DeFrees has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Virginia as well as a law degree from the University of Texas, and she is a published writer and an editor. In the following essay, DeFrees discusses playwright Schary's use of a simple plot line and a biographical tale to expound on the universal notion of perseverance in the face of personal trials. 

What shapes a leader? The United States presidents often seem to stand isolated from the events of their personal lives. But, in looking at a president, what brings a leader to the grand circumstance of running for the highest office of his country? Perseverance, of course, but there must be something more. When that something more is as extraordinary as the personal conditions that shaped Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR) political life, the tale becomes almost epic. In Dore Schary's three-act play, Sunrise...