Episode 28: Social Justice, Stage Right
Politics is filled with drama. Can the theatre compete with politicians when it comes to starting conversations about issues of social justice?
The theatre has influenced political thought since at least the days of the Athenian Democracy. Today, the tradition of theatre as a medium to spark political debate is alive and well. Now, contemporary artists are more than ever contemplating how the theatre can not only convey their thoughts but truly reflect and engage the lived experiences of their communities.
This week, host Chris Robichaud sat down with two artists who actively straddle the worlds of theatre and social justice. Ilana M. Brownstein, director of new work at Company One; and David Valdes Greenwood, nonfiction author and playwright, join in a discussion about the role of theatre in society and a new project that is working to convey the experiences of Boston’s undocumented community.
This Week’s Guests
Ilana M. Brownstein
Ilana M. Brownstein is a dramaturg and facilitator specializing in new plays, public arts advocacy, and collaborative work centered on a mission of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Professionally, she is the Director of New Work at Company One Theatre, where she runs all new play development activities, serves as senior dramaturg and creative producer for the company, and moderates and facilitates numerous public-facing events. As the Founder of Playwrights’ Commons, she created social programs to support and connect Boston’s numerous playwrights to one another, and designed the annual Freedom Art Retreat. As Literary Manager at the Huntington Theatre, she created the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program and Breaking Ground Festival, programs celebrated as part of a 2013 regional Tony Award. As faculty at the Boston University School of Theatre, she developed the dramatic literature core curriculum for BFA students, and a curricular concentration in dramaturgy and new plays for undergraduate and graduate students. Her dramaturgy in the new play sector includes collaborations with a wide-ranging pool of writers including Kirsten Greenidge, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Lauren Yee, Josh Wilder, Aditi Kapil, Idris Goodwin, Melinda Lopez, David Valdes Greenwood, Obehi Janice, and August Wilson, among many others. She has served as a guest artist at festivals and theatres around the world, including The O’Neill, the Kennedy Center, New Harmony Project, Humana Festival, and on Broadway. She holds an MFA in Dramaturgy (Yale), and a Directing BA (College of Wooster), is a member of the 2017 artEquity anti-racism facilitators cohort, and is a two-time winner of the international LMDA Elliott Hayes Award for excellence in dramaturgy.
David Valdes Greenwood
David Valdes Greenwood is a writer outside Boston. He has been a Company One PlayLab Fellow, Huntington Theatre Company Playwriting Fellow, Cimientos Fellow, and Brother Thomas Artist Fellow. His plays have been fully staged and presented in public readings across the US and UK, most recently with Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, Mixed Blood, Borderlands, Milagros, and Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company. He has worked with Company One, Argos Productions, Stage Left, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Theater Offensive, and his plays have appeared at the Humana Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Portland Stage Little Festival of the Unexpected, and New York Theatre Workshop Thursday Studio. His plays have published and anthologized by Samuel French. In 2018, The Mermaid Hour received four productions as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere and a Latinx Theatre Project staging at University of California Riverside. He is currently collaborating with Company One on Our American Story: Boston (un)Documented.
Company One
Company One Theatre builds community at the intersection of art and social change. Find upcoming shows online here.
Is there something you want to hear on This Week in Dystopia? Reach out to the show’s producer Sarah at sarah_grucza@hks.harvard.edu or message us on Twitter @WeekinDystopia.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @WeekinDystopia, like us on Facebook, and subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play. If you like us, rate us and share the show. 👍
This podcast is produced by Harvard Ash Center.
