Welcome to the home of The Life of Thomas Paine
Click here to buy tickets for the performances in Venice in June of To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine and From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks.
June 2013 at The Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Avenue, Venice
Thursday 20 |
Friday 21 |
Saturday 22 |
Sunday 23 |
8 PM OPENING NIGHT HARRY BRIDGES |
8 PM OPENING NIGHT THOMAS PAINE |
8 PM THOMAS PAINE |
7 PM THOMAS PAINE Pay What You Can |
Thursday 27 |
Friday 28 |
Saturday 29 |
Sunday 30 |
8 PM HARRY BRIDGES |
8 PM THOMAS PAINE |
8 PM THOMAS PAINE |
3 PM THOMAS PAINE |
Thomas Paine was the one truly radical Founding Father of America, a man who changed the face of the world through his writings. “Common Sense” inspired the American Revolution, “Rights of Man” defined the French Revolution, and then “The Age of Reason” called on us to use our ability to reason as the basis for our beliefs and morality.
He is a man largely forgotten and greatly misunderstood, ironically quoted by all and every political faction in America today. Yet his ideas about democracy, equality, slavery, pensions, healthcare and education and morality would have created a very different kind of nation if they had been acted on.
His life was a great arc. He was a man who changed the world, only to have the world he changed turn its back on him. The man who ignited revolutions would die largely ignored and distained, yet when he was writing his books and pamphlets he was at the epicenter of world events and literally transforming nations through the power of his words. He was a true man of the Enlightenment and thrilled by the idea that the potential of mankind was about to burst forth. As he said “we have it in our power to begin the world over again”.
Read Ian's blog on Unionosity
Our Introductory Video
Letters of Recommendation (more to follow)
American Philosophical Society letter
News Update.
Our seven short films that use excerpts from the play are up at YouTube.com/thelifeofthomaspaine. They challenge Bob Basso's Thomas Paine and include short clips of his distortions of Paine's words and ideas. Please visit, watch and spread the word – we are over 5,300 hits as of today!
Also visit The Thomas Paine Society's "Tom Talks" on YouTube, the first of a series. Ian talks about the most topical question of the size of government. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9M2nTmU3jA
The Social Security Administration has the complete text of Thomas Paine's Agrarian Justice on their web site at http://www.ssa.gov/history/tpaine3.html. Extraordinary! (Thanks to The Thomas Paine Society for pointing this out).
Please consider making a donation to the project. All donations will be acknowledged on this site. Checks should be sent to the address below and made out to The Harry Bridges Project, our fiscal sponsor. This ensures that your donation is 100% tax-deductable.
Also see The Harry Bridges Project