Set during the Great Depression, Paradise Lost is a dramatic play by Clifford Odets that tells the story so many American families were living during a time of economic turmoil. The show takes place in an unnamed American city in 1932 and follows the story of a successful middle-class family as it transitions from living a comfortable lifestyle to poverty after Leo, the head of the house, loses his business. After premiering on Broadway in 1935, Paradise Lost offered audiences a chance to commiserate and identify with the fictional family going through the same hardships that most of America was experiencing.
