1812 Productions brings comedy just in time for the election

This is the 19th year that 1812 Productions has produced “This Is the Week” and has rigged every presidential election since Barack Obama’s first election. The pandemic led to the duel between Biden and Trump being skipped in 2020.

For Childs, who co-founded the company in 1997, “This Is the Week” is her way of making history. Every presidential election feels critical at this point. Childs said this year is more.

“The difference in the creative space is drastically different this year compared to past election specials,” Childs said. “What seems at risk in this election simply feels more formidable than in years past.”

“As a theater company we can’t support one person or the other and we try to make the show as bipartisan as possible, but there are some threats that don’t feel entirely clear,” she said. “The student loan forgiveness policy versus jailing your political enemies doesn’t seem to be an evenly weighted issue.”

At the start of this election cycle, Cotton worried about “This is the week.” Around the time of the debate between Biden and Trump — two older white men who had each previously been president and one of whom was believed to be fading badly — Cotton didn’t find much to laugh about.

“As a millennial, I feel like a lot of us who may be voting for the third or fourth time are afraid of seeing the same thing over and over again,” Cotton said. “We felt like we were taking a step backwards, like Groundhog Day.”