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Political Theatre

Content here focuses on theatremakers, companies, and projects engaging with politics and political action. A great example of the power of this work is the video series Political Theatre as a Civil Right from the British-Romanian political theatre company BÉZNĂ Theatre.

The Latest

What is Black Theatre?
Podcast
What is Black Theatre?
by Jordan Ealey, Leticia Ridley
20 September 2023
The Art of Assembly. Political Theatre Today Book Talk
Video
The Art of Assembly. Political Theatre Today Book Talk
Curator and Author Florian Malzacher in Conversation with Art Critic Claire Bishop
Thursday 21 September 2023
New York City
Reengineering Education in the Adagbabiri Community Through Theatre for Development
Essay
Reengineering Education in the Adagbabiri Community Through Theatre for Development
by Eseovwe Emakunu, Dennis OBIRE
17 August 2023
The Art of Assembly. Political Theatre Today Book Talk
Video

The Art of Assembly. Political Theatre Today Book Talk

Curator and Author Florian Malzacher in Conversation with Art Critic Claire Bishop

Thursday 21 September 2023
New York City

In his book The Art of Assembly. Political Theatre Today curator and author Florian Malzacher surveys theatre today to demonstrate its political potential in both form and content. In a time of wide-ranging crisis, The Art of Assembly is a plea for a strong definition of the political and for a theatre that is not content merely to reflect the world’s ills but instead acts to change them.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
What is Black Theatre?
Podcast

What is Black Theatre?

20 September 2023

This episode will discuss the age old questions of what is Black theatre? What is a Black play? How do you know one when you see it? Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey provide an overview of the some of the most popular commentary on this question from Black theatre theorists of the past such as W.E.B Dubois, Alain Locke, and Alice Childress.

A troupe of dancers in formation mid-performance smile.
Reengineering Education in the Adagbabiri Community Through Theatre for Development
Essay

Reengineering Education in the Adagbabiri Community Through Theatre for Development

17 August 2023

Eseovwe Emakunu and Dennis U. Obire, co-founders of the Shanty Theatre, chronicle their work in the Adagbabiri Community in Bayelsa State, which is one of the most educationally deprived states in Nigeria. Using a theatre for development model, the group worked with local children to create a performance that demonstrated the importance of education in the social development of a community and nation.

A woman wearing a lacey crown stands alone on a carpeted floor with a hand extended in a "halt" gesture.
Anti-Terror Feminist Director Is in Russian Jail for “Justifying Terrorism”
Essay

Anti-Terror Feminist Director Is in Russian Jail for “Justifying Terrorism”

2 August 2023

After Russian courts found that Svetlana Petriychuk’s documentary theatre piece Finist the Brave Falcon “justified terrorism” due to its feminist aims, Petriychuk and director Zhenya Berkovich were jailed. Viktor Vilisov discusses the production, clarifying the production’s aims to amplify the experiences of Russian women whose attempts to flea Russian patriarchy has landed them in oppressive marriages to Syrian ISIS fighters.

event poster for Retooling Green Tool for Theatre in Africa.
Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa
Video

Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa

Insights from Practitioners

Wednesday 19 July 2023
Egypt, Ghana

Greening the theatre is crucial to the sustainability of theatre and the planet. Theatre designers such as lighting personnel, set designers, costumers, property designers, and sound engineers are rethinking and retooling for the purpose of creating a more eco-friendly, sustainable, and environmentally just and responsible theatre practice. In this episode, we bring theatre practitioners (such as designers and eco-scenographers) who are advancing sustainable artistic values in their practice.

event poster for ecotheatre Decolonizing the Colonized Narrative.
Ecotheatre
Video

Ecotheatre

Decolonizing the Colonized Narrative

Wednesday 12 July 2023
Ghana, Kenya, Burundi

Climate justice is not complete without decentering colonial narratives and practices in Africa. For instance, many theatre projects/initiatives on climate action in Africa have been the brainchild of actors from the Global North. Which increases the tendency for such projects/initiatives to reinforce follow the colonial narrative. Although curators and co-facilitators of such projects are sometimes indigenes of African countries, the agendas of foreign interventions are imposed on the creative process.

event poster for Environmental Theatre and Climate Justice in Africa.
Environmental Theatre and Climate Justice in Africa
Video

Environmental Theatre and Climate Justice in Africa

How Did We Get Here? How Do We Move Forward?

