For nearly 50 years, Roslyn resident Robert Blecker has quietly lived among neighbors, but on stage and in the classroom, his voice has been anything but quiet.
A criminal law professor, constitutional historian and playwright, Blecker has taken audiences on unforgettable journeys through America’s past, most recently through his original historical drama “Father Anonymous,” which brings to life the forgotten story of Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren.
Blecker, who grew up in Great Neck and raised his family in Roslyn, has long walked the line between legal scholarship and dramatic storytelling. His journey to law, however, began in an unlikely place: playwriting.
“I had no particular desire to go to law school,” he said.
After graduating from Tufts University with a degree in creative writing and playwrighting and winning a traveling playwriting fellowship, Blecker taught abroad. When his plans to pursue a Ph.D. in the philosophy of game and sport fell through, and after casually auditing classes at Harvard Law School where his wife was studying, a professor encouraged him to apply.
As a leading voice in the jurisprudence of sport, Blecker also appeared solo on “60 Minutes Sports” and and other major outlets as a central figure in the Deflategate controversy, insisting that the NFL, not quarterback Tom Brady, had cheated.
“I only applied to Harvard. Fortunately, I got in,” Blecker said.
Though the shift seemed incidental at the time, it set the stage for a distinguished legal career. Blecker became a special prosecutor tackling judicial corruption and later a professor at New York Law School. It was there that his deep dive into constitutional history rekindled his passion for drama and ultimately inspired “Vote No.” His acclaimed one-man play made the best case against ratifying the U.S. Constitutionbuilt entirely from historical anti-Federalist writings.
Premiering at the Kennedy Center and traveling to 16 states, “Vote No” became a powerful civic experiment: After each performance, the audience was asked to vote on the Constitution.
“Every audience except one voted no,” Blecker said, including cadets at West Point and attendees at an ACLU convention. The audience that didn’t vote no was at the second performance at the Air Force Academy, which Blecker recalled lost by a margin of 303 to 300 votes.
Now, with “Father Anonymous,” Blecker hopes to give Dr. Joseph Warren, who died in the Battle of Bunker Hill 250 years ago, the historical recognition he believes is long overdue on June 17.
“Warren was the man Samuel Adams chose to lead America. He was supposed to be the George Washington,” Blecker said. “But history forgot him.”
His play dramatizes Warren’s tense, pivotal years alongside names like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock, blending wit, drama and history.
“It’s not a dry history lesson,” Blecker said. “You won’t even realize you’re getting one. You’ll just see some really interesting people facing enormous stakes.”
Warren’s death is even tied to a surprising historical first: forensic dentistry. A year after Bunker Hill, Paul Revere, helped identify Warren’s remains using a false tooth he had made for him, marking the first known use of dental forensics in America. The scene appears in “Father Anonymous.”
Blecker’s work is far from done. He’s currently writing a sequel set during the ratification debates in Massachusetts 13 years later, reuniting now-estranged figures like Hancock and Adams. He’s also developing a second, radically different play titled “Voices from the Inside,” based on 700 hours of interviews he recorded with incarcerated men in the nation’s only all-Black prison over a 12-year period. The project brings Blecker’s decades-long career as a criminal law professor full circle.
Despite the national scope of his work, Blecker remains deeply tied to his Long Island roots.
“We’ve lived in Roslyn for nearly 50 years. My daughter went to Roslyn High. I grew up in Great Neck,” he said. “This place is home.”
As “Father Anonymous” continues its run, Blecker hopes local audiences, and the nation, will walk away not just entertained, but inspired to rediscover a vital figure in America’s founding story.
“Joseph Warren was a true political leader, principled, brave, effective,” Blecker said. “We need to remember him. And maybe we need to ask ourselves what it means to lead today.”
“Father Anonymous” is currently playing off-Broadway at the AMT Theater, 354 W. 45th St. The show runs June 13 through July 2, with performances Tuesdays through Sundays at 7 p.m. and Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m.
