A Case Against Peaceful Protest: An Interview With Eric Taylor

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Jody Christopherson

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The So-fi Festival proudly presents Eric Taylor’s A Case Against Peaceful Protest with music by Tristen Dosset, at Westbeth, Home to the Arts (463 West Street, Room 1209, between Bethune and Bank St) June 14thth & June 15th @ 7pm.


So-fi is a festival for cutting edge, low-fi, high concept, multidisciplinary solo work. Westbeth is New York City landmark listed on the National Registrar of Historic Places since Dec 8, 2009, a home to artists and major cultural organizations including the New School for Drama, The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, the School for Poetic Computation. The location where A Case Against Peaceful Protest will be performed was the location of Bell Labs’ Boardroom where the first talking movie, the condenser microphone, the first TV broadcast, and the first binary computer were demonstrated.

 
A Case
Against Peaceful Protest 
shows us both the terror that is to come
but the joy that we will meet it with. An immersive piece that marries the
spoken word, song and movement with ritual and digital media to show that
audience what has been missing from the conversation.

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A Case Against Peaceful Protest plays in rep with Ayesha Jordan’s Shasta Geaux Pop 6/14 and Kyra Miller’s BlueBeardGasLight 6/15.

Tickets are currently on sale and will be $25 per single ticket, $36 per two-show double bill ticket. (Please note that Westbeth is handicap accessible with ramps and elevators.) Nearest trains to Westbeth are (1,2,3 to 14th Street). Tickets can be purchased at https://www.so-fi-festival.com/(888) 692-7878, or in person at the box office 30 minutes prior to curtain (463 West Street, Room 1209, between Bethune and Bank St). Full performance line-up listed below. For more info and a full festival calendar please visit: https://www.so-fi-festival.com/






Tell us about your show? In your own words, what is it/ what is it/what is it about?



ERIC TAYLOR: Before the Haitian people liberated themselves from the French they performed a ritual in which they prayed to the Orishas to give them strength and wisdom to endure the times that will come. Today our country is changing. We all feel it, even if we don’t want to. Our choice now to decide what our country and our planet will be. Our choice, not politician, or multi-national corporations, or the many people who turn in circle lamenting about the futility of it all. In ten years the world we have will be the world we’ve chosen. “A Case Against Peaceful Protest” rejoices in at that possibility of radicle change.


What multidisciplinary elements does it include and how are they used? How are they unique?


ERIC TAYLOR: We live in an era where EVERYONE is ‘woke’, and all theatre is conscious of social issues. However, it seems to pander to an older, whiter, audience. For that reason, a lot of artists are content to make a piece that endlessly identify the all the problems that face society rather than do anything about it. “A Case Against Peaceful Protest” is not trying to change anyone’s mind. It is radical Black expression seek to connect the hemispheric community of Black people. There will be live music and film and ritual to create an unique spiritual experience not often found in theater.

Why do you make theater? Can you talk about the medium and what it lends to your work?


ERIC TAYLOR:  Being a storyteller is one of the most powerful things a person can do. Everything we know about ourselves comes from a story, that we were told at some point. Sometimes these stories can be used to exploit the oppressed but more often storytellers use their gifts to change culture and provide strength for the oppressed. I work in many other medium as will be shown in this piece, however, none have the transformative power that live theatre can create. This is why recordings of performances fail to convey the energy that vibrates in performance spaces.


Theatre has the ability to change culture. The real magic of this piece will travel outside of the theatre itself.

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ERIC LAWRENCE TAYLOR was classically trained in acting at Fordham
University. He is also a prolific multidisciplinary artist. His
original works have been shown around New York City, including Abrons Art
Center, The University Settlement, The Artist Co-op, and the Ashmolean Museum.  
https://www.ericlawrencetaylor.com/


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