Wednesday 5 July 2023
Uganda, Kenya

Environmental theatre in Africa has been a vital medium for creating awareness of and learning about climate change on the continent. Artists are aware that climate change has come to stay, the need to engage the art to discuss issues such as climate change mitigation strategies, anticipatory adaptation modes and climate justice. This episode introduces the series. Guest speakers reflect on the question of environmental theatre and climate justice in Africa.

Event poster for Andy Field’s Encounterism.
Andy Field’s Encounterism
Video

Andy Field’s Encounterism

Andy Field Talks about Forest Fringe—an Independent, Not-for-Profit Space in the Edinburgh Festival

Monday 5 June 2023
New York City

For over ten years as of this event, Forest Fringe has built a community of artists and playwrights. Each year they return to Edinburgh they experiment with different ways of doing things and new contexts to accommodate even the most unusual experiences. Meanwhile they’ve also started exploring beyond the festival, creating new projects across the UK and internationally, including a festival in an old cinema in the center of Bangkok, a series of performances on night buses across London, and a traveling library of audio experiences.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Turning City Council Meetings into Performance
Podcast

Turning City Council Meetings into Performance

10 May 2023

Creatives and book authors Mallory Catlett and Aaron Landsman dig into their new book based on their piece City Council Meeting, an exciting performance, rooted in a commonplace bureaucratic event, that develops dynamic participatory relationships with audiences and local government.

Segal theatre center logo.
Edouard Glissant’s Tale of Black Histories (Histoire de nègre)
Video

Edouard Glissant’s Tale of Black Histories (Histoire de nègre)

A Conversation with Director Gilbert Laumord, Producer Elvia Gutiérrez, and Festival Director Eddy Compper

Friday 5 May 2023
New York City

Join us for a talk with Caribbean theatre director Gilbert Laumord (Guadeloupe) discussing his latest work, Tale of Black Histories (Histoire de nègre), by the late, legendary Caribbean writer, poet, and philosopher Édouard Glissant. Born in Martinique, writer Édouard Glissant and his colleagues at the Institut Martiniquais d’études (IME) wrote and performed this intellectually rich, formally innovative, yet long-neglected unique play themselves in 1971–72.

event poster for the art of assembly.
Book Talk: The Art of Assembly: Political Theatre Today
Video

Book Talk: The Art of Assembly: Political Theatre Today

Navigating the Space Between Representation and Participation

Thursday 4 May 2023
New York City

Join us for a Zoom talk with author and curator Florian Malzacher to discuss the upcoming Segal Center publication The Art of Assembly: Political Theatre Today. The Art of Assembly surveys theatre today to demonstrate its political potential in both form and content.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Looking for Another Way
Podcast

Looking for Another Way

3 May 2023

Playwright and director Karen Malpede joins Jeffrey Mosser to talk about her career and connections from the Open Theater to Theater Three Collaborative, as well as her partner George Bartenieff, an actor and champion for the avant-garde.

Segal theatre center logo.
New Plays from the Caribbean
Video

New Plays from the Caribbean

With Stéphanie Bérard (France), Daniely Francisque (Martinique), Elvia Gutiérrez (Mexico, China), Gaël Octavia, and Others

Tuesday 2 May 2023
New York City

Join us for a conversation celebrating the unique anthology and latest Segal Center Publication, New Plays from the Caribbean, a most significant and lasting part of the 2019 Caribbean Theater Project ACT (Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales)—initiated and co-organized by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center in New York City, the theatre company SIYAJ from Guadeloupe, and Stéphanie Bérard.

Headshot of Andreas Weber.
Whole Earth Talk #3: Andreas Weber (Germany)
Video

Whole Earth Talk #3: Andreas Weber (Germany)

The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene

Thursday 20 April 2023
New York City

Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Andreas Weber (Germany) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.

Event poster for no summary Comedy as a Form of Solidarity and Resistance.
NO SUMMARY: Comedy as a Form of Solidarity and Resistance
Video

NO SUMMARY: Comedy as a Form of Solidarity and Resistance

A Conversation with Artists and Students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago

Friday 14 April 2023
United States

In the first episode of our 2023 season, Golden Thread’s Sahar Assaf, executive artistic director, and Wafaa Bilal, artist-in-residence, will be joined by the classes of associate professor Simon Anderson, a British-born-and-educated cultural historian, and interdisciplinary Syrian artist Sami Hussain Ismat, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago.

portrait of researcher and theatre artist Frédérique Aït-Touati.
Whole Earth Talk #2: Frédérique Aït-Touati
Video

Whole Earth Talk #2: Frédérique Aït-Touati

The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene

Friday 14 April 2023
New York City

Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Frédérique Aït-Touati (France) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)
Podcast

A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)

12 April 2023

Bob Leonard chronicles his work from the People’s Bicentennial Commission and the Road Company through the founding of the Network of Ensemble Theaters and Alternate ROOTS. Together, Jeffrey Mosser and Bob connect the dots through the middle wave of ensemble-based theatre in the United States.

