THE RETURN OF BENJAMIN LAY Comes to the Sheen Center

THE RETURN OF BENJAMIN LAY comes to the Sheen Center For Thought And Culture next year. Previews begin Friday, March 14, 2025, in advance of an opening on Monday, March 17. Performances continue through Sunday, April 6. The production will transfer to the Quintessence Theatre  in Philadelphia. 

2025. In the silence of a Quaker meeting house, Benjamin Lay – shepherd, sailor, revolutionary, and the British Empire's first revolutionary abolitionist – returns from the grave almost 300 years after his death, as feisty and unpredictable as ever.

The 4ft “David” confronts the “Goliath” of slavery as he demands once again to be readmitted into the Quaker community that disowned him for ideas considered dangerous and disruptive. How far will he go to share his prophetic vision knowing the cost of protest?

Sweeping across the centuries and continents, The Return of Benjamin Lay is a hallucinatory exploration of the list of a radical who became one of the earliest revolutionary abolitionists.

The award-winning London production is by playwright Naomi Wallace and historian MARCUS REDIKER, direction by Royal Shakespeare Company Honorary Associate Ron Daniels, and set design by PATRICK BLANCHARD, based on original concept by Riccardo Hernandez. The play crosses the Atlantic in a bold exploration of an utterly impossible man.

The Return of Benjamin Lay was first performed at the Finborough Theatre, London (Neil McPherson, Artistic Director), produced by ARSALAN SATTARI PRODUCTIONS.

PCTC Producing Artistic Director Joseph W. Rodriguez explains, “When Naomi's powerful writing is coupled with that of the eminent writer and historian Marcus Rediker, the result is The Return of Benjamin Lay, a tale of a real-life 18th sailor-preacher-revolutionary. It is set in America's beginnings, but it's really a play for today, asking the questions:  What is integrity?  What is vision? How far can we go in our politics before we go too far?”

Rodriguez adds, “In a recent trip to the UK, PCTC Associate Artistic Director Erica Stevens Abbitt and I saw the Finborough Theatre production of The Return of Benjamin Lay, starring the talented L.A.-based actor Mark Povinelli.  Each of us came to the same conclusion. This play needs to be seen in the United States, by an American audience!”

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