David Rabe’s World Premiere Drama An Early History of Fire Opens Off-Broadway

The world premiere of David Rabe’s An Early History of Fire opens April 30 at off-Broadway’s Acorn Theatre on Theatre Row. Directed by Jo Bonney and starring Theo Stockman, Claire van der Boom and Gordon Clapp, the New Group production will play a limited engagement through May 26.

Set in the Midwest in the 1960s, An Early History of Fire follows Danny (Stockman), a twenty-something man who lives in his childhood home with his strong-minded German immigrant father, Pop (Clapp). When Danny meets Karen (van der Boom), an affluent young woman attending college back East, he is introduced to a life he never knew existed, including marijuana, On the Road and Catcher in the Rye. In addition to Stockman, van der Boom and Clapp, An Early History of Fire features Erin Darke, Jonny Orsini, Devin Ratray and Dennis Staroselsky.

The production’s design team features set designer Neil Patel, costume designer Theresa Squire, lighting designer Lap Chi Chu and sound designer Ken Travis.