CMU School of Drama


Monday, January 19, 2026

Enter ‘Stage Right:’ Central Ohio home to nation’s only conservative theater company

NBC4 WCMH-TV: If all the world’s a stage, Robert Cooperman feels half of it is missing its spotlight. “Artists will look at society or an issue in our culture and say, ‘I don’t like that,’ and they might write a play about it. … Why can’t people who are more conservative do that?” Cooperman said. “When we do it, it’s considered political. And when the other side does it, it’s considered art.”

1 comment:

Max A said...

Except, funnily enough, there are no theatre companies that feel the need to label themselves as “liberal.” I’m having a hard time with the whole “when they do it, it’s art, when we do it, it’s political.” Leftist art… is political. I’m confused here. I think that what are tells us is always reflective in the issues of the time period. There… are… not really many anti-woke musicals. Not any new ones, at least–recent Broadway has been very much driven by leftists for all of its history. What confuses is me is what makes a play acceptable to be put on by a conservative company. What do they consider “woke,” (and more interesting, what do they consider to not be woke?). That’s what confuses me. “Woke” plays tend to be a criticism on society as a whole, but the plays listed on Enter Stage Right’s websites are (mostly) criticisms of liberal ideals. A woke play isn’t an anti-conservative shouting match.