When We Go Upon the Sea

Lee Blessing imagines George W. Bush (Conan McCarty) on the eve of a war-crimes trial in this elegant political drama, which fingers the nerve that connects our moral instincts to our need to obey. Although we get the requisite Bush frat-boy jokes, When We Go Upon the Sea is more than a liberal revenge fantasy; Blessing also stirs up profoundly discomfiting truths. Gracefully staged by Paul Meshejian and tightly acted by a fine trio, the play is a speculative glance at the future, but also a fearful look into the mirror of the recent past.—David Cote