Dare I Use the Word is part of VPL’s ongoing Portraits US series which aims to capture the experiences and viewpoints of people living and working throughout the United States during historical events and happenings. The project investigates how people from different parts of the country respond to the same event and how an audience interprets a person’s position or viewpoint when performed verbatim by a different bodied actor.
In Spring 2021, two groups of students from NYU Steinhardt’s “Creating Ethnodrama & Documentary Theatre” course collaborated with VPL to conduct interviews with participants from around the United States on these two topics. In both cases, students wanted to understand how an individual’s political and personal ideologies and their identities influenced their opinions and beliefs about these topics. Excerpts from 10 of these interviews now come together in this original verbatim documentary theatre performance.
Production Credits
Investigated & performed by: Stephanie Anderson, Andrea Ambam, Durell Cooper, Heleya de Barros, Daryl Embry, Analisa Gutierrez, Scott Michael Morales, Ashley Renee Thaxton-Stevenson, Robert Thaxton-Stevenson, & Rachel Tuggle Whorton
Interviews conducted & transcribed by: Theo Blumstein, Lara Gavagan, Daisia Glover, Ryan Howland, Rita Liu, Francisco Morandi-Zerpa, & Celina Thomas
Verbatim Performance Lab Creative Team
Director:
Joe Salvatore
Video Editor:
Andrew Wagner
Associate Director:
Keith R. Huff
Costume Coordinator:
Márion Talán de la Rosa
Dramaturg:
Kate Foster
Artistic Associate:
Tammie L. Swopes
Dare I Use the Word premiered on September 16, 2021, as part of NYU’s 2021 Constitution Day celebration.
This program was supported and produced in partnership with the John Brademas Center of New York University with additional sponsorship from Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network at NYU Law.