Hillary and Clinton
by Lucas Hnath

Name: Hillary and Clinton
Brand: Lucas Hnath
SKU: 9780822233855
Rating: 3.88 (85 reviews)

Broadway

Hillary and Clinton Book Cover — Hillary and Clinton Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

90 mins Present Day Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Awards & Recognition

Drama Desk Award Tony Award

Nominee: One 2019 Tony Award Nominee: One 2019 Drama Desk Award

Synopsis

In an alternate universe light-years away from our own is a planet called Earth.

It looks a lot like our Earth, except it’s slightly different.

And living on this other Earth is a woman named Hillary.

Hillary is trying to become the president of a country called the United States of America.

It’s 2008 and she’s campaigning in a state called New Hampshire.

She’s not doing very well in the polls.

She needs more money to keep the campaign going, so she calls her husband for help.

He offers her a deal, a tough deal, but when she gets his help, she gets more than she bargained for.

You may think you know where this story is going, but you don’t.

After all, the play takes place in an alternate universe where anything can happen.

Press Reviews

"Mr. Hnath’s play is a Machiavellian meditation on the sacrifices politicians will make to reach office."
— The Economist

"All the more valuable for its appearance in the middle of another primary battle, albeit in an America changed for the good... has a political immediacy generally lacking in the theater, where plays get locked and set much too far in advance, and where some deep diving into the ideology or emotion of the moment thus becomes all too rare."
— Chicago Tribune

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Bill A man who was once president of the United States, married to Hillary	—	—	A man who was once president of the United States, married to Hillary
Mark A political strategist	—	—	A political strategist
Barack A man who is also running for president of the United States It might be tempting, very tempting, to play these characters as imitations of the real deal. An actor playing Bill Clinton might be very tempted to mimic Bill’s signature southern drawl and lip bites just as an actor playing Hillary might want to emulate her cadences and laugh. Don’t do it! Do not play for easy recognition. Don’t imitate. Don’t even try to cast actors who look like these people. Instead, imagine that the audience watching this play has never heard of the Clintons and that this is an opportunity to create these characters anew.	female	—	A man who is also running for president of the United States It might be tempting, very tempting, to play these characters as imitations of the real deal. An actor playing Bill Clinton might be very tempted to mimic Bill’s signature southern drawl and lip bites just as an actor playing Hillary might want to emulate her cadences and laugh. Don’t do it! Do not play for easy recognition. Don’t imitate. Don’t even try to cast actors who look like these people. Instead, imagine that the audience watching this play has never heard of the Clintons and that this is an opportunity to create these characters anew.
Hillary A woman running for president of the United States	female	—	A woman running for president of the United States