For Howard Zinn, play is much more fun

Years after serving as a bombardier in the US Army, after earning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, teaching at Boston University, and writing the best-selling book "A People's History of the United States," Howard Zinn decided he wanted to write a family drama.

The play, called "Daughter of Venus," runs at the C. Walsh Theatre through tomorrow and then at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre Friday through Feb. 8.

What motivated this dedicated historian, political scientist, social critic, and activist to become a playwright? "I just wanted to do it," says Zinn, now 86.

"I've always been interested in theater," explains Zinn by phone from Los Angeles, where he is working on the documentary "The People Speak," based on his "People's History" book and featuring such stars as Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, and Marisa Tomei.

"My wife did some acting, my daughter did some acting, and my son, Jeff Zinn, is the artistic director at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater," Zinn says. "I was too involved in history and politics to do anything about it until the end of the Vietnam War. That's when I wrote a play about Emma Goldman."

That was in 1976; "Emma" was about the early life of the famed anarchist who was jailed and later exiled from the United States because of her political activism. The 1977 production was the longest running show in Boston that year.

"I wrote 'Daughter of Venus' in the '80s," Zinn says. "Writing a play is more fun than writing a history book. And when somebody decides to produce it, it's wonderful. You are taken out of the cold world of the academy and you're in a world of movies and plays where you are hugged by everybody - the director, the cast, they all hug you. Have you ever been hugged by a registrar?"

This is the world Zinn prefers to be in, he says.

Presented by Suffolk University and Boston Playwrights' Theatre, "Daughter of Venus" tells the story of a family in pain against the backdrop of an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Paolo (played by Ken Cheeseman), a biophysicist, is coping with the attempted suicide of his wife, Lucy (Paula Langton), and the return of his estranged daughter, Aramintha (Angie Jepson), while he grapples with an ethical crisis over taking part in a government-funded biochemical-weapons program.

"I wanted to have a family drama and conflict between parents and children, father and daughter," Zinn says. "That idea intrigues me - the idea of a political and emotional standoff between father and daughter, and how does a human being relate to what's going on in the world? I wanted to put this issue of the arms race into a drama."

Information: 866-811-4111, www.bostonplaywrights.org

Bread and Puppet Theater returns on Monday as part of the Boston Center of the Arts' Cyclorama Residency Series. Artistic director Peter Schumann and his troupe of Vermont puppeteers, joined by 30 local puppeteers and musicians, will present masked characters and giant papier-mache puppets in two shows.

Geared for adults, "Sourdough Philosophy Spectacle" is about the need for "human fermentation," says Schumann. It takes a look at how apple cider is made and compares that to how human beings are raised like "military apple orchards," he says. Once they have the guts to ferment on their own, they find the strength to resist the life they've grown used to.

"Sourdough Philosophy Circus" is a more family-friendly version of the show. Schumann also plans an art exhibit of large paintings based on the true story of a Haitian-American woman who learned that her house was being foreclosed on and whose son, serving in the US military, was killed.

Through Feb. 1 at the Cyclorama. 866-811-4111, www.theatermania.com

"Dirty Dancing - the Classic Story on Stage" has been extended four additional weeks because of high demand for tickets, according to Broadway Across America-Boston. The show plays at the Opera House Feb. 7 through April 12. Information: 800-982-2787, www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com/Boston