NATIONWIDE: A collective of artists is inviting galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theatres, and concert halls across the country to host exhibitions, performances, and public cultural events that channel resistance against authoritarianism in a nationwide “Fall of Freedom” movement on Nov. 21-22. Its initiators, including playwright and screenwriter Lynn Nottage, describe it as an “urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation, activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance.”
Theatre artists involved include playwrights David Henry Hwang, Dominique Morisseau, and Sarah Ruhl; director/organizer Annie Dorsen; and Julia Jordan of the Lillys. Theatre organizations involved include the August Wilson Center, National Black Theatre, the Public Theater, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Woolly Mammoth, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, En Garde Arts, Crossroads Theater Company, IndieSpace, and more.
Fall of Freedom organizers are urging artists across the country to design and develop events in their own communities, and to register them under the Fall of Freedom banner. For theatre artists, the initiators recommend presenting works tied to themes of resistance, hosting staged readings of banned or threatened plays, and/or dedicating curtain speeches to freedom of speech. Events that are already planned can be repurposed to go under the Fall of Freedom banner as well.
A digital national map will highlight all events that have applied the Fall of Freedom name and branding for solidarity. A toolkit of resources—media kits, graphic standards, how-tos—will be available for download to ensure support, consistency, and development across the effort. “No permission is needed, only the conviction to stand against oppression,” the initiators said in an official statement. “Art matters. Artists are a threat to American fascism.”
