Photo: "Benedict Arnold Demands the Powder House Key", by Morton Kunstler 1991Go to ticketing for current availability and reservations.
All start times are approximate and subject to change. Times are Eastern.
Oct 2026
AvailableWaitlistUnavailableUnconfirmed
Friday, October 16, 2026
495 Blake St, New Haven, CT
Approximate runtime: 30 minutes.
Recommended for ages 10 and up.
A Broken Umbrella Theatre presents a special preview of their newest work inspired by New Haven’s history, Revolutionary Haven.
In this 250th anniversary year, explore what it was like in New Haven in 1776 for Patriots, Loyalists, and those caught in between, as well as what may lie ahead in year 251 and beyond.
New Haven plays a visible role in the American Revolution and in the region's political realignment.
Meet the people whose lives, work, testimony, and legends shape Revolutionary Haven—and explore the historical sources behind the stories.
Traitor or trader?
On April 22, 1775, Benedict Arnold demanded the key to New Haven’s powder house so his militia company could march to support the fighting in Massachusetts. In Revolutionary Haven, his urgent calls to act collide with the selectmen’s caution—and with stories that refuse to leave him at center stage. Hannah Arnold’s work at the family shop reveals another side of the life behind his famous name.
The work horse, not the show horse.
Roger Sherman signed the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. He served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration and later became New Haven’s mayor. In Revolutionary Haven, his patient committee work offers a counterpoint to Benedict Arnold’s dramatic demands. What does a revolution need from the people who build its government?
A midnight ride. A lasting legend.
The story goes that sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington rode through the night in 1777 to rally her father’s militia after British troops attacked Danbury. Her forty-mile ride became a celebrated tale of Revolutionary courage, but surviving accounts were recorded decades later, and historians still debate whether it happened. Remembered as a heroine, she also invites a question at the heart of Revolutionary Haven: how does a life become a legend, and who gets remembered?
The Revolution, in her own words.
Rose Luke was a free Black woman in New Haven, married to Gad Luke, Jethro Luke’s son. When British troops invaded the city on July 5, 1779, she endured robbery, threats, and attempted sexual assault. Later that month, she gave sworn testimony describing what happened and how she resisted. Her account survives in the historical record, bringing the Revolution into the homes of the people who lived through it. Rose’s words ask us to remember whose safety and freedom were at stake.
Keeping the shop—and the household—afloat.
Hannah Arnold was Benedict Arnold’s sister. In Revolutionary Haven, she keeps the Water Street shop and household running while her brother pursues trade and war. Her scene brings the Revolution into the daily work of caring for children, managing supplies, and keeping a business alive. The Library of Congress preserves a letter from Hannah to Benedict dated September 16, 1780—a chance to encounter her voice beyond his story.
Caution at the powder house.
David Wooster helped lead Connecticut’s resistance to the British expedition against Danbury in 1777. Wounded while attacking the retreating British near Ridgefield, he died a few days later. In Revolutionary Haven, the earlier powder-house debate places him opposite Benedict Arnold: a dramatic argument over caution, responsibility, and the cost of choosing a side.
A Family that Built New Haven
Jethro Luke and his son Gad were free Black men whose work helped build Yale’s Connecticut Hall. Surviving accounts preserve traces of their labor alongside that of enslaved workers—people long absent from familiar stories about the university’s beginnings. Their family’s history connects the buildings of New Haven to the lives of those who built them, including Rose Luke, Gad’s wife.
Someone had to keep the Revolutionaries informed.
Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Hannah Bunce Watson took over the Connecticut Courant in Hartford after her husband Ebenezer Watson died in 1777. Working with printer George Goodwin while raising five young children, she kept news of the Revolution in print. When a fire destroyed the paper mill, she and co-owner Sarah Ledyard sought support to rebuild it. Her work reminds us that the struggle for independence also depended on the people who kept information moving.
Original productions rooted in New Haven history only happen because people invest in the work behind them.
Make a donationNew Haven plays a visible role in the American Revolution and in the region's political realignment.
Meet the people whose lives, work, testimony, and legends shape Revolutionary Haven—and explore the historical sources behind the stories.
Traitor or trader?
