Assassins: A Shot to the Heart of the Matter

Out of the Box was just a young theatre company in residence at Center Stage in April 2011 when Founder-artistic Director Samantha Eve made Stephen Sondheim’s offbeat musical Assassins its third production ever. Now, OOB and Eve are closing out the 15th season with a revival of the show, the first repeat production in Out of the Box’s idiosyncratic history. Many other conversation-inducing (some might say controversial) examples of contemporary musical theater have trod the boards in the meantime through OOB. The company has premiered nearly two dozen shows in town over the years since they first mounted Sondheim’s Assassins. In that same interim, we saw the first assassination attempt on a sitting president or candidate that resulted in injury since Reagan was shot in the early 1980s. That fact, coupled with the vast changes in the world having arisen from the second Trump presidency, have made the musical worth revisiting. 

Assassins posits the period of presidential murders – and the lives of nine men and women who attempted to kill or succeeded at killing the sitting President of the United States – as a surreal carnival game. Sondheim’s juxtapositions – despair and hope,  humanity and hatred – seem even more apropos today than almost two decades ago. A typically diverse Sondheim score shifts through myriad styles to evoke sometimes unexpected emotions, adding to the show’s lore as a uniquely uncomfortable and ultimately rewarding experience. 

Eve, who once again directs, discussed the show, which boasts a cast of 16, and runs April 10-19 at Center Stage.

Q. This is your first time repeating repertoire since starting 15 years ago. Obvious question: why now and why Assassins?

A. I’ve taken a lot of pride in doing almost exclusively new works, shows that haven’t been seen in Santa Barbara before. If we were going to repeat a show, it would have to be something I loved, and the right time to do it. The world looked a lot different back in 2011 when we did it the first time, which was also the first time I directed one of our shows on my own. It feels very different in the context of the world that we are living in today. Before I was drawn to the comedy aspect, the tongue in cheek quality of the writing that Stephen Sondheim is so good at. But now it feels much more timely and political, asking questions about a cycle of violence that our country seems to be trapped in. Theater is very much a reflection of the society that it’s being performed for, and this felt like the right time to bring the show back. 

How does it reflect our current society? 

Assassins is really about the shattering of the American dream, the anger that arises when that promise of success and happiness is not fulfilled. Who is to blame? Are you to blame? Is the country to blame? Are politics to blame? Is the president to blame? The show looks at what happens when those people who feel like they are not heard and not represented and not treated fairly, or don’t like how the country is changing, turn to violence. 

What makes it very theatrical is that the proprietor of the carnival talks to the assassins, manipulates them. “Hey, you want to play a game? You want to win a prize? Come on and shoot a president.” That sets the tone for the show itself, which takes place in a sort of limbo where they’re interacting together and recycling the moments of violence. That callousness is pit against the balladeer, the angel on the other shoulder, who believes in what America can be. We’re naturally drawn to that contrast of something very sweet and pure and then the dark underbelly underneath it. 

How do you find the balance between the explored humanity of the assassin and the heinousness of the actual act of violence without glorifying them?

We’ve said straight away that we are not trying to make these people heroes. They’re not. Some of them are more relatable. Some of them are easier to sympathize with than others, but in the end, what connects them is that they choose violence to try to accomplish their goals. That shouldn’t be glorified. But there is an element of humanity in all of them.

The musical has often been described as disturbing and hard to digest. Do you agree? 

It can be. It’s not linear, which can be difficult. It’s like a series of vignettes with scenes that exist outside of time in order to explore the characters and the bigger themes. But we love to do theater that challenges us. That’s why we’re here.