THEATER | Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

The Adirondack Mountains’ “storied” performance group Gem Radio Theatre will perform Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness at a series of venues bookending Independence Day 2026 to commemorate the Semiquincentennial Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence as part of initiatives throughout the country working to involve Americans in the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Performances of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are scheduled for:

Tuesday, June 30, 6:30 p.m. – Crandall Library, 251 Glen Street, Glens Falls, NY

Thursday, July 2, 7:30 p.m. – Indian Lake Theatre, 6311 NY Rt. 30, Indian Lake, NY

Friday, July 3, Afternoon Time TBA – Ski Bowl “America 250 Celebration,” North Creek, NY

Saturday, July 11, 7:30 p.m. – Tannery Pond Center, 228 Main St., North Creek, NY

Gem Radio Theatre executive producer and director Robin Jay explained, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is a most ambitious stage performance project based on actual archival writings of and about historical Colonial Americans who were forces leading to our Declaration of Independence. Our goal is to invite Adirondackers of all ages to experience a time in our nation’s history when Colonists of all walks of life forged a collective path to independence. There is no more significant event in our country’s history than the very birth of our nation.”

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is an original stage performance highlighting many key historical Colonial Americans, and some lesser-known figures, whose advocacy for creating a united independent nation from the original Thirteen Colonies led to the Declaration of Independence. Written by Adirondack essayist-in-residence Edward Collins, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness represents six months of research and over 125 archival documents. It begins with Revolutionary War veteran Andrus Wever (1758-1836), who established present-day Wevertown in the Adirondack Town of Johnsburg, N.Y., telling to his children stories of his service “in the cause of independence,” beginning with his time as a member of Vermont’s The Green Mountain Boys. Through Wever’s reminiscences of his service and his recollections of tales of others, the roles of historical figures are stitched together in a contemporaneous quilt of forces foundational to the creation of The United States.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness includes accounts of Crispus Attacks, widely believed to be the first fatality of what historians call “America’s first Civil War”; The Green Mountain Boys; cousins John and Samuel Adams and The Sons of Liberty; Sarah Bradlee Fulton, the “Mother of the Boston Tea Party” and a member of The Daughters of Liberty; poet, playwright, and pamphleteer Mercy Otis Warren; British writer Catherine Macaulay who took up the cause of the Colonists in England; Oneida First People Native Polly Cooper who was a force for helping Colonel Washington’s Continental Army survive the brutal winter at Valley Forge; Benjamin Franklin; Patrick Henry; Thomas Paine; Abigail Adams; and Thomas Jefferson. Collins draws on the actual written words and contemporary accounts of these Colonists as he weaves their individual stories into the greater narrative of our nation’s birth.