All Powers Necessary and Convenient

In the Seattle of 1948 legislative hearings were called to investigate communism in Washington State. The inquisition became an early, effective example of American politics at midcentury when cold war anxiety escalated into hysteria, feeding what was to become known on a national level as the McCarthy era. The Canwell Committee, as it was popularly called, made a frontal assault on unsanctioned political thought and activism. Suspected communists teaching at the University of Washington were fired, careers and reputations were smashed, a higly acclaimed theatre copany was forced out of existence, livelihoods were lost, and lives shattered.All Power Necessary and Convenient, first performed to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the hearings, brings to life personal and political dramas of several actual participants central to these events. The play blends dialogue drawn verbatim from transcripts, newspaper quotes, and personal interviews with scenes of fictional conjecture to examine the limits of political discourse and actions in a democracy.