''Home Front'' is a play by

Warren Leight Warren Donald Leight (; born January 17, 1957) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' and '' Lights Out'' and as the showrunner for ''In ...

. It tells the story of an interracial couple, Annie and James, who meet while celebrating

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

, and was inspired by the famous photo of a kiss in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

. The story showcases the daily life of the couple in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the

deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

, where James is stationed awaiting his final release.

Production history

The character of James was inspired by the men of the Golden 13 and Eddie, the neighbor, by Leight's uncle. The show, whose first scene was written as part of a benefit event in 1998 and had an original run under the name ''James and Annie'' in 2003, had readings in 2011 and 2018 before a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

inquiry brought fresh eyes to it. It made its

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

premiere in January 2023 at the Victory Theater Center in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, with Austin Highsmith Garces as Annie, C.J. Lindsey as James and

Jonathan Slavin Jonathan Slavin (born November 8, 1969) is an American actor and activist. Early life Slavin was born in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Career Slavin portrayed illustrator Byron Togler on the Fox netw ...

as their gay neighbor. The show's set design was by Evan Bartoletti, sound design by Noah Andrade, and costume design by Carin Jacobs. The run was extended through February 26, 2023.

References

2003 plays 2023 plays Interracial marriage in the United States Plays about marriage Plays set in the 1940s Plays set in New York City Plays set in the United States Theatre in California {{Play-stub