Foundry Theatre Presents THIS IS HOW WE DO IT, 4/20-4/22

The Foundry Theatre presents THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: A FESTIVAL OF DIALOGUES ABOUT ANOTHER WORLD UNDER CONSTRUCTION, April 20-22 at Cooper Union.

What distinguishes the Foundry is its ongoing mission to explore the boundaries of creativity in both the theatre and social justice practice. For several years, the Foundry has been integrating this exploration through such programs as its Dialogues Series, which feature artists and activists; its commission of new works that investigate how New York City works (Open House, The Provenance of Beauty); a theatre festival of collaborations between theater makers and New York City community-based organizations (New York City…Just Like I Pictured It); and, most recently, its production of How Much Is Enough, a play built of questions posed by actors to audiences about what we value and how we create the world together every day.

With This Is How We Do It, a kind of there-are-other-ways-to-do-things show and tell, The Foundry further expands its programming from the local to the global. The company uses the skills it has sharpened over two decades of creating and producing significant theatrical events to stage a series of dialogues about something for which there is still barely a language: a rising energy of proliferating visionary practice that operates beyond protest and traditional notions of revolution. Having observed that millions of people are not just imagining, but living and working within alternative practices of economics, safety, media & communications, politics and more, The Foundry brings some of these remarkable local, national and international innovators to New York City—from Argentina, South Africa, Brazil and across the U.S.—to speak with artists, audiences and each other. April 20-22 at Cooper Union, these practitioners will share the experience, both creative and practical, of remaking the world around us from the inside out.

The festival’s opening plenary, “Memories of the Future,” will feature Grace Lee Boggs, one of the great philosophers and political visionaries of our time. Boggs has been a part of almost every major movement in the United States over the last 75 years. Now 96, she is intellectually ageless and still going strong. Moderated by Amy Goodman in Cooper Union’s Great Hall, this conversation with Grace and others will set the stage for what it means today to “build a new world in the shell of the old.”

All events will take place at Cooper Union: The Great Hall (7 E.7th St.) on Friday, April 20, and at the Rose Auditorium (41 Cooper Sq.) on Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22. All tickets and weekend passes are priced on a sliding scale, based on economic ability. Suggested ticket prices for the Friday Night Plenary are $10 and $15 and for Saturday and Sunday “Show & Tell” dialogue sessions, $5 and $10 each. Weekend Festival Passes (April 20-22, all inclusive) are priced at $20, $30 and $40. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.thefoundrytheatre.org or calling 800.838.3006.

Opening Plenary: Memories of the Future, Friday, April 20, 7:00 P.M.

The festival’s opening event will feature philosopher and political visionary Grace Lee Boggs. Boggs will be joined by Nelson Johnson, Executive Director of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, North Carolina and a leader of the Greensboro Truth & Community Reconciliation Project, the first of its kind in the US; and Andrea Smith, longtime anti-violence and Native American activist and scholar, and a proponent and innovator of new political practices. Smith currently teaches media and cultural studies at UC, Riverside.

The conversation will be moderated by Amy Goodman, host and Executive Producer of “Democracy Now!,” the national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,000 public television and radio stations in North America.

Saturday & Sunday Afternoon: “Show & Tell” Dialogues

“Another Politics”
Saturday, April 21, 12:00 P.M.

“Another Politics” will feature Mzwakhe Mdlalose, President of the South African Shackdwellers’ Movement (Abahlali baseMjondolo), the largest organization of the poor to emerge in post-apartheid South Africa. AbM’s struggle for land and housing has become a catalyst for deepening democracy.

Mdlalose will be joined by Rafael Litvin Villas Bôas, a coordinator of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (Movimento Sem Terra). One of the largest social movements in the world, with over a million members, the MST peacefully occupies unused land to establish cooperative farms, homes, clinics and schools for children and adults.

“Another Media”
Saturday, April 21, 3:00 P.M.

“Another Media” will feature Claudia Acuña, investigative journalist and founding member of the communications cooperative La Vaca in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Diana Nucera, Program Director of Allied Media Projects in Detroit, Michigan.

“Another Safety”
Sunday, April 22, 12:00 P.M.

“Another Safety” will feature Mimi Kim, founder of Creative Interventions in Oakland, California; and Nelson and Joyce Johnson, who will present on the Greensboro Truth & Community Reconciliation Project.

“Another Economy”
Sunday, April 22, 3:00 P.M.

Another Economy will feature Daniel Tygel, former Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Forum for Solidarity Economy; and Michael Peck, U.S. representative for the Mondragón federation of worker cooperatives in the Basque Country.

For more information visit http://www.thefoundrytheatre.org.