deeply."

In addition to being a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, Heroes of the Fourth Turning won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and the Whiting Award for Drama.

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