Know Your Enemy #11: We Could Be Heroes, with Will Arbery
Know Your Enemy #11: We Could Be Heroes, with Will Arbery
A long chat with Will Arbery, the playwright behind Heroes of the Fourth Turning, a riveting new play about conservative Catholics in the Trump era.
Know Your Enemy is a podcast about the American right co-hosted by Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell. Read more about it here. You can subscribe, rate, and review to the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher, and receive bonus content by supporting the podcast on Patreon.
Will Arbery’s play Heroes of the Fourth Turning—about four conservative Catholic friends arguing under a night sky in Wyoming—feels like it was written to be discussed on Know Your Enemy. An ominous meditation on faith, conservatism, empathy, cruelty, and power, Heroes has ignited debate and garnered praise across the political spectrum—from First Things to the (failing) New York Times to Rod Dreher’s blog at the American Conservative. Arbery was raised by conservative Catholic professors and grew up imbibing the ideas of the right and the teachings of the Church. He writes from a place of deep love and withering scrutiny. Lucky for us (and you!), Will displays all the sensitivity, intellectually curiosity, and love in this conversation that he does in his remarkable play.
You can buy tickets to see Heroes, which is playing in New York City until November 17. Watch a preview here.
Further Reading:
- New York Times profile of Will, “A Play about God and Trump, From a Writer Raised on the Right”
- Vinson Cunningham, “A Play About the Nuances of Conservatism in the Trump Era,” The New Yorker, October 14, 2019
- B. D. McClay, “Heroes of the Fourth Turning’ is a haunted play about religious conservatives,” The Outline,November 5, 2019
- Rod Dreher, “Will Arbery’s Heroes,” The American Conservative, October 2, 2019
- C. C. Pecknold, “An extraordinary play that challenges progressives and conservatives alike,” Catholic Herald, October 1, 2019
