Stories of the American Revolution

History Brought to Life!

The first in a series of plays featuring stories of the American Revolution, The Gathering Storm in America tells the remarkable story of an all-but-forgotten forefather whose actions initiated the tumultuous pre-Revolutionary period in America. It presents both the British and American points of view on issues that led to the Declaration of Independence and the building of a new nation based on democratic principles.

The Gathering Storm in America is narrated by Mercy Otis Warren, poet, playwright, and publisher of plays satirizing British rule in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Mercy was the first woman to write a history of the American Revolution. In this first story, she tells the riveting, true, and incredible story of her dearly beloved brother, James Otis—Grandfather of the American Revolution—whose challenges to Parliament created a firestorm of resentment in the colonies. Names, characters, and events in the play are actual. Dialogue is created from carefully researched historical record.

Many of the events that occurred in Revolutionary America can be compared to events that are happening today. In the words of Reverend Jonathan Russell to his young students, James Otis and his sister, Mercy, "for the winds turnith around and returnith again". A "blessing to remember" as we enter The Gathering Storm in America.