With Donald Trump President-Elect of the United States of America鈥攁nd his supporters rallying to 鈥渂oycott Hamilton,鈥� the musical that plays in both New York City and Chicago鈥攖heatre makers in the Windy City talk about how they will move forward.
, artistic directors share their thoughts on what is next for their companies in .
鈥淒o we become the meeting spot? The church? The town square? Do we come together to say this is where we have come from and where do we go tomorrow?鈥� asks Chay Yew, artistic director of Victory Gardens Theater. 鈥淭he question also becomes: Are we opening our doors to different viewpoints? We may not all agree, but it鈥檚 a good place to come together. That鈥檚 the role of what theater should be.鈥�
Anna D. Shapiro, artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, says that unlike this year鈥檚 programming, which focused on the qualities we all share in this nation, 鈥渨e鈥檒l turn that prism one more time and say the work that we鈥檙e looking at is a little bit more about what we don鈥檛 share. And how all of us are under the same sky. We can't keep making work that just confirms that the way we鈥檙e living is right or enough. Not if we鈥檙e going to claim to be in a union.鈥�
Robert Falls, of the Goodman Theatre, says that theatre will now have to both 鈥渃hallenge鈥� and 鈥渃omfort.鈥� He adds, 鈥淭he ground has shifted. I believe it's seismic. I believe that artists will and must respond to events that have happened and will continue to happen. I think that theater can have an activist role, if one says that being an activist is to sort of alert and converse, that there are moments that require anger, reflection, moments that need to allow laughter.鈥�
Free Street Theater鈥檚 Coya Paz says that the company is kicking off 鈥淧erformance for Action and Intervention Training,鈥� which will be a repeating series that 鈥渉elps people think about making performance to support direct action efforts,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not making plays about a politics but it鈥檚 making performance to engage with protests, to draw attention to particular venues, things people can do out in the world to support direct action.鈥�
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