By Aaron Krause
It is safe to say that South Florida theater artist and educator Jason Peck knows Arthur Miller’s classic masterpiece, All My Sons.
“Oh, my gosh, I’ve read the play close to 100 times by now,” Peck notes. “All My Sons is a text I know intimately. My artistic partner up in Connecticut jokingly calls it my ‘kryptonite’ because I leap at any chance to work on it. Honestly, he’s right. This play just gets under my skin in the best way.”
In addition to having read the piece so many times, he is about to direct a production of All My Sons for the fourth time. That professional production is approaching. And if you live in or are visiting South Florida, you will not have to travel far to experience it.
New City Players (NCP), a nonprofit professional theater company based in Wilton Manors, will stage All My Sons from Feb. 21 to March 9. Opening night will be Feb. 22. The night before, the company will offer a “Pay What You Wish” preview performance. Its purpose includes making live theater more accessible. The venue will be Island City Stage’s intimate black box theater on Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors. The production will feature 11 performances spread over three weekends. In addition to performances, NCP will offer audiences ways to enhance their theatrical experience.
All My Sons won Miller a Tony Award for Best Play on Broadway in 1947, among other honors. The piece takes place during the 1940s in the aftermath of World War II. The play typically runs two hours and 15 minutes, including one intermission.
The premise: Joe Keller and Steve Deever, partners in a machine shop during the war, turned out defective airplane parts. This caused many men to die. Authorities sent Deever to prison. However, Keller escaped punishment and became a wealthy man. In the play, a love affair between Keller’s son, Chris, and Ann Deever, Steve’s daughter; the bitterness of Steve’s son, George, who returns from the war to find his father in prison and his father’s partner free; and the reaction of a son to his father’s guilt all escalate toward an explosive climax.
The full cast encompasses Michael Gioia as Joe Keller, Laura Turnbull as Kate Keller, Timothy Mark Davis as Chris Keller, Caroline Tarantolo as Ann Deever, Brandon Campbell as George Deever, Carlos Alayeto as Jim Bayliss, Laura Argo as Sue Bayliss, Juan Gamero as Frank Lubey, Kristi Rose Mills as Lydia Lubey, and, making his professional stage debut as 9-year-old neighbor, Bert, child performer Desmond Sacks.
The production will mark NCP’s first time staging a Miller piece. But it will not be the company’s last production of a Miller play, adds Davis, NCP’s Producing Artistic Director.
Peck is a professional actor, director, and theater director at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens. He says he is looking forward to mounting NCP’s production.
“The three previous times I directed this play were all at academic institutions, on your classic proscenium stages seating up to 500 people,” he says. “Each of those productions was incredibly rewarding, and I was so proud when they were recognized with top honors for both acting and overall production. That said, this production (NCP’s) is a completely new challenge. Working in a small, intimate space (Island City Stage can hold about 60 audience members) brings a different kind of energy – it’s thrilling to stage a play with such moral weight and emotional depth in a setting where the audience feels like they’re part of the backyard (the play’s setting). I couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Peck says he thinks All My Sons is a perfect piece of live theater.
“Arthur Miller was a master of structure, and this play is like a magic trick. It starts with friends and neighbors in a backyard, reminiscing and sharing their lives. But then, without the audience even realizing it, the play shifts. Suddenly, you’re grappling with some of the most fundamental questions about humanity. What do we owe the world? What happens when our personal choices collide with our moral obligations? It’s powerful, precise, and devastating.
“I want audiences to leave thinking about their own lives, their choices, and the ripple effects of those choices. The play doesn’t hand you easy answers, but it asks you to wrestle with big, important questions: What do we owe to one another? How far does our responsibility extend beyond our immediate circle?,” Peck said.
“At the same time, I hope the audience feels the humanity in these characters – the love, the flaws, the struggle. I want them to leave moved, maybe a little uncomfortable, but inspired to reflect on the world and their place in it.”
What really sets Miller apart is his distinctly American voice, Peck said. While his stories resonate internationally, they capture something uniquely American. What is that? The “tension between ambition and morality, the pursuit of success and its cost,” Peck says.
Although Miller set the play during the 1940s, it should resonate with audiences today, Peck said.
“In 2025, it feels particularly relevant because we live in a world where self-interest often takes center stage,” he says. “Whether it’s politics, business, or personal choices, people frequently lean into what benefits their immediate circle. That can lead to tunnel vision and even narcissistic tendencies. This play explores what happens when we can’t – or won’t – see beyond our own needs and asks us to consider the broader consequences of our actions.
“There’s something deeply compelling about the tension between our responsibilities to our families and our responsibilities to the larger world. This negotiation – this weighing of priorities – can be so messy, especially when those responsibilities are in conflict. In our society, there’s a relentless ‘race to the top’ that inspires incredible passion and ingenuity, but it also creates tunnel vision. The pursuit of success can make us blind to the ripple effects our actions, and All My Sons dives right into the heart of that struggle. It’s a play that asks tough, essential questions, and it refuses to give easy answers,” he said.
