Joel Eis - Left off the Program: The Censored History of Labor Theatre in America, 1880-1940 - LaborFest Event

"Left off the Program: The Censored History of Labor Theatre in America, 1880-1940."  Since the McCarthy era theatre text have consistently expunged any mention  of important contributions from the Left to the American Theatre. Professor Joel Eis, author of 5 previous books on theater and politics and a radical theatre practitioner in the 1960s, has unearthed and compiled the story of this sixty-year movement. From the first use of agitprop in the Yiddish theatre in 1887 to the first true theatre-in-the-round in Harlem in 1938, this movement produced the most important plays, playwrights and theater styles for the first half of the twentieth century. The talk will be accompanied by visuals. Free event. event will be in person and live streamed.