When DISSENT is a CRIME
Inquisitions (and Other Un-American Activities)
- An audio drama -
Commemorate May Day, May 1, by broadcasting "Inquisitions," a radio play dramatizing the struggle for workers rights and civil liberties.
"Inquisitions" uses the interrogation of activist Lucy Parsons during the 1919 Palmer raids as a framework. This exciting new production explores timely themes through a dramatic audio recreation of the movement for an eight-hour workday, the Haymarket bombing, and hanging of four activists.
This radio drama features a 20-person cast, drama, comedy, and historical recreations.
Two-hour running time.
Written by Greg Guma
Directed by Bill Boardman
Co-produced by Toward Freedom
and Catalyst Theatre Company
Click here to listen to an audio excerpt in RealAudio (7 min.)
Click here to listen to an audio excerpt in MP3 (7 min.)
This audio drama is available as a FREE MP3 download for noncommercial radio stations. Please contact us to register for download at: (203) 268-8446.
To stage a local production or stage your own public reading of this timely drama, contact Greg Guma at MavMedia@aol.com.
Part 1
- 1- Opening Title (.30)
2- Questioning Legacy (10:07)
3- Labor vs. Capital (12:42)
4- Radical Talk (8:32)
5- Haymarket (7:03)
6- Hoover Takes Charge (14:02)
Total: (52:56)
Part 2
- 1- Anarchism on Trial (11:52)
2- Truth & Accusations (11:34)
3- Justice Denied (11:27)
4- Lucy Fights Back (9:53)
5- The Final Days (9:53)
6- History's Verdicts/Credits (13:45)
Total: (68:04)
Dissent and Its Enemies: Epic Drama Released for Radio
A play that dramatizes attacks on free speech and civil liberties is now available for radio broadcast and sale as a compact disk set.
With the interrogation of activist Lucy Parsons during the 1919 Palmer raids as its framework, "Inquisitions (and Other Un-American Activities)" is a dynamic new audio production that explores timely themes through a dramatic recreation of the movement for an eight-hour workday, the Haymarket bombing, and hanging of four activists. It was recorded in May, 2003 at City Hall in Burlington, Vt., on the 117th anniversary of the infamous 1886 bombing. In 2004, "Inquisitions" aired on more than 20 radio stations in 15 states.
"Inquisitions..." is the result of more than a decade of research, and includes characters like radical organizer Albert Parsons, business tycoons like Marshall Field and John D. Rockefeller, plus muckraker Henry Demarest Lloyd and J. Edgar Hoover at the start of his FBI career.
According to a review by David Warner in the Vermont weekly newspaper, Seven Days, the new play is "inarguably timely now, as the contradictory demands of national security and civil liberties are once more at odds." Illuminating the past, it raises thorny questions about the threats to freedom when dissent is considered a crime.
Inquisitions (and Other Un-American Activities) was co-produced by the Catalyst Theatre Company and Toward Freedom, a Vermont-based media education organization. Written by Greg Guma, directed by Bill Boardman, and performed by a 20-person cast, the production runs two hours with intermissions, but also can be broadcast in two or three installments. To arrange for an air date, contact Anna Manzo at (203) 268-8446 .
To stage a local production or stage your own public reading of this timely drama, contact Greg Guma at MavMedia@aol.com.
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