On April 22, 1775, Benedict Arnold demanded the key to New Haven’s powder house so his militia company could march to support the fighting in Massachusetts. In Revolutionary Haven, his urgent calls to act collide with the selectmen’s caution—and with stories that refuse to leave him at center stage. Hannah Arnold’s work at the family shop reveals another side of the life behind his famous name.
The work horse, not the show horse.
Roger Sherman signed the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. He served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration and later became New Haven’s mayor. In Revolutionary Haven, his patient committee work offers a counterpoint to Benedict Arnold’s dramatic demands. What does a revolution need from the people who build its government?
A midnight ride. A lasting legend.
The story goes that sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington rode through the night in 1777 to rally her father’s militia after British troops attacked Danbury. Her forty-mile ride became a celebrated tale of Revolutionary courage, but surviving accounts were recorded decades later, and historians still debate whether it happened. Remembered as a heroine, she also invites a question at the heart of Revolutionary Haven: how does a life become a legend, and who gets remembered?
The Revolution, in her own words.
Rose Luke was a free Black woman in New Haven, married to Gad Luke, Jethro Luke’s son. When British troops invaded the city on July 5, 1779, she endured robbery, threats, and attempted sexual assault. Later that month, she gave sworn testimony describing what happened and how she resisted. Her account survives in the historical record, bringing the Revolution into the homes of the people who lived through it. Rose’s words ask us to remember whose safety and freedom were at stake.
Keeping the shop—and the household—afloat.
Hannah Arnold was Benedict Arnold’s sister. In Revolutionary Haven, she keeps the Water Street shop and household running while her brother pursues trade and war. Her scene brings the Revolution into the daily work of caring for children, managing supplies, and keeping a business alive. The Library of Congress preserves a letter from Hannah to Benedict dated September 16, 1780—a chance to encounter her voice beyond his story.
Caution at the powder house.
David Wooster helped lead Connecticut’s resistance to the British expedition against Danbury in 1777. Wounded while attacking the retreating British near Ridgefield, he died a few days later. In Revolutionary Haven, the earlier powder-house debate places him opposite Benedict Arnold: a dramatic argument over caution, responsibility, and the cost of choosing a side.
A Family that Built New Haven
Jethro Luke and his son Gad were free Black men whose work helped build Yale’s Connecticut Hall. Surviving accounts preserve traces of their labor alongside that of enslaved workers—people long absent from familiar stories about the university’s beginnings. Their family’s history connects the buildings of New Haven to the lives of those who built them, including Rose Luke, Gad’s wife.
Someone had to keep the Revolutionaries informed.
Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Hannah Bunce Watson took over the Connecticut Courant in Hartford after her husband Ebenezer Watson died in 1777. Working with printer George Goodwin while raising five young children, she kept news of the Revolution in print. When a fire destroyed the paper mill, she and co-owner Sarah Ledyard sought support to rebuild it. Her work reminds us that the struggle for independence also depended on the people who kept information moving.
Follow the words, records, and images behind Revolutionary Haven. Compare the stories we inherit with the evidence that survives.
July 27, 1779
Rose described the British invasion of New Haven and the violence she resisted. Her sworn deposition is reproduced in the notes to Samuel Holden Parsons’s July 31 letter to George Washington. It is testimony, rather than a personal letter addressed to Washington.
Read Rose Luke’s depositionFounders Online · National Archives
On the source page, search for “Rose Luke” within the editorial notes.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1860
The poem quoted and questioned in the show helped make Revere’s ride a national legend. Read Longfellow’s words alongside the National Park Service’s account of his research and poetic liberties.
Read Longfellow’s poemHenry Wadsworth Longfellow · Maine Historical Society
Explore the poem’s historical contextMay 31, 1779
The orders interwoven with Rose’s testimony in the show directed Major General John Sullivan to destroy settlements and crops of the Six Nations. Read the full document behind this scene’s questions about liberty, violence, and whose homes were protected.
Read Washington’s ordersFounders Online · National Archives
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
Roger Sherman joined Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert R. Livingston on the committee that drafted the Declaration. Follow the wording from Jefferson’s first version through early revisions and committee edits in Princeton’s annotated manuscript viewer. Not every change can be attributed to an individual. Trumbull’s later painting below depicts the committee presenting its draft to Congress.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson · Princeton University
Look for the change from “sacred & undeniable” to “self-evident”—echoing the question at the end of the show.
Meet the committee in Trumbull’s painting
