Into the Sun follows a brother and sister whose lives are overturned by the Great War and who join the antiwar resistance. Freddy and Mary Sigfried distill the arc of their generation as they move from initial enthusiasm for war to despair, resistance, and protest. When war breaks out, Freddy enlists with his two best friends. Eager to climb the military ranks, he is soon promoted to Captain of his unit. But when he has to send his friends into battle, he confronts the cost of his ambition. In England, Mary resents having to stay home while the boys get to fight. Defying her family, she takes a job at a local munitions factory before she, too, must confront a choice: whether to continue making weapons or protest against a deadly war. Into the Sun’s dramatization of the conflict between military duty and friendship; gay attraction among soldiers; resistance to political authority; and soldiers facing multiple deployments, shell shock, and incomprehension from families back home touches on themes as potent today as they were during the Great War.

An exploration of the love, courage, and protest, INTO THE SUN asks each audience member to confront the question of what is truly worth fighting for.

“I was first exposed to Into the Sun when I was a 16 year-old high school student. We did a reading of the script for my musical theatre class and I immediately fell in love with the show and it has stuck with me ever since. There are two distinct tones throughout the show; there’s the wanderlust and exhilaration of gaining some independence and setting off to do something you’re passionate about as well as the intense, world shifting feeling when things do not go as planned. This show is one people need to see.” — Nicole Koelsch, James Madison University/Colgan High School

Into the Sun is inspired by World War I poets, including Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, and Siegfried Sassoon, whose poems form lyrics for some of the songs. The score mixes Broadway and classical sounds with Beatles-style rock.