The Zone of Provocation—The 2016 TCG National Conference—Washington, DC—June 25, 2016
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2016-06-28

Theatre Communications Group presents the 2016 TCG National Conference: Theatre Nation (ASL-interpreted) livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday, June 23 to Saturday, June 25. Share your thoughts and media with hashtags #TCG16 and #howlround in all social media platforms. Follow @TCG and @HowlRoundTV in Twitter for updates. 

What does it mean to be a citizen of Theatre Nation?

From June 23-25, the 2016 TCG National Conference: Theatre Nation will bring together over 1,000 theatre practitioners from across the globe for performances, knowledge sharing, and thought-provoking speakers. We’ll build on the success of the 2015 Cleveland Conference—our highest-rated in history—by further innovating programming like our Skills-Building Workshops and At the Intersections arcs, empowering deeper professional development and peer connection.

We’ll also seize the unique opportunity of assembling at our nation’s capitol during an election year to imagine a more central role for our art form in civic life. In a time of political polarization and civil strife, can we imagine a Theatre Nation whose borders are not bound by walls, but opened through affinities of passion and creative practice? Can we create a Theatre Nation that welcomes everyone who shares those affinities, and equitably represents them? What is our bill of rights (and responsibilities) for citizens of Theatre Nation? How might we declare our interdependence? How can our Theatre Nation model a more perfect union for our country and world? The answers to these questions can only be found through an inclusive and participatory process that engages the full diversity of our field—which means we need you.

At the heart of this work lies TCG’s vision of “A better world for theatre. A better world because of theatre.” We’ll bring that activist spirit to visit legislators on Capitol Hill. We’ll invite practitioners from across the world, because we know members of our Theatre Nation are global citizens. We’ll continue our conversations on equity, diversity, and inclusion, and we’ll spotlight the artistry that is the center of all our work.

The Zone of Provocation
10:30am-12pm EDT (Washington, DC) / 9:30am-11am CDT (Chicago) / 7:30am-9am PDT (San Francisco) / 14:30-16:00 GMT / 3:30pm-5pm BST (London) / 16:30-18:00 CEST (Berlin)

Is the “zone of provocation" in the American theatre shrinking? Is there still room for work that is truly provocative and controversial? The political right pressures us through their assaults on arts funding; the political left pressures us through their demand for political correctness. As both these forces reach new levels of virulence, is our field moving toward a narrow comfort zone of acceptable ideas and images, but away from real provocation that stimulates debate? Panelists will share three recent examples of productions that have pushed against the limits of comfortability and managed the fallout successfully including Neighbors by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Mixed Blood Theatre, The Admission by Motti Lerner at Theater J, and Women Laughing Alone With Salad by Sheila Callaghan at Center Theatre Group. Attendees will be encouraged to share additional examples; and together we’ll explore whether courting controversy can play a role in enlarging the footprint of our field.

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