Arts Uprise Q&A With Warren Epstein
My short play While We Still Can will debut June 20 in the Arts Uprise festival at the Millibo Art Theatre in Colorado Springs, Colo. Warren Epstein, along with Kathy Paradise, created the movement as an answer to the Trump Admin v2.0 and I chatted with him about the festival and what people can expect to see.
(Learn more at Pikes Peak Bulletin in this excellent festival preview by Cannon Taylor)
Cam: When did you decide to organize Arts Uprise?
Warren: My wife and I were on an amazing beach vacation, and I was sitting on the sand, doomscrolling on my phone. What's wrong with that picture? It became obvious to me (and my wife) that I needed to find an outlet for my rage over the daily news of the Trump regime. I figured if I was going nuts, so were my fellow creatives.
I put out a call on Facebook and those interested in doing some kind of resistance thing gathered at the Manitou Art Center. It was clear we had visions coalescing, and creative juices flowing in a torrent. And I appreciate that a friend pointed out that "resistance" might be appropriate but it also gives energy to the thing you're resisting.
Instead, we came up with the idea of an Uprise. An Uprise is a powerful thing. It may involve resistance, but it can be so much more.
Cam: How often do you envision these events happening?
Warren: Maybe once a quarter. I'd like to see shows at Cottonwood, the Manitou Art Center ... maybe one in Denver or Pueblo.
Cam: The show at the MAT will take place amid ICE protests across the country and military action ordered by Trump, what does that mean to you?
Warren: It means that some of the "fictions" in our work are now more like documentaries. Police states happen one step at a time, and it seems that every day we take five more steps.
Cam: What do you hope audience members take away from the event next weekend?
Warren: We don't kid ourselves that we're going to convert hardcore MAGAs. We knew from the outset, we'd mostly be preaching to the choir. But the choir has been pretty beat up these past few months. They could use some entertainment ... and maybe some reassurance that they're not alone. There have been so many reactions to what's happening to our country. We'll show many of those reactions. But silence will not be one of them.
Cam: Choir needing some preaching has been a theme in your posts. If this show is preaching to yourself or at least the version of you doomscrolling on the beach, what are you getting out of this preaching? Are you noticing a change in how you are facing this admin and current state of affairs?
Warren: I wrote the short play "Broken Picket Fence." I felt good about it. I felt like it had something significant to say. But when I heard Jane Fromme as my protagonist taking my words and adding her own fire to it ... man, I left that early rehearsal teary eyed. That's what it's about for me. If it moved me that much, it's gotta have some effect on others. It shows the real struggles in our legal system right now, but in that struggle, such courage emerges. It gives me hope, and I hope to share that hope with others.
Cam: Lastly, throughout history, art has taken the burden of dissent but faces pushback when it takes up that challenge. Have you seen any of that yet?
Warren: Every major arts organization in the country is feeling it. I stand with those actors and directors at the Kennedy Center who walked out once Trump took over. And yes, I've seen that. Ormao Dance Company just did a concert that included a sensational piece about immigration. It was courageous.
On the down side, we just had an actor drop out of one of the plays because it was too much. The reality, even in fiction, became overwhelming for him. I get it. And I don't blame him. These are crazy times, and sometimes it's hard to tell what's the antidote to the madness and what just makes it worse. I wish I had a better answer for that.
Tickets available now: Click Here
