CAST OF CHARACTERS

The Ghost of James Madison
Soprano I
Soprano II
Alto I
Alto II
Tenor I
Tenor II
Baritone I
Baritone II

WORKING SYNOPSIS

“Founding Father” James Madison who, along with the other “Founding Fathers,” has watched the progress of Democracy from “the other side” and, having become deeply concerned for the state of our democracy, comes back as a ghost or to remind “The People” of what democracy really means and to encourage them to stand up in its defense. The People, eight (or more) men and women who are either recent immigrants or whose ancestors were immigrants who came to the America in pursuit of “life, liberty, happiness and the American Dream,” interact with Madison’s Ghost and reinforce his urgings and advice through music and song.

Act I begins with reminders of the power invested by the U.S. Constitution in “The People” to have their views represented in government and ending with an affirmation of who the American people” really are in all their diversity.

Act II highlights the freedoms granted to the American people by the Constitution as originally conceived by the “Founding Fathers” (Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, and Assembly), and and also those in the ninth amendment that insures ‘basic human rights” such as bodily sovereignty and the right to “love who you love.”

Act III focuses on the dangers and threats to democracy including: polarization, economic inequality, voter suppression, misinformation, assaults on reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ communities, and autocratic and theocratic tendencies.



Act IV imagines a re-emergence of America as the bastion of democracy in the world where all the people enjoy equality and inclusion in the “American Dream.”