ABSTRACT
The mass blacklisting and scaremongering of the time gave birth to a trope that I grew up hearing, "art and politics do not mix". Fearing the personal consequences of political engagement, several generations of American artists relinquished their connection to the political sphere and disengaged the link between political opinion and clear artistic expression. Artists developed the habit of kowtowing to hegemonic power. At its best, the theater is a highly political enterprise. It is political not in the sense that we normally use the word, but political in the basic philosophic sense: a consideration of how human beings organize societies, not as unchangeable and part of the natural order, but rather as open to transformation. The audience teaches itself how to experience a production and the intelligence of a group arises within the time set aside for the performance. In the collaboration of attention, audience members have the potential to engender nothing less than a rapture of mutual interest.