Davis portrayed Joe Keller as a college student. Today, at 34, he is preparing to play Joe’s son, Chris. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Davis said. Most often, “you don’t get to play the father and the son (in) one of your favorite plays. My only hope is that I’ll get to play Joe again when I’m 60.”
Davis said he has gained more life experience since his college days. That can help him as he prepares to portray Chris Keller, he adds. “I have a much softer spot for a young man who wants to settle down with something he can call his own and for an older man who will do anything for his family.”
Davis advised people new to All My Sons to “come to the theater with an open heart and open mind and prepare to go on a thrilling dramatic journey.”
He agrees that All My Sons is relevant for audiences today. “We are at a moment where the tension of protecting your own mental health/community/family and caring for your unknown/unseen neighbor can be in direct opposition. How much am I required to give to others vs how much should I ensure that I am taking care of myself? It may be a false dichotomy, but it remains a wrestle each of us must consider and I hope approach with wisdom, patience, and empathy.
“Every day we are faced with decisions great and small where we must ask what we owe each other, what we’ll sacrifice for our families, what is ethical, what is moral, what is required of us, and what is optional. All My Sons demands we have this conversation and that will always be timeless,” Davis said.
Davis is familiar not only with All My Sons, but with Miller (1915-2005). Many consider him one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century. His work is famous for its social commentary, complex characters, and enduring themes. In his work, among other things, Miller showed his concern for the “common man.” In fact, he wrote an essay titled “Tragedy and the Common Man.”
Miller’s writing style often features a mix of realism and expressionism. He blended diverse dramatic style and movements and often questioned the psychological causes of moral problems within American society.
Davis read Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy Death of a Salesman for AP Literature class during his senior year of high school. A year later, during his freshman year of college, he portrayed Danforth in Miller’s award-winning piece, The Crucible. During his senior year of college, Davis and a friend hosted “An Evening of Arthur Miller” as part of their directing class capstone project. For that event, Davis directed Miller’s play Incident at Vichy in which his friend performed, while the other young man directed All My Sons and Davis acted in the production. They performed the shows in repertory two nights in a row.
“It was a very special and formative experience since it was my first time directing a full-length play and I got to act in one of my favorite plays,” Davis said.
He refers to Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and All My Sons as Miller’s “Big Three.”
Miller “so perfectly welds together story, character, and theme,” Davis said. “If you’re watching one of these plays and the actors are at the very least saying the words loud and clear and with some conviction, you are in for a great story. From there, depending on where you are in your own life, you will connect to the plight of various characters; often deeply. And then, like a wrecking ball, without any announcement or fanfare or indication or exposition or preaching, the meaning of the play will descend with unmatched ferocity.”
Gioia’s experience with Miller includes portraying Ben in Death of a Salesman in graduate school “a long, long time ago.” He says he is excited to play Joe Keller for NCP’s upcoming production.
“It feels exciting, daunting, humbling,” Gioia said. “There is very little I have in common with Joe, with the exception of his love and loyalty to his family. I am not doing anything differently, specifically for this role. I like to remain open and make discoveries in rehearsal. To collaborate. The director, the designers, the crew, the other actors, will all play a part in who Joe ultimately becomes. And, of course, the audience will also play a part.”
Davis said he has wanted to collaborate with Gioia on a project after seeing him in several productions and talking with Gioia. “I have always looked up to him and have wanted to work in a more meaningful way with him ever since. It’s the thing I’m most excited about with this project.”
But if history had played out just a bit differently, the two men would not have been able to collaborate on All My Sons. In fact, the play would not have existed had Miller given up following his first play. It was a flop. Specifically, The Man Who Had All the Luck flopped in 1944 after just four performances. That play told the story of a successful man who was unhappy with his success. The play was set in a Midwestern town in the 1930s.
“He famously gave himself one more shot,” Peck said, referring to Miller. “Thank goodness he did, or we might never have had this masterpiece.”
All My Sons from Feb. 21-March 9 from New City Players performing at Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors. Tickets: A “Pay What You Wish” preview performance at 8 p.m. on Feb. 21 will feature prices from $5-$25. Regular ticket prices are $40-$45. Buy tickets online at www.newcityplayers.org/allmysons. For student and group discounts, email the box office at boxoffice@newcityplayers.org or call (954) 376-6114.
On opening night starting at 8 p.m. on Feb. 22, enjoy libations and small bites with the cast and creative team immediately after the performance. NCP will also offer “Weekend Wine Downs,” fr Feb. 28, March 1, 7, and 8, a casual and structured time of reflection, conversation, and libations after the Friday and Saturday night performances where patrons can discuss the questions, themes, and ideas of the play with each other and members of the artistic team. “Sunday Talkbacks” are for those looking to go a bit deeper into the process of bringing a classic play to life. This event also allows you to step into NCP’s theater-making process. You can join the cast and creative team after every Sunday performance for an interactive and engaging talkback. “Sunday Talkbacks” will take place on Feb. 23, March 2, and March 9.
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