This Greenville Journal article by Paul Hyde was originally published on January 28th, 2026. Photo: Will Crooks
Contemporary conservatism is explored in nuanced, sympathetic fashion in The Warehouse Theatre’s “Heroes of the Fourth Turning,” said stage director Jay Briggs.
Will Arbery’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, running Jan. 30-Feb. 15 at the Warehouse, centers on four young conservative Catholics who reunite at a backyard party to celebrate a favorite professor.
What follows is a tense clash with the four arguing all night over God, Trump, abortion, LGBTQ issues and the state of a troubled, divided world.
“They’re all wrestling with what it means to be a religious and political conservative in 21st century America and what they’re willing to fight for,” said Briggs, a frequent stage director who also serves as the Warehouse’s education director.
“It’s a gripping play, a roller-coaster to watch,” he added.
The two-hour drama is intended to be performed straight through, without an intermission that might interrupt the momentum.
Arbery sets the play at a flashpoint in recent American history: just after the 2017 murder of Heather Heyer at fierce protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The play challenges negative stereotypes of conservatism, without taking sides but finding a range of serious viewpoints on the right, Briggs said.
“What’s really compelling about the play is that it presents the characters not as caricatures but as real people,” he said. “I think we often have these static ideas of what it means to be on the right or the left, and we begin to look at people as a voting block or monolith. But this show provides a much more nuanced and empathetic look at people on the right side of the political spectrum.”
Facilitating dialogue
The play, as well as theater in general, facilitates the sort of thoughtful dialogue of opposing views that is essential to democracy, Briggs said.
Arbery, the playwright, has said he wrote the 2019 drama in response to what he saw as shallow media coverage of Trump supporters in the 2016 election.
The New York Times said the drama “explores the lives and ideas of conservatives with affection, understanding and deep knowledge.”
Briggs has directed several popular plays at the Warehouse, including “The Lehman Trilogy,” “Pride & Prejudice,” “Appropriate,” “Witch” and “Clybourne Park.”
The name of the play, “Heroes of the Fourth Turning,” is based on a theory that predicts political change on a generational timetable.
“Almost immediately while seeing the original production in 2019 I knew we’d produce this show at The Warehouse; it was just a matter of when,” said Mike Sablone, the Warehouse’s producing artistic director. “I didn’t take a breath for the whole run time. It grabbed me immediately and refused to let go, sparking dozens of deep conversations with others through the years. It’s a vital piece of theater, and one that you rarely see portrayed and that needs to be produced in communities like ours.”
