CMU School of Drama


Monday, September 30, 2024

Disoriented in America: Two Political Plays Reflect a Changed Country

The New York Times: When, in the course of human events, the political bands that have connected a people appear to be dissolving rapidly, it’s fair to ask: Who in their right mind would want to revisit the chaos of Jan. 6, 2021, in the form of a play? I wouldn’t have thought that I did. That history is too recent, too fraught, too unresolved. Yet the theater has always been a place in which to search the dark corners of a nation’s soul, and to sit with grief.

1 comment:

Carly Tamborello said...

Writers work their whole lives to create the most compelling and profound stories possible in order to share and explore truths about the world, but sometimes the fullest and most meaningful stories are found right here in real life. This is why verbatim theater can be an incredibly powerful art form. I can see “Fatherland” being a very emotional and poignant piece, and I’d be curious to read more of the script (or of course to see the play itself). With “Blood of the Lamb,” the setting stands out to me: particularly the idea that the play is set “next week.” It’s not just a hypothetical future dystopia; it’s something that could happen tomorrow, could be happening right now. I’m very curious to hear how the thought experiment plays out. Not to be all “now more than ever,” but now more than ever, theatre is a way to make sense of the world around us and connect disparate points of view.