New Institute Creates Civic Dialogue Through Arts

The Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue topped off its inaugural season on August 6 with a performance of scenes from House Arrest, a work-in-progress by Anna Deveare Smith.

Smith, a celebrated playwright, is founder and director of the institute, a three-year project focusing on artistic collaboration as a method for expanding civic dialogue.

"In a time when people are so alienated from politics and government, the institute is an experiment that seeks to find ways in which artists can re-engage people not only in art, but also in the decision-making that affects their lives and the larger society around them," Smith said in a press release.

The performance of scenes from Smith's House Arrest was the culmination of a theater laboratory Smith conducted for actors this summer. For over a month, the institute has hosted about 50 film-makers, dancers, musicians, playwrights and actors. Participants lived near the University and held symposia and free, public performances.

House Arrest's cast of 14 included Lynette Dupree from Broadway's Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk. Like many of the other Institute performances, House Arrest was a fusion of themes, styles and points of view.

The performance, which included song and dance, strung together real statements from politicians, academics, journalists and prison inmates to represent interactions among the public, media and president.

The material included an examination of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress Sally Hemmings.

After the performance, the audience, actors and panelists--who included Barbara E. Johnson, Wertham professor of law and psychiatry in society, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Lawrence H. Tribe '62, Tyler professor of constitutional law--discussed the political content of Smith's latest work.

In an interview, Tribe said he thought the performance and art in general can spur public dialogue. "It's possible for art to provoke dialogue about public matters whether the art expresses...a distinct view...or tends to raise questions rather than answers," Tribe said.

The institute is jointly sponsored by the American Repertory Theater and the W.E.B. Dubois Institute. It was launched in November 1997 with a $1.5 million challenge grant from the Ford Foundation.

This year's artists were engaged in a diverse group of projects, all of which examined an aspect of American culture.

High Noon, an opera by composer Stewart Wallace and lyricist Michael Korie, explored the mythology of the American West and examined violence in American society.

Brandon, a multi-case courtroom drama developed by Shu L. Cheang and Liz Diamond, used real and cyber sexual assault cases to explore themes such as gender fusion and the techno-body.

The public presentation of Brandon was the latest development in the Brandon Web site project commissioned by the Guggenheim museum.