by Elizabeth Searle
I remember where I was on January 6, 2021.
I was huddled on my futon couch, watching in horror as members of Congress worked with Capitol Police to barricade doors against a bloodthirsty mob. The shock wasn’t only the violence—it was the clarity of it. We were watching an attack on democracy unfold in real time.
Despite Donald Trump’s endless efforts to gaslight the nation and erase our collective memory, we remember that day.
On December 31, The New York Times ran an editorial headlined “Trump Is the Jan. 6 President,” opening with the line, “It was a day that should live in infamy.” Five years later, as another January 6 approaches, that sentence still feels exact.
I am now the Director of the Theater Project of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Writers for Democratic Action (a group co-chaired by Jessica Keener and Randy Susan Meyers, who has generously invited me onto her Substack) here to invite you to join us for a staged reading of January 6th, 2021: A Day Forever, written for WDA by James Carroll and Rachel DeWoskin.
The one-act play is drawn directly from excerpts of the Congressional Record of the January 6th insurrection. Its aim is simple and bracing: a forthright reckoning with the truth.
On Tuesday, January 6, 2026, we are proud to present one of the premiere productions of January 6th: A Day Forever at Newtonville Books. If you are nearby, we hope you’ll join us.
You can also learn how to download and stage your own WDA play—easily and at no cost—here Writers for Democratic Action: Democracy Theater Project
With every play we’ve staged, we’ve seen how hungry people are for shared space—for the chance to voice fear and hope aloud, and to find resolve in one another’s presence. It can feel profoundly isolating to sit alone, watching the news in dismay, battered by relentless lies and historical revisionism.
Let’s come together instead—for community, for truth-telling, and for conversation—at Newtonville Books at 6:30 PM on January 6, 2026.
Bio Note
Elizabeth Searle is the author of six books of fiction, most recently The Drama Room: A Collection in Three Acts. She is also the co-writer of the feature film screenplay I’ll Show You Mine (Duplass Brothers Productions). Her film work and her theater piece, Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, have drawn national media attention.
