Actors explore great plays that put American justice on trial
Presented by Frank Wood –
Held in person:
Frank Wood will lead a collaboration with up to 18 actors using plays that dramatize historical Trials: Heinar Kipphardt’s IN THE MATTER OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER and Saul Levitt’s THE ANDERSONVILLE TRIAL, along with other possible texts such as Tina Satter’s IS THIS A ROOM? and Mojisola Adebayo’s THE INTERROGATION OF SANDRA BLAND. In observance of HB’s 80th Anniversary, this workshop features plays that fascinated our founder, Herbert Berghof, and in which he appeared.
The collaboration will raise the question: what do Witness, Testimony and the rule of law have to do with the administration of Justice in this moment? We will ask each of the participants to describe what Justice means to them and provide examples; legal or personal. The collaborative will search for matching examples in the anchoring texts that use testimony to observe the structures and systems of our times, or any additional texts that are brought into the space by the participants. We will explore how Kipphardt’s work uses the notion of ‘testimony’ as an artistic tool, examining the structures and rhetoric of authority, in conflict with a singular creative mind and independent moral voice.
The fifth week will include a performance either read or staged.
This workshop is made possible with the generous support of the Noël Coward Foundation.
