Social justice meets theatre in this podcast from Playbill’s former Executive Editor Ruthie Fierberg. Artists and experts unite for curated panels, using plays and musicals (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and works in development) as a jumping-off point to confront societal issues such as racism, colorism, voting rights, fake news, digital technology addiction, the school-to-prison pipeline, anti-Semitism, raising LGBTQIA+ kids, and more. We help listeners grapple with hard questions inside a play or musical in order to create change in our offstage lives. And don’t worry if you haven’t seen an individual episode’s show or if you’re not a theatre buff. Award-winning writers and directors of pieces like SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY and THE PROM break down the message inside their stories and how they created that story. Then, real-world experts in the corresponding field (like NSA Jake Sullivan or THIS AMERICAN LIFE’s Ira Glass) offer advice and action steps (thought patterns to monitor, petitions to sign, organizations to support, etc.) so we can manifest progress. “Theater” is not only a place or a presentation, it is an action. “To theater” is to engage with art presented onstage. Why we theater? We’re about to find out.
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Social justice meets theatre in this podcast from Playbill’s former Executive Editor Ruthie Fierberg. Artists and experts unite for curated panels, using plays and musicals (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and works in development) as a jumping-off point to confront societal issues such as racism, colorism, voting rights, fake news, digital technology addiction, the school-to-prison pipeline, anti-Semitism, raising LGBTQIA+ kids, and more. We help listeners grapple with hard questions inside a play or musical in order to create change in our offstage lives. And don’t worry if you haven’t seen an individual episode’s show or if you’re not a theatre buff. Award-winning writers and directors of pieces like SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY and THE PROM break down the message inside their stories and how they created that story. Then, real-world experts in the corresponding field (like NSA Jake Sullivan or THIS AMERICAN LIFE’s Ira Glass) offer advice and action steps (thought patterns to monitor, petitions to sign, organizations to support, etc.) so we can manifest progress. “Theater” is not only a place or a presentation, it is an action. “To theater” is to engage with art presented onstage. Why we theater? We’re about to find out.
DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA and Expanding Our Thinking to Solve Problems
Why We Theater
1 hour 18 minutes
3 years ago
DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA and Expanding Our Thinking to Solve Problems
You might think David Byrne’s American Utopia on Broadway is a concert. It’s not. Yet, it’s not exactly a play or a musical. It’s something else outside the box. The Talking Heads frontman— along with choreographer Annie-B Parsons’ and a band of international musicians, vocalists, and dancers—creates a show about exploring the unconventional, especially when it comes to unconventional thought and thought processes.
American Utopia made host Ruthie Fierberg wonder: How many solutions to society’s conflicts might we be overlooking because we think the way we have always thought? American Utopia performer Tendayi Kuumba and experts Dr. Vinoo Alluri and Dr. Alejandro Lleras join us to explore: What problems could we solve if we used more of our minds and used our minds differently? Could we achieve an American Utopia?
Listen to the album of David Byrne’s American Utopia.
Watch David Byrne’s American Utopia on HBOMax.
Create the Change
Volunteer with Headcount to register voters at a performance of American Utopia
Volunteer with Headcount in general
Cultivate new and varied ways of thinking:
Enhance your own synesthesia
Try any of these “6 Ways to Rewire Your Brain”
If your main way of processing and working is to sit in one spot and concentrate, try talking a walk, dancing, exercising to make your brain work differently by engaging different activity patterns in your brain.
Develop your “openness” (one of the Big 5 personality traits)
Read about how openness can help you see the world differently
Read David Byrne’s How Music Works
Listen to music outside of your normal playlist
Dig into more research on music and cognition
Listen to “happy” music to promote divergent thinking (which leads to increased creativity)
Explore social justice through music, a curriculum
Improve your allyship
Referred to in this episode (in order of mention)
Letter from David Byrne about American Utopia
Listen to “Here” from American Utopia
See American Utopia’s set and costumes
Read about and watch Annie-B Parsons’ American Utopia choreography
Your brain on music
Your brain listening to different genres of music
Grooviness of music
What is embodied cognition?
What is embodied cognition to music?
American Utopia’s partnership with Headcount
Watch Janelle Monae’s official music video for “Hell You Talmbout”
Your brain choreographed movement vs improvised movement
Watch this video debunking the MYTH: “Humans use 10 percent of our brains.”
What is pruning in the brain?
Babies learning language
What is synesthesia?
Research by Berit Brogaard to unlock more of brain’s potential
The truth about left brain vs. right brain
What is dadaism?
Listen to “I Zimbra” from American Utopia
David Byrne Talks Being a Good Ally and American Utopia
How making music can promote brain plasticity
About Our Guests:
Ruthie Fierberg, Host
Ruthiefierberg.com
IG: @whywetheater / T: @whywetheater
IG: @ruthiefierceberg / T: @RuthiesATrain
Tendayi Kuumba, Performer @whostendayi
Dr. Vinoo Alluri PhD, musicologist and neuroscientist
Dr. Alejandro Lleras PhD, psychologist
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Why We Theater
Social justice meets theatre in this podcast from Playbill’s former Executive Editor Ruthie Fierberg. Artists and experts unite for curated panels, using plays and musicals (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and works in development) as a jumping-off point to confront societal issues such as racism, colorism, voting rights, fake news, digital technology addiction, the school-to-prison pipeline, anti-Semitism, raising LGBTQIA+ kids, and more. We help listeners grapple with hard questions inside a play or musical in order to create change in our offstage lives. And don’t worry if you haven’t seen an individual episode’s show or if you’re not a theatre buff. Award-winning writers and directors of pieces like SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY and THE PROM break down the message inside their stories and how they created that story. Then, real-world experts in the corresponding field (like NSA Jake Sullivan or THIS AMERICAN LIFE’s Ira Glass) offer advice and action steps (thought patterns to monitor, petitions to sign, organizations to support, etc.) so we can manifest progress. “Theater” is not only a place or a presentation, it is an action. “To theater” is to engage with art presented onstage. Why we theater? We’re about to find out.
