Theater in Extremis: Waiting for Godot in New Orleans and Antigone in the World
Wendell Pierce is best known for his roles as Bunk and Antoine Batiste on HBO’s “The Wire” and “Treme.” He is also an advocate for art’s ability to revitalize struggling communities, a belief he put to the test in 2007 when he joined forces with New York’s Creative Time to stage a production of Waiting for Godot in areas of New Orleans that had been hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Pierce recounts that incredible story and his life in the arts in his new memoir “The Wind in the Reeds.”
Acclaimed director and producer Gregory Mosher (Six Degrees of Separation, Hurly Burly, Sarafina!) will join the conversation to share stories of his recent, similarly unorthodox production Antigone in the World. Mosher tooks Sophocles’s classic tragedy off the stage and directly into overlooked communities in Kenya and South Africa, producing free performances in places like a Kibera girl’s school or a Johannesburg prison. Joining them will be the remarkable young star of the play, Phumzile Sitole.
Time: 6:30
Wendell Pierce is best known for his roles as Bunk and Antoine Batiste on HBO’s “The Wire” and “Treme.” He is also an advocate for art’s ability to revitalize struggling communities, a belief he put to the test in 2007 when he joined forces with New York’s Creative Time to stage a production of Waiting for Godot in areas of New Orleans that had been hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Pierce recounts that incredible story and his life in the arts in his new memoir “The Wind in the Reeds.”