Context and Deep Context

Bill Talen2010

The roots of theatre: religion, oration, magic, and healing.
 
Priests, medicine men, actors and poets are technicians of the sacred.
 
Charismatic performers have tools.
 
 
PHILIP AND DANIEL BERRIGAN
 
MARTIN LUTHER KING
 
 
 
RICHARD PRYOR NOTE: SITE HAS 18+ AGE DISCLAIMER
 
ABBIE HOFFMAN
 
KEN KESEY AND THE MERRY PRANKSTERS
 
BERTOLT BRECHT
 
 

 

 
“...Billy and I come out of theater, that's what we do. Those are the tools we have...It might not be the most effective way of organizing people, or making slow social change, but I think it's a really effective way of getting people to wake up.”
-Savitri D
 
 
“Dr. King's people were creating theater that clarified meaning. Lenny Bruce and Julian Beck and Daniel and Philip Berrigan did that too. Each had a signature theatrical move that electrified people with meaning, demanding that witnesses make moral decisions about how they will live their lives...” Bill Talen
 
“...We always ask ourselves, 'What is today's equivalent of Rosa Parks sitting in front of the bus?'” BT