D.C. Anderson Wide Awoke (And Proud of It!)
D.C. Anderson Wide Awoke (And Proud Of It) was a heartfelt musical performance by D.C. Anderson that sings of an angst that many of us all are too familiar with. Anderson takes the opportunity at the United Solo Theatre Festival to speak from a place deep in his core. He is an older gentleman with his professional profiles listing him as a 63–75-year-old actor. Now, I’m more courteous than to ask someone their age but none the less it speaks of the generation that Anderson’s life experience centered around.
I’m a man in my 30s who very much feels the stress of the world. The state of the economy, old orders and ways falling apart, we live in a harrowing present with an incredibly uncertain future. Among some of the older generation there is a sentiment that what happens tomorrow doesn’t matter because they have less time. It has been said that a good man is one who plants trees whose shade he’ll never sit under. D.C. Anderson is the furthest thing from cynical in his frustrations with the world. Anderson is upset, there is an angst, one that is refreshingly youthful from my perspective as an audience member. There is wisdom to be gathered in age, and yet a certain passionate love that is reminiscent of the youth of a different time.
I often ask how the generation of free love and flower power came to be the generation to tear down the East Wing. The Initialism D.C here serves as a rather poetic moment of seeming nominative determinism: an anger rooted in love throughout this show from a man who loves his country and hates to see what it has become. At times I wonder “Where did the counterculture youth go? Who did they grow into?” and I realize it’s men like D.C. Anderson. There’s no shame in aging. Only shame in giving up and Anderson has not. The frustration and passion do not carry a tone of condemnation but righteous indignation that me and my peers need from our elders at this time. “Art is a language” that liberates as he says, and this piece lives up to its scruples.
There is a tenderness to Anderson in all aspects of performance. The performance comes off more as a poetry collection with beautiful vocal arrangements rather than a theater piece and that works mostly to the show's benefit. Lyrically, in both a vocal context and poetic context, there is a beauty to what comes from the voice of Anderson. His control of his voice was exceptional and carried the soul of the show. There are some moments where he plays with his instrument such as beat his chest which add a sort of ritualistic primitiveness to it, almost as if we are standing around a fire, grieving those who are being wounded while refusing to give up, or a sea shanty keeping us safe during stormy seas. The anger of lines such as “Does your mother know?” an indictment he aims towards those who done the masks and terrorize our neighbors are punctuated by his unbelievable skill with his instrument.
D.C. Anderson Wide Awoke (And Proud of It!) is near perfect. It made me feel comfortable and hopeful, but it required a rather intense focus. The thematic content of the show made that focus well worth it, but a touch more direction either musically, theatrically, or choreographically to break up the narrative beats. I wouldn’t say it the needs spectacle of any sort: it isn’t about that and spectacle would do it’s earnestness injustice. It is a beautiful cape of the angst of an older generation that dare to worry about future generations. A cape befitting a revolution, it just needs a bit of an iron or some steam to clear the wrinkles so we can better see its Stars and Stripes.
D.C. Anderson Wide Awoke (And Proud of It!)
Starring: D.C. Anderson
Performed on October 23rd, 2026
October 19 – November 22, 2026
Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan
Reviewer: Alexander J. Preziosi
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