From Our Partners

Arena Stage Deputy Artistic Director Seema Sueko directed a virtual adaptation of Michelle Kholos Brooks’ play War Words in partnership with the Atlantic Council as part of their event honoring veterans on November 11.

About the play
Drawn from interviews with veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the stage play War Words humanizes those who serve in the military and opens the audience to affinity with them. In the words of retired General David Petraeus, who commanded US and allied forces in both campaigns, the script “captures powerfully the experiences of those who have served in uniform since 9/11. It conveys vividly the intensity of the relationships of those in the brotherhood of the close fight, the capriciousness of a battlefield that features IEDs, the emotions that follow seeing one's battle buddy killed or seriously wounded, the pernicious effects of green-on-blue attacks, the emotions on taking off the uniform, the sacrifices made by families, [and] the occasional absurdness of war." In the words of an audience member who saw the play's workshop, its rendering of veterans provides "a powerful experience of [discovering] 'they' are 'us'.

Watch now.

On October 9 at 8:00 p.m., Howard University Television (WHUT PBS Station) and Howard University Radio (WHUR),hosted a conversation about the issues affecting young people in the time of COVID-19.

The lives of youth have been upended and forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the special broadcast, young people spoke out about their concerns, fears and hopes. A distinguished panel of mental health professionals also provided their expert insights and offered support, guidance and enlightenment to assist young people throughout the community and their families in more effectively navigating these challenging times.

This program, inspired by Arena's film Inside Voices, was in partnership between Arena Stage’s Voices of Now Program, Black Coalition Against COVID-19, and Howard University Television and Radio (WHUT / WHUR).

Watch the full broadcast. 

Arena Stage and Georgetown University’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics and Theater and Performance Studies Program joined forces with The Forum for Cultural Engagement, the Lubimovka Young Playwrights Festival, the Center for Modern Drama in Yekaterinburg and the United States Embassy in Moscow to presented FLASH ACTS, a 6-day online festival featuring newly commissioned short plays by twenty pre-eminent American and Russian playwrights. FLASH ACTS premiered on October 8, 2020, and featured productions in Russian and English; panel discussions with the playwrights, directors, designers and actors for each production; and the FLASH ACTS Kultura Lounge featured original musical collaborations created and performed by young Russian and American musicians.

Writer, activist and performance artist V (formerly Eve Ensler) has turned her unique vision toward nurses, who she calls, "radical angels of the heart." In frank, stirring interviews with nurses on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic, V weaves nurses' own stories into a compelling concoction of kindness, confession, and activism tailored to our times. She then recruits some of the most important actors to bring these stories to their rightful place...front and center...as nurses risk their lives every day to care for their patients in a pandemic without the personal protective equipment they need. Featuring actors Ed Blunt, Connie Britton, Rosario Dawson, Stephanie Hsu, LaChanze, Liz Mikel, Rosie O'Donnell, Billy Porter, Dale Soules, Marisa Tomei, and Monique Wilson. With original music by Morley and company, whose song says it beautifully - "A nation is defined by how its nurses are supplied...how they're treated and if they survive." In this most important of election years, V's commentary and vision is a soul-stirring and soul-searching triumph.

In advance of the 2020 election, Arena Stage was pleased to join theaters across the country in bringing awareness about Berkeley Repetory's YouTube radio production of Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here which premiered on October 13.

About the Play
In 1935, Sinclair Lewis wrote It Can’t Happen Here, a novel that imagines the rise of fascism in America. Concerned about race riots, a huge income gap between the rich and the poor, the stigmatizing of immigrants, global terror, and a right-wing extremist running for president, Lewis’ novel reads like it was ripped out of today’s headlines. Whether he’s describing Buzz Windrip, the demagogue who wins the presidency based on the promise of making our country great again, or Doremus Jessup, a liberal newspaper editor who simply waits too long to take Windrip seriously, Lewis’ understanding of our political system was precise and far-reaching. The parallels to this moment in time are uncanny and the cautionary nature of his message is profoundly important.

Watch It Can't Happen Here.