The American Clock

Closely based on Miller's own family experiences, The American Clock is set in 1930s America during the catastrophe of the Great Depression. The Baum Family—a truncated version of Miller's own—are living the “American Dream,” but after the crash of 1929 they lose virtually everything. Adding in scenes drawn from Studs Terkel's book Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970), Miller provides a broader canvas because in addition to the financial crisis he saw firsthand, we have the “perfect storm” of the Midwest agricultural disaster brought about by overfarming and the soil turning to dust.

There is nothing quite like The American Clock among Miller's other plays, and this production being played simultaneously with the current crop of Miller's work in...