Brookline Booksmiths presented Megan Sandberg-Zakian in conversation with Melinda Lopez livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 23 March 2020 at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).
During the livestream, you can text questions for Megan and Melinda to (617) 651-1794. Please include your name (first name or initials only is fine!) and the location you're listening from. We'll get to as many as possible!
Is it possible—is it even ethical?—to make hopeful art in an unjust and chaotic world? In the tradition of artist-essayists such as James Baldwin, Anne Lamott, and Adrienne Rich, Sandberg-Zakian looks to her own socially-engaged theater-making practice alongside a diverse array of cultural influences (from slave narratives to popular musicals, Batman to “This American Life”), considering how we might reconcile our desire for hope and possibility, connection and transformation, with the necessity of navigating darkness, despair, hate and violence.
Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a freelance theater director based in Jamaica Plain, MA, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. She is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. There Must Be Happy Endings is her first book and is published by The 3rd Thing Press.
Melinda Lopez is the Playwright-in-Residence at the Huntington Theatre. She was the 2109 recipient of the Sustained Excellence Award from the Elliott Norton Committee for her 20 years of theatre work in the Boston area. Her plays include Mala, Becoming Cuba, Orchids to Octopi, Caroline in Jersey, Sonia Flew, and others. Melinda is also an actress and teaches playwriting at Boston University. She is currently working on an Audible Original immigration drama set now and during the Mariel Boatlift, 1980.
Brookline Booksmith is proud to be the official bookseller for this virtual event. Order here and select "media mail" for free shipping--your total will be adjusted when your order is processed. Thank you for supporting authors and independent bookstores!
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Gracias! Thank you dear friends and colleagues for this amazing gift. This conversation is very moving and very timely in these new circumstances. We are lucky to have you on our communities. Abrazos, Antonio