A smiling man lifts a sword in one hand and holds onto a bike's handlebar with the other.
The Making of the Shiny Knight of Chicanos, Part Two
Essay

The Making of the Shiny Knight of Chicanos, Part Two

A Conversation with Octavio Solis

11 April 2023

Glenda Y. Nieto-Cuebas and Erin A. Cowling continue their interview with Octavio Solis, focusing primarily on the development of his most recent adaptation from Spanish Baroque literature: Quixote Nuevo.

Headshot of thomas oberender.
Whole Earth Talk #1: Thomas Oberender
Video

Whole Earth Talk #1: Thomas Oberender

The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene

Monday 10 April 2023
New York City

Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Thomas Oberender (Germany) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.

several people gathered on one side of a table.
Book Talk: The City We Make Together
Video

Book Talk: The City We Make Together

Aaron Landsman, Mallory Catlett, and Ebony Noelle Golden Discuss Their Latest Publication, The City We Make Together

Monday 3 April 2023
New York City

The City We Make Together looks at how we make art with communities, how we perform power and who gets to play which roles, and how we might use creativity and rigorous inquiry to look at our structures of democracy anew. Published by University of Iowa Press, 2022.

event poster for woman, life, freedom panel.
Woman, Life, Freedom: Theatre and Protest in Iran
Video

Woman, Life, Freedom: Theatre and Protest in Iran

A Virtual Roundtable

Monday 27 March
Maryland, United States

Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park and The Theatre Times present Woman, Life, Freedom: Theatre and Protest in Iran, a virtual roundtable in honor of World Theatre Day. Featuring Azadeh Ganjeh, Nassim Soleimanpour, Keyvan Sarreshteh, and moderator Marjan Moosavi, this conversation will explore Iranian theatre artists’ ethical vision and creative practice in response to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This event will feature live captioning and ASL interpretation.

event poster with text for brecht on brecht muller on muller.
Brecht on Brecht//Müller on Müller
Video

Brecht on Brecht//Müller on Müller

An Improvisation Inspired by George Tabori’s Legendary Brecht on Brecht Collage

Thursday 23 March 2023
New York City

Poems, songs, and play excerpts from Brecht about war, refugees, and singing about dark times are mixed with writings from Heiner Müller about theatre, America, capitalism and the end of revolutions.

event poster for safe havens freedom talk with Ani Svami.
Conceptual Development and Essential Meaning in the Artist’s Practice
Video

Conceptual Development and Essential Meaning in the Artist’s Practice

A Safe Havens Freedom Talk

Wednesday 15 March 2023
Prague, Czechia

This presentation showed a way of conceptual development and essential meaning in the artist’s practice. Through a story of more than ten public sculptures, Ani showed her latest project, erected in Prague, Czech Republic after her evacuation from Prague as a result of the war. This event was made possible with the support of the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC).

event poster for Re-Centering Cultural Performance and Orange Economy Book Launch.
Book Launch: Re-Centering Cultural Performance and Orange Economy in Post-Colonial Africa: Policy, Soft Power, and Sustainability
Video

Book Launch: Re-Centering Cultural Performance and Orange Economy in Post-Colonial Africa: Policy, Soft Power, and Sustainability

Offering Perspectives on Ways Existing Cultural and Non-Cultural Infrastructures Can Open Opportunities for Diplomacy and Soft Power

Tuesday 14 March 2023
Saskatchewan, Canada

The Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET) at the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the University of Regina, in collaboration with Theatre Emissary International, presents the online book launch of Re-centering Cultural Performance and Orange Economy in Post-Colonial Africa: Policy, Soft Power, and Sustainability. This book explores the role of national theatres, cultural centers, cultural policy, festivals, and the film industry as creative and cultural performance hubs for exercising soft power and cultural diplomacy. This event will feature live captioning and ASL interpretation.

A still from Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World.
How Javaad Alipoor’s Fourth World Trilogy Disrupts What We Think We Understand About History, Politics, and the Internet
Essay

How Javaad Alipoor’s Fourth World Trilogy Disrupts What We Think We Understand About History, Politics, and the Internet

14 March 2023

Joseph Dunne-Howrie examines the way that three of Javaad Alipoor’s plays infuse the internet into theatrical performance, creating intersecting narratives that interrogate identity formation in the age of global interconnectivity.