Thomas Paine and the Birthday of America

With the 250th Anniversary of America on the horizon, we are very excited to have a once in a lifetime opportunity to tell Paine’s story to more people than ever before. 

Plans to Date

In America

We will present Paine’s story through multiple performances of our play To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine across America, in many of our past venues as well as in new ones. The rebroadcast of the film on PBS is confirmed, and we will be offering the Spanish subtitled version to Spanish language television networks. The audio version of the play will be available to public radio stations through PRX.

In Great Britain

Following our two previous tours in England, Scotland and Ireland, we are planning new performances, looking to work in partnership with the British, Scottish and Irish Associations for American Studies, the Thomas Paine Society, UK and our past contacts and venues. We will be offering our film and audio versions of the play to various media outlets including the BBC, Channel 4/Film 4, RTÉ (Irish public television and radio), BBC Radio 4 and others.

In Europe

We will present performances of the play at universities and conferences, and for public organizations in France and other European countries, working with America2026. We are also planning partnerships with the European Association for American Studies and other similar organizations, and with European media outlets, including France Télévisions. We have plans in place to offer multiple European languages versions of the film.

Worldwide

We will also launch worldwide social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and LinkedIn, and through podcasts and our own newsletters. Downloads of our film for $3 are available on Vimeo.

More information below in the 250th Birthday Flyers about performances and funding.

Activity to Date

Our first individual donation of $5,000 has been received!

Thank you, Stuart MacGuire!

Our first Foundation donation of $10,000 received!

(per year for two years)

Thank you, James Hervey Johnson Charitable Educational Trust!

FIRST PERFORMANCES IN AMERICA

- Ocean County College, Tom’s River, New Jersey, 2025

- The Thomas Paine Society, Pasadena, California 2025

FIRST PERFORMANCES IN EUROPE

- Lycée Franco-Allemand BUC, Versailles, November, 2024 

- University of Chicago International Institute of Research in Paris, 2025*

- Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, 2026

- America2026 Final Conference, Paris, 2026

*(pending)

This is just the beginning of what I believe will be two very exciting years of great opportunities to tell Paine’s story.

As interest in America’s 250th Anniversary grows, I want Thomas Paine’s legacy to be a central part of it.

I hope that you will be a part of this journey!

We are thrilled to be partnering with America2026, a consortium of scholars based in France that also includes scholars from England, Scotland and other European countries as well as America.

To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine will be performed at a number of their conferences and universities.

Performances from Our Tours

Benjamin Franklin House, London

Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris

Thomas Paine Society, Pasadena

We will keep this page updated as news develops.