Re: RAT Response to Online Theater Comments Re. Cat Hebert

[Cat Hebert <virtualdrama@juno.com>]

Yeah. The function of theater as providing testimony to views of events
that are different than those expressed by the major media is becoming
more and more important as media organizations, now owned largely by
corporate conglomerates, shift away from their post-Vietnam role as
provider of balanced stories. This is especially important in our digital
world -- where records of events can be are/  altered/shaped.

Unfortunately, the role of  "revisionist historian" is a bit boring for
most theaters and requires a somewhat specialized activist audience --
who understand that official / media accounts of major events are often
manipulated.

Holocaust, slavery, internment of asian americans during WWII, and
massacres of native americans do have built-in audiences, but other,
subtler, and equally important current events, like the shutdown of
dissent surrounding WTO meetings or around issues related to corporate
anti-consumer activities can be harder to "sell", especially by theaters
who rely on corporate funding.



Cheers,
Cat



On Thu, 17 May 2001 19:37:59 -0400
"frances@International-Behind-the-barcode.org"
<frances@international-behind-the-barcode.org> writes:
> Right after Cat's point:
> > The point of acted out stories within the life of a community is 
> to
> > refresh ideas, lessons, beliefs in the minds of the participants. 
> It is
> > replayed in the memory, which is why these stories tend to be 
> passed
> > down.  It is important for stories that truly reflect the feelings 
> /
> > beliefs of an age / a culture to be retold so that members of 
> succeeding
> > generations can learn from them (and learn how to tell them).
> 
> came this from Birmingham, Alabama:
> >
> >  I'd appreciate your help in encouraging folk to come to our 
> program
> >  Sunday, May 20th at 2 p.m. inside St. Paul's Cathedral. See Greg 
> Garrison
> >  story in this Friday's paper. Called "The Assassination of Father 
> Coyle",
> >  the program wil consist of some actors reading part of the trial
> testimony
> >  from the court case where the shooter was found not guilty. 
> Father Coyle
> >  was Irish born but had been pastor of St. Paul's from 1904 to 
> 1921.
> >  He presided at the marriage of a minister's daughter who had 
> become
> >  Catholic to a dark-skinned Puerto Rican man. Less than 2 hours
> >  after the ceremony the minister, who was a member of the Klan,
> >  came up on the old rectory porch and shot Father Coyle. He died
> >  forty minutes later in the operating room at St. Vincent's.
> >  It was preceded by years of terrible public anti-Catholic bigotry 
> in
> >  Birmingham. The murder, trial and that bigotry have been poorly
> >  recorded by historians. Many of us believe Father Coyle died a
> >  martyr for the Faith and plan to raise that question at the end
> >  of the program.
> >
> >  Thanks for whatever you can do to get this word out. It's a 
> timely
> >  tie-in with the meeting you wrote about. As we all work together 
> to
> >  speak out and act against bigotry, we will come closer together
> >  than we ever imagined.
> >
> >  Gratefully, John Wright, Jr.
> 
> John:  You might want to subscribe to this group.  Peggy>
> > You may subscribe on the web at http://www.ratconference.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------
> To [un]subscribe to the rat-list, send an email to 
> "majordomo@ratconference.com"
> with [un]subscribe rat-list" in the body of the message.
> For information on other functions send a message containing the 
> word
> "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
> ---------------------------------------
> You may also [un]subscribe on the web at 
> http://www.ratconference.com/cgi-bin/web_domo.pl?list=rat-list
> 
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.



---------------------------------------
To [un]subscribe to the rat-list, send an email to "majordomo@ratconference.com"
with [un]subscribe rat-list" in the body of the message.
For information on other functions send a message containing the word
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
---------------------------------------
You may also [un]subscribe on the web at http://www.ratconference.com/cgi-bin/web_domo.pl?list=rat-list