Political Theatre

Paul M. Davis illuminates the importance of artists and technologists collaborating in the civic sphere.

Jonathan Mandell looks at New Brooklyn Theatre's production of The Death of Bessie Smith, and the ways theatre sparks political change.

When the history of intercultural theatre is written, we will always remember the directors that created these works (i.e., Brecht, Barba, Taymor, Ninagawa, Ong), but few can recall the choreographers, dramaturgs, performers, and designers that collaborated with them to make these productions possible.

As an African American woman playwright from a poor, working class, racist, country town in East Texas, I learned early in life that I am part of a community of people whose voices have been silenced, whose image has been exaggerated and misrepresented, and whose legacy has been erased and exploited. White playwrights, male and female, need to understand that they are writing within a legacy of the people responsible for having done those things to people of color. Neither legacy is fair. They come with unshakable, palpable, and visible burdens.

Marcina Zaccaria writes about Elizabeth Hess' Dust to Dust, a one-woman show responding to the the violence toward woman during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.

Lydia Stryk asks us to change the game and align the industry closer to the human right to make a living wage.

Utilizing the theatrical convention of the Jester, Daria Wilke explores the suppresion of homeosexuality in reflection of the jester’s inner freedom.

Nobokov’s thinking about absolute freedom included the notion that there could be no play without competition. It is critical to think about the lack of play induced by Putin’s “traditional Russian values.”

In this installation of PROPAGANDA: A Festival Celebrating Russian Voices, Lauren Keating addresses the Russian government passing the Anti-Propaganda Bill and the responses it has garnered.

Eco theater is not meant as a protest or an art installation at a climate change conference. It is a complete and independent artistic practice that happens to focus on ecological issues.

The 2013 convening is a time to think of defining who, what, and where Latina/o theatre is currenting in reflection of where it has come from and where it can go!

Jocelyn Prince, Connectivity Director at Woolly Mammoth, continues our series on Audience Engagement with a blog focusing on the intersection of connectivity and community organizing.

RJ Maccani discusses learning through Foundery Theatre’s projects the distinct ways artists and social justice organizers can come together to make change.

Eleanor Regan finds during her study abroad experience that theatre that interrogates a subject actively and presents a real viewpoint gives the audience the most to chew on.

Michael Moore talks about finding the spirit of Free Southern Theatre in Junebug Productions, and his awaking of the urgency found in the community for socially activated theater.  

Theater J, whose mission is to produce plays that are politically engaged and thought provoking, as well as personal, passionate, and entertaining, could not have selected a better play for the current moment.

From 2008 to the present, playwright Adrienne Kennedy and Egyptian scholar Nadia Maher were in correspondence. This is an edited selection of emails they exchanged while Nadia was working on her Master’s thesis during the Egyptian Revolution.