Necessary Labor to Present A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE DIALOGUE... in July

Necessary Labor will present A Statement Concerning the Dialogue Surrounding the Open Letter to the Theatre Community Regarding the Current Situation, a new play that combines theater and political education. The event will engage fellow theater workers to consider the role of theater artists under capitalism and to inspire action in solidarity with one another and workers around the world.

Initiated in early 2024, Necessary Labor is a multidisciplinary collective of theater artists based in New York City committed to a critique of capitalism through performance. A Statement Concerning... marks the culmination of an investigation into Karl Marx's work, how revolutionaries translated theory into political action, and the role of capitalism-and resistance to its hegemony-in the theater today.

A Statement Concerning... is set during a panel discussion at a nonprofit theater that risks losing a major source of funding for political reasons. While the play is fictional, it draws on collective members' experiences of institutions putting their own interests above their workers. Dramaturgically, it takes place against the backdrop of the present, in which ticket sales and funding have not recovered since 2020, and, more immediately, theaters have lost funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and other government agencies. Aesthetically, A Statement Concerning... embraces comedy, satire, and popular entertainment-from music and dance to political rallies and professional wrestling-to underscore the contradictions of the theater industry, which loves art but exploits artists, demands hard work but diminishes workers. Ultimately, audience members will be invited to participate in various production elements and to imagine what actions can be taken to transform the relations of production that are entrenched in their workplaces through pre- and post-performance activities.

In a collective statement, Necessary Labor says, "The goal of this project is to inspire the fighting spirit among our fellow theater workers. The last five years have made it all too clear that conceding to the powers that be will not save us. It will not raise our wages, secure better benefits, or protect us when we say, 'Free Palestine.' This show is a chance for people in the theater to come together not as consumers or competitors but as workers-to share what we have learned and to build solidarity. But it will also be a 'good night out,' to quote the title of a book by John McGrath, whose company 7:84 brought theater to working class communities in the United Kingdom. For millennia, the theater has been a place to raise consciousness not in spite of the pleasure it gives but because of it. As our own work together over the past year and a half demonstrates, the struggle to build a more sustainable, beautiful, and just theater community in New York is as much about having a good time together as it is about studying texts, showing up to meetings, and getting shit done."

A Statement Concerning the Dialogue Surrounding the Open Letter to the Theatre Community Regarding the Current Situation is written by Shawn K. Jain, Kimber Lee, and Garrett Turner, and it is directed by Alex Hare and Chris Myers. It features performances by Kate Eastman, Alex Hare, Shawn K. Jain, Kimber Lee, Chris Myers, Lianah Sta. Ana, and Garrett Turner.

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