Monday, October 20, 2014

Theatre & Politics

The midterm election is just around the corner and it got us thinking about theatre and politics and political theatre and the politics of theatre and how theatre affects politics and vice versa.

Jonathan Mandell has written a number of great pieces about theatre that effected political change. He recently asked for examples of theatre that helped change the world. He uses the New Brooklyn Theater production of Edward Albee's The Death of Bessie Smith to illustrate how theatre can lead to a tangible change. The Interfaith Medical Center was facing bankrupsy and eminent closure. However New Brooklyn's production attracted a large audience, including celebrities and politicians and helped to bring attention this the challenges the hospital was facing. While IMC still has many obstacles to overcome, it seems to be on the road to recovery. Mandell also shared the results of his informal poll and it is inspiring how many examples he came up with.

In this spirit, we asked a few folks to talk about their thoughts, experiences and insights of creating political theatre and why theatre artists should be aware and involved with politics.




Don't forget to vote on November 4th.



 

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