ArtsEmerson Presents COINTELSHOW: A PATRIOT ACT, L.M. Bogad's Biting Political Satire

ArtsEmerson, Boston's leading presenter of contemporary world theater and film and the professional presenting and producing organization of Emerson College, announced that Cointelshow: A Patriot Act will be available as a live virtual experience on ArtsEmerson.org from March 8 - 12, 2023.

Cointelshow: A Patriot Act is L.M Bogad's biting political satire about COINTELPRO, the FBI's counterintelligence program with which they sabotaged, disrupted, and repressed domestic groups like the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the American Indian Movement, along with individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Hampton.

Over the course of an hour, this interactive, virtual experience takes audiences under the redaction marks of actual, heavily-censored COINTELPRO documents into an underworld haunted by its victims. Created by L,M Bogad and Mondo Bizarro Productions, ArtsEmerson invites virtual audiences to join Special Agent Christian White on a cheerfully creepy, and often grimly funny, tour of the FBI's notorious COunterINTELligence PROgram.

"We're happy to present L.M. Bogad's humorous and eye-opening Cointelshow: A Patriot Act at ArtsEmerson," says Executive Director David C. Howse. "We remain committed to virtual offerings in order to keep theatre accessible to our audiences - and we are thrilled to see how individuals who participate in this interactive experience react to this piece that has important relevance in our society today."

"I am grateful to ArtsEmerson for taking on this production of my play by the brilliant Mondo Bizarro," says L.M. Bogad. "It's been a pleasure to work with them. This is a play that's trying to call attention to the hazards of unregulated state surveillance and abuse of power, and the need for unity in social movements; sadly those concerns continue to be all too relevant in our world today."

Tickets for Cointelshow: A Patriot Act may be purchased 24/7 at ArtsEmerson.org, or by calling 617-824-8400 (Tue-Sat from 12:00PM ET - 6:00PM ET). The Paramount Center Box Office (559 Washington Street, Boston) is open for walk-up service Thu-Sat from Noon - 6:00 PM ET. Tickets are Pick Your Price starting at $15.

ArtsEmerson's public dialogues series, The Point, continues with a special virtual event this month. At ArtsEmerson, the art is the provocation; conversation is the point. The Point is a conversation series that invites audiences to explore big questions in intimate settings. Hosted by a member of the ArtsEmerson team, local and national luminaries will offer their points of view on the urgent questions surfaced by the artists on our stages. Join us this season to dive deep into topics of cultural theft, government surveillance, and global approaches to decolonization.

The Point: Disrupting Digital Policing will discuss topics in alignment with the upcoming performances of Cointelshow: A Patriot Act with a virtual conversation exploring digital safety and liberty for communities of color online which will take place on Tuesday, February 21 at 6:00PM ET. As technology continues to develop and further integrate into all facets of life, the over-policing of Black and brown Americans has evolved with it. In Boston and across the country people are innovating virtual spaces and fighting for policies that center and protect BIPOC Americans. Join ArtsEmerson's Director of Artistic Programming, Ronee Penoi, as she moderates a conversation with Lauren Ruffin (Arizona State University, CRUX), Kade Crockford (ACLU - Massachusetts), and more. The conversation will be available via YouTube and begins at 6:00PM ET. Registration is free and open to the public, and available here.

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