As a theatre artist and teacher, I believe the stage should be at the forefront of efforts to examine our personal beliefs and the major issues of the day.  It can be a place where injustice,  ignorance, and prejudices can be exposed and new understandings of the human experience explored. 

On a fundamental level, I believe that art matters and it can have a real and lasting impact.  Theatre, and all other art forms, can be a catalyst for positive societal change and community engagement.

This understanding of the arts as a force for progressive, inclusive social change is rooted in the American story. In our founding documents, our purpose was established clearly and without ambiguity. The United States was formed to create a more perfect union. Our founders aspired to make a country in which justice was an end goal enabling those who reside in it to have life, liberty, and pursue happiness. 

As we mark 250 years as a nation, there are two enduring storylines that have competed to shape the American story. 

On one side are those who see our country as their own and no one else’s. Through the centuries, these dominant groups have used economic, political, religious, and cultural authority to claim power and hold onto it. From creating and upholding the system of slavery, denying equal rights to women and minorities, skewing our economic system to favor the wealthy and corporations, their vision of America is one limited to a select few. Their strategy relies on restricting the rights of others to safeguard their own privilege. In our increasingly pluralistic nation, those who have commanded our institutions are trying desperately to hold on to power.

On the other side are those who are proudly American, but not too proud to acknowledge that we still have work to do. They understand that, as we strive for a more just and better union, our work will never fully be completed. This side believes that it is an act of patriotism to question authority, resist injustice, and to fight for a more inclusive society in which all are treated equally under the law. From this perspective, our diversity is our strength, but we still have work to do to ensure the full benefit of citizenship for all Americans.

I argue that resistance against injustice is the heart of the American spirit and who we are as citizens when we are at our best. From our origins in revolution against monarchy to the war to end slavery to the fight for civil rights for all and beyond, acts of resistance have been instrumental to our efforts to create an inclusive democratic republic.  

Today, our nation’s democratic institutions are being threatened in ways our founders never fully expected. In our 250th year, we have a president who views the Constitution as an inconvenience to be ignored and the White House as his own personal royal palace. His presidency is not about making a better nation for all Americans. Instead, he pursues self-aggrandizement, personal profit, and abuses his powers in the pursuit of revenge.  

In the age of Trump, this is the status quo. It is an age in which far too many elected officials and Americans blindly ignore his unpresidential behavior. They condone his abuses of the Constitution, promote his bizarre lies, support his attempts to oppress the powerless, and excuse his seemingly blatant use of his office to enrich himself and his family.

In this latest chapter of the American story of oppression and resistance, we must each choose where we stand. Do I support this new status quo? If not, what am I doing to oppose it? Here is a simple truth: if we aren’t challenging the status quo, we are reinforcing it.

If we want future Independence Days to celebrate, we must free ourselves from this current story. The call of resistance commands us each to repudiate the lies of a narcissistic con man, vote for candidates who will enforce the Constitution, and demand the rule of law be followed even by the man who desires to an American dictator. It is the most American thing we can do.