Patricia Richardson and P.J. Benjamin Square Off As I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan Opens Off-Broadway

John S. Anatasi’s politically-tinted dramedy I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan, which chronicles the life of a laid-off air traffic controller, opens off-Broadway on July 30 at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row. The limited engagement, starring Home Improvement star Patricia Richardson and Broadway veteran P.J. Benjamin, will end its run on August 25.

Directed by Charles Abbott, I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan tells the story of air traffic controller Ray Deluso (Benjamin), a striking worker is fired from his beloved job after a controversial decision is handed down by President Reagan in the early 1980s. Twenty years later, his family—including his wife (Richardson) and daughter (Danielle Faitelson)—struggles to combat his pride, anger and obsession with the job he loved and lost. Can Ray forgive himself, his family, his president and the friend (Robert Emmet Lunney) who betrayed him?

The creative team for the show includes Craig Napoliello (scenic design), Kristy Leigh Hall (costume design), Jeffrey Koger (lighting design), Jason Crystal (sound design) and David Bengali (projection design).