RESISTANCE NOW! Will Arrive at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center in September

On Tuesday, September 2, 2025, the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (365 Fifth Avenue, NYC) will host RESISTANCE NOW!, a day-long symposium on international collaborative solidarity in the face of global threats to artistic freedom. Co-produced by the Segal Center and Milo Rau’s Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen), the event runs from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Led by theater director Milo Rau, Artistic Director of the Vienna Festival, and Frank Hentschker, Executive Director of the Segal Center, the symposium will connect political developments in Europe, Latin America, and the United States with their impact on the cultural sector. RESISTANCE NOW! is part of the inaugural Down to Earth Festival, New York City’s first international festival of multidisciplinary creation in public spaces.

Schedule of Events – Tuesday, September 2

2:00–3:30 PM: Town Hall discussion with New York theater artists, producers, students, and festival makers on the state of theater under the new government.
3:30–4:00 PM: Milo Rau in conversation with Frank Hentschker.
4:00 PM: Political Theater Today – panel with Tania Bruguera, Milo Rau, and Richard Schechner.
5:00 PM: Theater of the Real – Carol Martin in conversation with Milo Rau.
6:00 PM: Reading of Elfriede Jelinek’s Endsieg: The Second Coming, translated by Gitta Honegger and performed by Nicole Ansari-Cox, directed by Milo Rau, followed by a Q&A.

About Endsieg: The Second Coming

Written by Nobel Prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek, the play responds to Donald Trump’s second election victory, depicting his followers’ view of him as a divinely chosen redeemer while satirizing the political and economic forces behind him. This staged reading serves as an example of artistic intervention within the RESISTANCE NOW! project.

About the Artists

Milo Rau is the internationally recognized theater director and author hailed as “the most ambitious artist of our time” (The Guardian). His productions have toured more than 30 countries and appeared at the world’s major festivals.

Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature, is one of the most produced living playwrights in the German-speaking world, with works addressing politics, economics, and crises of memory and violence.

Nicole Ansari-Cox is an award-winning actor and producer whose recent credits include The Score on the West End and several upcoming international films.

Gitta Honegger is the longtime translator of Jelinek’s works and author of Thomas Bernhard: The Making of an Austrian.

About the Down to Earth Festival

Running August 29–September 7, 2025, the Down to Earth Festival is New York’s first international festival of multidisciplinary creation in public spaces. Produced by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, the festival features world-class artists and companies in free performances across the city’s parks and urban spaces. More information: downtoearthfestival.org.