Play and music

"First Freedom" is a Broadway style musical drama told in two acts. It is written by New York playwright Rob Lauer and composed by Emmy Award winning Sam Cardon. It contains 17 original songs that are both unforgettable and inspiring. The characters are well developed and the script cleverly written. Through a tireless collaboration over more than a year's time, the playwright, the composer and Better World Entertainment's Jamie Young, have created something quite powerful. The show has found the almost unprecedented distinction of being entertaining and historically accurate. Approximately 17 to 30 professional cast members, singers and dancers will command the stage during this two hour production.

Set in the time of the American Revolution, "First Freedom" tells the story of how religious freedom became enshrined in our laws as right for all Americans. The setting is Virginia, on the eve of the war for Independence. Like her sister colonies, Virginia had a state church, which all citizens were taxed to support. As our show opens, we see the effect that all of this has on the lives of every day people.

We meet a young Presbyterian couple, deeply in love, who can not be legally married by their own choice of ministers. We meet some students from the College of William and Mary, who are being threatened with jail because they would rather sleep in Sunday morning than attend government mandated church services. And we witness the predicament faced by Baptist ministers who were regularly arrested for preaching in public without a license. It is at the arrest of one such minister, that the young, unlikely hero of our show makes his entrance: James Madison.

Determined to defend his fellow Virginians against religious discrimination, James Madison runs for office and is elected to the Virginia Assembly just as they are in the process of writing the Virginia Declaration of Rights--a document that seeks to legally establish religious toleration. But our young hero, realizing that toleration of religious differences is not the same thing as a right to religious freedom, writes some proposed changes to the Declaration. Being new at the game of politics, young Madison decides to enlist the help of the most eloquent and highly respected politician of his day - Patrick Henry or, as he was nicknamed by the Public, "The Son of Thunder!"

With Patrick Henry as his mentor, Madison's revisions become part of the Virginia Declaration of Rights--touching off a storm of controversy and debate among citizens every where. It is also through Henry, that Madison is introduced to another central character in our play--one who will become not only a second mentor but a life-long friend, Thomas Jefferson.

These three Founding Fathers--Madison, Henry and Jefferson--champion American independence, but following the Revolutionary War, it becomes obvious that Henry has very different opinions on how one is to live with Lady Liberty.

Madison champions a Bill for Religious Freedom written by Jefferson, which would guarantee freedom of religion by separating church and state. But Henry--believing that society needs a firm foundation in religion to remain moral--proposes a new tax that would support all churches and religious denominations equally. Madison suddenly finds himself the political enemy of his one time friend and mentor. In the heated battle that follows, not only must Madison face the harsh realities of politics, he must also come to terms with his own ideas and feelings regarding faith, morality and freedom.

"First Freedom" presents the little known but fascinating story of the passionate battle that our Founding Fathers fought among themselves in order to establish religious freedom as a right for all Americans.

Through drama, comedy and fourteen incredible songs, this ground breaking show brings to vibrant life not only great figures such as James Madison, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, but other men and women such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer--men and women who championed religious freedom, and who, in some cases, gave their lives in order that we might enjoy this most sacred right.

"First Freedom: An American Miracle" made its world premiere in a successful workshop production directed by Jamie Young, at Western Wyoming College in November of 2006. Please enjoy a few video clips from the workshop performance.