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.
Theatre researcher and journalist Eduardo Campos Lima discusses Grupo Tapa’s production of Papa Highirte and explores the history of the powerful play.
YDC Theatre has been producing theatre consistently in Malawi, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They join Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. to trace the connections between the company’s consistent work centering Malawian perspectives, their efforts to build an audience, and the political and funding climate that they must navigate.
Slovo. Theater Group uses theatre as a tool to fight against cultural oppression by promoting Ukrainian culture abroad. Audrey Rose, the group’s producer, discusses the process of making theatre during active war as a way of resisting oppression and violence.
Bright Phumayo Chayachaya’s Umunthu Theatre pulls together political theatre, poor theatre, theatre for development, and educational theatre to create productions that centralize Malawian narratives. In this interview, he discusses the company’s genesis and the need to bring audiences back to theatre.
Art2Action and Animating Democracy presented Artistic Imagination as a Force for Change, the third event in the series Animating Democracy: REFLECTING FORWARD, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 18 November 2022 at 1 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 3 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 4 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Socially-Engaged Theatre Through the Lens of Tor Iorapuu's Community-Driven Theatre
Friday 18 November 2022
Nigeria and Canada
The Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET), in collaboration with Theatre Emissary International and the University of Jos, Nigeria, presented the online book launch of Different Models, One Goal: Doing Theatre, Democracy, and Social Justice edited by Adediran Ademiju-Bepo, Hussaini U. Tsaku, Awuawuer Tijime Justine, Shadrach Teryila Ukuma, and Bem Alfred Abugh livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Friday 18 November 2022 at 9 a.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 10 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 3 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 16:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1) / 4 p.m. WAT (Lagos, UTC +1).
How Archives and Archival Interventions Can Challenge Power
Friday 18 November 2022
Belarus
Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT) presented a Freedom Talk at Archives and Resistance livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Friday 18 November 2022 at 8:30 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 13:30 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 2:30 p.m. CET (Stockholm, UTC +1).
Theatremakers Sulu LeoNimm, Liz Morgan, and Katy Rubin discuss the process of co-authoring The Wildcard Workbook, a guide designed to help others in the field delve into Theatre of the Oppressed practices and devised theatre processes.
Stacy Klein and Baraka Sele on their Experiences in Theatre and Life as part of Double Edge Theatre's Fortieth Anniversary
Sunday 16 October 2022
Massachusetts
Double Edge Theatre presented The Radical and The Revolutionary, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 16 October 2022 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (Boston, UTC -4).
Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT) presented an Freedom Talk: The Novelist as Knowledge Keeper livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 14 October 2022 at 8:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 12:30 UTC / 2:30 p.m. SAST (Capetown, UTC +2).
Art2Action and Animating Democracy presented Art, Race, and Dialogue, the second event in the series Animating Democracy: REFLECTING FORWARD, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 13 October 2022 at 1 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 3 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 4 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
In this special episode, Marina and Nabra sit down with Lebanese actor, theatremakers, and peacebuilder Raffi Feghali to talk about the Buffer Fringe Festival. Buffer Fringe is an annual festival with a mission for peacebuilding and social justice, organized by Home for Cooperation and situated in the buffer zone in Cyprus. Buffer Fringe runs 7-9 October 2022, presenting three days of international, interdisciplinary, experimental performances under the theme of Pockets (beyond). Join us as we explore improv in Lebanon, experimental theatre in a geographically contentious area, and artistic curation for peacebuilding.
Art2Action and Animating Democracy presented Animating Democracy: Voter Mobilization and the Arts, the first event in the series Animating Democracy: REFLECTING FORWARD, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 28 September 2022 at 1 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 3 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 4 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
verity healey speaks with Polish theatremaker Nastazja Domaradzka about No Borders, an arts program she created in collaboration with the Royal Court Theatre in London that prioritizes migrant artists’ experiences and voices.
For the past two years, LINKAGES: Poland has convened theatre leaders from Poland and the United States to discuss fieldwide issues. When three theatremakers who have been deeply involved in the project traveled from the United States to Poland this summer, they were struck by the changing landscape of Polish theatre and its parallels to the US theatre industry.
Art That Unites, Makes Us Stand Up, and Makes Us Human
Friday 16 September 2022
Oslo, Norway
Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT), together with Safemuse, presented a Freedom Talk at In the Name of Freedom, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 16 September at 8:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 12:30 UTC / 2:30 p.m. CEST (Oslo, UTC +2).
Access Through The Arts Panel Discussions Exploring the Theme of Roots and Wings
Saturday 10 September - Sunday 18 September 2022
United States
Sandglass Theater presented events from the Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival 2022 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 10 September, Saturday 17 September, and Sunday 18 September 2022.
Theatremaker Joel Schechter explains the importance of Karl Kraus’s The Last Days of Mankind and why he believes its anti-war message is still relevant today.
In part two of his essay, Russian theatremaker Viktor Vilisov delves deeper into the performative nature of war itself and how art can create spaces for collective remembrance and grief.
This episode is inspired by recent and current events regarding Roe v. Wade and their potential impact on birthing people. We think about the representation of reproductive justice (things such as abortion, contraception, and anything regarding decisions to birth or plan a family) especially from Black women playwrights. We discuss plays such as They That Sit in Darkness by Mary Burrill, Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimke, Come Down Burning by Kia Corthron, In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks, and Abortion Road Trip by Rachel Lynett.
Un Taller de Teatro Popular del Caribe desde Santiago de Cuba y Nueva Orleans / A Caribbean Theatre Workshop from Santiago de Cuba & New Orleans
Saturday 9 July 2022
Santiago de Cuba
The Stone Center for Latin American Studies, The Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute of Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana), and Estudio Teatral Macubá presented Canales Abiertos 2022 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 9 July at 7 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 9 a.m. CDT (Mexico City, UTC -5) / 10 a.m. EDT (Santiago de Cuba, UTC -4).
We Don’t Call It Occupation, We Call It Ihtilal, Suffocation
Friday 8 July 2022
Jenin, Palestine
Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT) presented a Freedom Talk at Power of Art: We Don’t Call It Occupation, We Call It Ihtilal, Suffocation livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 8 July at 8:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -7) / 12:30 p.m. UTC / 2:30 p.m. CEST (Stockholm, UTC +2) / 3:30 p.m. EEST (Jenin, UTC +3).
