Mark @ Mr. Excitement News linked to an interview with playwright Christopher Shinn from In These Times. If you're familiar with any of Shinn's work then you're no doubt aware that he's a deepful compassionate and subtly provocative thinker. So, read the whole thing because he has a lot to say. Here's a taste:

I see a lot of young playwrights in America writing apolitical works that don't engage with social reality. Why do you think that is?

Nonprofit theaters rely on funding from corporations and wealthy individuals. It's likely that liberal audiences and funders are deeply invested in the current structures that have allowed them to make and preserve their wealth, and it's unlikely that they are truly interested in seeing work that questions the ideological foundations that support their class status.

Artistic directors, who rely on this funding to keep their theaters afloat, are likely--consciously or not--choosing work that appeals to the ideological prejudices of the audiences that sustain their theaters.

This is not a time of great ideological dissent in the art world. There's a sense among artists today that the world is the way it is and that's it.

But you refuse to think that way.

We can't use the way things are as an excuse to give up or to create art that reinforces the dominant ideologies of our country. Artists have thrived in societies much more oppressive than ours. And it's important to remember that.

We have to remember we're able to write what we want to write--so far--without being censored or put in jail. We might not get all the audiences we want, but no one is stopping us from doing the work that we think should be done. To me, the artist's responsibility is to do the work.

Amen.

Click here to read the whole interview.