What do a textile worker in Delhi, a student in a Palestinian refugee camp, and a farmworker in 1960s California have in common? In the midst of their struggle for freedom, they all turned to theatre.

Performing the Revolution is a limited-series podcast that knits these powerful stories together to create a global narrative featuring artists who put everything on the line in the struggle for justice. The series starts in New Delhi, India following Jana Natya Manch (Janam), a 50-year-old street theatre company that performs for India’s working class. It then moves to The Freedom Theatre in The West Bank – where kids fight to define who they are and what they dream about amidst a decades-long occupation – and on to El Teatro Campesino’s legacy of agitating during the historic California grape strikes.

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  • The artists featured in this series stage short, biting, satirical plays on picket lines, at factory gates, in refugee camps, and in the beds of trucks. When India’s trade unions needed to mobilize a million workers, Janam’s plays helped rally the masses. When César Chavez and Dolores Huerta led unprecedented strikes in the California farmlands, El Teatro Campesino brought their stories to the picket lines, gathering support for unionization efforts. 

    The threads converge in New York, where we work with Janam to bring these strategies to bear on the city’s own broken institutions. In a matter of 10 days, we work with Janam to co-create a play tackling labor exploitation in higher education, and grapple with the question: in our present-day conditions, can theatre really be at the heart of political change?

    This is more than a story about the past, or even the present --  it’s an invitation to imagine how theatre and performance can envision a hoped-for collective future.  And how it keeps people fighting to make it a reality.

  • We spoke with many theatre folks across the world for this series. Many thanks to everyone who has been in conversation with us (in alpha order by first name): Beto O'Byrne, Chas Croslin, Faisal Abu Alhayjaa, Gary English, Guillermo Avilés-Rodriguez, Jorge Huerta, Kinan Valdez, Komita Dhanda, Moloyashree Hashmi, Peter Wallenstein, Priyanka, Ranin Odeh, Sania Hashmi, Shayoni Mitra, Stephen Underhill, Sudhanva Deshpande and Yana Kuchirko

    Producers: Flora Kwitman, Ida Hardin, Navani Otero, Remoy Philip 
    Editors: Bethel Habte, Remoy Philip 
    Initial Editorial Support: Liz Mak 
    Theme Song: Sunny Jain
    Music Composer: Chris Roppolo and YUNG Elephant
    Fact Checker: Wil Barlow
    Executive Producers: Remoy Philip and Meropi Peponides 

    And many thanks to the numerous friends and colleagues who dropped into listening sessions, gave feedback and otherwise lent their support to the making of this series:

    Akash Pandey, Emily Harris, Jen Marlowe, Laura Newcombe, Mark Pagan, Simone Polanen, Zac Stuart Pontier

  • Performing the Revolution was made possible by: 

    The New York State Council on the Arts
    The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs 
    And numerous individual supporters 

Artwork by Manuel Miranda Practice