PlaysbyMichaelDruce.com

“Woodstock” was one of the defining songs of the sixties. Its refrain “We are stardust; we are golden” spoke to the hopes and idealism of what has since become known as the “Woodstock” generation. It is against the backdrop of those unique times that We Were Stardust is set.

Here the dramatic and often humorous story of four friends unfolds as they make their way through college during the late sixties and early seventies. Told from the point of view of the main character Simon, the play is Simon’s recollection of his relationships with roommates Chase, Todd, their friend and activist Erika, and Annie, the girl who Simon meets and falls in love with. Their stories play out amid the major events of those times - Vietnam, the draft, Kent State, and the women’s movement.

Beginning with the group’s freshman year in the fall of 1967, the play spans four years, ending with graduation, May 1971. Structured in multiple scenes of varying lengths, the play introduces thirty-three characters, some of whom are with us to the end, and others who — as in life — don’t make it to graduation. The culmination is a time capsule that is the sum of its many parts, unified by Simon’s occasional narratives and the various threads that tie the stories of the main characters together.