Friday, January 21, 2011
Connecticut High School Will Perform 'Joe Turner'
NYTimes.com: "Joe Turner will indeed come to Waterbury, Conn. After three hours of discussion on Wednesday night and testimony from community members and other interested parties, including the dean of the Yale School of Drama, the Waterbury Board of Education allowed a public school’s production of the August Wilson play “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” to proceed in February.
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3 comments:
I am so thrilled to hear that this production is being allowed to take place, in its entirety, as written by Mr. Wilson. I am even more thrilled that local organizations like Hartford Stages and Yale Rep are stepping in to help facilitate conversation and understanding as pertains to the play by holding pre-show and post-show discussions with the audiences. The best thing theatre can do, in my opinion, is start a conversation, teach you something you didn't know before. For members of the community in CT who might be taken aback by the play's use of the n-word, these discussions might help give some insight into the historical context of the play, and help them better understand America as Mr. Wilson saw it at that time. The experience will hopefully be even more educational for all those involved.
I am with Becca on this one! It is so fantastic that the production will be carried forth. I laughed when I read the part about this being a "teachable moment" because I had a teacher in high school who always said that, but there's really no better way to put it! It's moment like these that can really provide lessons not only about theatre but about life for everyone involved in the production, audience members included. I think that the best kind of theatre is the kind that makes people uncomfortable. This production is likely to make some of its audience members uncomfortable, but with the pre- and post-show talkbacks, I hope that they will be able to understand why they were uncomfortable and learn something great about the past, present, and future of our society.
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