There have been so many times this year that I have been in a discussion with someone regarding some sort of a social issue (religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, disability, etc.). I find myself thinking, “Wow…is it really 2016? Am I really having this conversation?”
Did someone put something in the water to poison society? When did we, as a nation, begin drifting backwards?
Racism has been a particular “hot button” topic as of late. It seems like you can’t even broach the subject without someone taking it as if you are calling them racist.
I thought we were close to working these things out in the late eighties. Gay rights, racial quality, gender equality…the nation was moving to be an accepting people. And then, terrorism happened in this country long before it came here from outside our shores.
In this political climate, I kept hearing the words, “conspiracy theory”, “immigration”, “ghost writer”…which then took my mind to this play. Oddly enough, a play from the late 1980s.
Why are there incredulously impossible things that people actually believe? What causes the suspicion of cultures that isn’t like ours? What inspires a conviction that the nation must purge itself of anyone who is not “American”.
You will hear some outlandish things tonight. Besides the inventive use of language, popular culture references and conspiracy theories utilized by Eric Overmyer in this play, everything discussed in this play was actually presented to the American people in the attempt to convince the public it was true.
A social activist and songwriter, Tom Morello, once said, "Dangerous times demand dangerous songs." Therefore, dangerous times demand dangerous plays.
The hope is this play from almost thirty years ago will make those watching realize that the things going on today are not new. Perhaps it is a theatrical way of indicating it is more than time to move forward as a society when it seems like things couldn’t get much worse.
Don’t scoff…watch the play…
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