By Robert Schenkkan (All the Way)
Directed by Ari Edelson
Building the Wall lays out the potential consequences of contemporary anti-immigration campaign rhetoric. Set in 2019, the play imagines the rhetoric has become policy, and massive numbers of undocumented immigrants and others have been incarcerated in private prisons and camps. As Rick, the former warden of one facility, awaits sentencing for events which happened under his watch, he is interviewed by Gloria, a historian who has come in search of the truth about how the unthinkable became the inevitable.
A.R.T. of Human Rights is an ongoing collaboration with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University that uses the arts and the humanities to explore some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. This series features public conversations with leading artists, academics, and activists, as well as educational and artistic partnerships with local schools and organizations. Building on the Carr Center’s commitment to advancing human rights principles, and the A.R.T.’s mission to “expand the boundaries of theater,” A.R.T. of Human Rights is designed to foster a new model for community education, civic engagement, and creative expression.
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Need to know
VENUE
Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall
Harvard Law School
1515 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA
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Notable dates
Discussions
The issues raised in the play will be explored in the panel discussion that follows. Professor Timothy Patrick McCarthy (Host, A.R.T. of Human Rights; Core Faculty and Director of Culture Change & Social Justice Initiatives, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School) will facilitate a conversation with Matias Ramos (Director, Phillips Brooks House Association, Harvard University; Co-Founder, United We Dream), Karen Finney (2017 Fellow, Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Communications Director, Democratic National Committee), and Building the Wall playwright Robert Schenkkan.