One of the things that is so awesome about the Indie Theatre Community is that while the houses may be small, the hearts are big. We have a community of fighters and artists who consistently push through adversity. Another shining example of that came through yesterday in list serve I subscribe to called The Off Off Broadway Community dish. It read:
Dear Dish Companies:
As you may be aware, Glenn Beck
recently devoted 10 minutes of his program to attacking The Brecht
Forum, a progressive arts and education organization in the West
Village. The venue has been providing space and support to a variety of
plays -- including my docudrama The Report of My Death -- and has been
one of the few spaces in New York that regularly hosts lectures by writers and activists like Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill.
Beck used a video he found of one speaker to demonize the organization
and all of its members, and now they are in danger of losing
institutional support. (Private donations are beginning to make up
potentially canceled grants.)
Since they supported my work in the past, I asked them if they wanted
me to organize a festival responding to the attacks in support. They
enthusiastically agreed, and I wanted to reach out to the Dish list to
see if anybody wanted to participate.
I'm seeking 9 plays, cabarets, readings or other events that in some
way respond to subjects of fear, patriotism, or anything you think
might be appropriate for this festival. The working title for this
festival is The 913 Project. The name's a spoof of Glenn Beck's The 912 Project, which exploits fear of terrorism to push right-wing paranoia.
Working slogan: 9 - Plays; 13 - Responding to Fear and Paranoia.
The Brecht Forum is an intimate space for few lighting and sound options.
So acts that travel light are best. The venue always has been generous
about granting rehearsal space and other resources when they have it
available. There is no fee to participate, and there may be an
opportunity for a box office split at the door.
If you don't have a show, but know another one that might fit, I'd
appreciate the referral. We are shooting for several dates in May and
June.
Thanks,
Adam Klasfeld
One Armed Man, Inc.
So what happened? Our own cyber celeb in the making Leonard Jacobs jumped on it.
As did many of the other members of the Indie Theatre Community. I contacted Adam and told him I'd post about it today and would spread the word. This is Adam's response:
Hi Mike,
Thanks! Leonard actually found out about it from the
Dish email too and sprang right into action. He's already writing,
responding and organizing.
The response to the Dish email has
been instantaneous, humbling and inspiring. It shows the NYC theater
community at its best. Supportive. Creative. Engaged. Politically
aware, and eager to stand up for a fellow arts organization that has been
attacked by a demagogue.
I am extremely pleasantly surprised
about the outpourings of support from theater companies that want to
participate, journalists that want to bring attention to it and artists
who simply want to volunteer any way they can to help this come to
fruition. If this is Day One, I can't wait to see what the program
looks like when we get this up and running.
FYI, that will
probably be around the first two weeks in June. The Brecht Forum set
aside a couple of weeks for us then, but we are checking the
availability of the interested participants before we finalize.
Suffice
it to say that many of the plays proposed so far are fascinating, eclectic, and come from
some really accomplished companies on the scene and fit in perfectly to
the idea of the festival.
I would appreciate if you can
post that we are still seeking submissions. You can use my email
address:
adam@onearmedman.org.
Best,
Adam
And that to me folks is what Indie Theatre is all about. Not letting some D-Bag with a big mouth kill off another one of our theatres. If you're passionate about this as well, I encourage you to submit and kudos to Adam and his team for doing something.
Excelsior!
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