ARTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
(including Common Core Standards and NYC DOE Blueprints Standards)
This module looks at HADESTOWN through the lens of social justice art. It is designed to familiarize learners with the rich, global history of art as a tool for affecting social change, encouraging students to consider how HADESTOWN is in conversation with the fight(s) for social justice. It includes links to resources and media that allow students to familiarize themselves with historical instances of art and social justice working hand in hand.
The corresponding lesson plan gives students the opportunity to look at art in their community and beyond in order to consider how different artistic mediums might help us build a better world.
“The first thing that hooked me [to Hadestown] was the music. The thing that kept me engaged was its political heart, in particular Anaïs’ vision of human fellowship and how she uses the original myth and image of these two lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice, as a metaphor for solidarity and faith and walking with your fellow humans into the darkness,”
Rachel Chavkin via Los Angeles Times
While it is a retelling of the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, Anaïs Mitchell, Rachel Chavkin, and other members of the team have spoken to the ways Hadestown seeks to be in conversation with social issues that affect our world today including climate change, labor rights, migration, and more. In this way, Hadestown shows us what legendary theatre practitioner Augusto Boal means when he says,
“Those who try to separate theater from politics try to lead us into error – and this is a political attitude.” (Theatre of the Oppressed)
This doesn’t mean that actors must run for political office or that every play has to feature a dead president, but perhaps that theater is always in conversation with the world around it and that is an inherently political act.
Art has long been used as a tool for sparking social change. Whether we’re talking about a play that is simply in conversation with the world like Hadestown or art with a more overt political message like the work of these modern artists or Guernica by the legendary Pablo Picasso, the arts provide us, as everyday people, with language and tools for confronting the important issues of our time.
"Artists are often in conversation with each other across time and location. For example, Picasso is rightfully criticized by other artists for his abuse of women. Hannah Gadsby is an artist, a comedian to be specific, who uses her art to shed light on the harm Picasso inflicted.”
"DSC_1048_Urban Protest Art" by sdttds is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Here are a few examples of when art was used to address societal issues…
In Chile, the capital city of Santiago has time and time again found itself as a hub for protest-driven street art during times of oppressive military rule and destabilizing inequality through the country.
Source: “Chile’s protest street art: The writing is on the wall,” Gabriela Mesones Rojo, BBC.com
The Philippines has a long history of staging political and protest theater to speak out against foreign rule and occupation. In 1901, the McKinley presidential administration passed the Sedition Law, which made it illegal for people in American territories (which the Philippines technically was at the time) to advocate for their own independence. Despite the risk of arrest, Philippine theater makers like Juan Matapang Cruz continued to stage theater that advanced the message of Philippine independence until it was formally achieved on July 4, 1946.
Source: “Philippine Protest Theater Throughout the Decades,” Nicole Datlangin, Theaterfansmanila.com
"Santiago, Chile, Sept-2013" by maltman23 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
One of the most important eras of political art in the United States dates back to the first half of the twentieth century. During the Great Depression Era of the 1930’s, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted a series of legislation that became known as the New Deal. Through the New Deal, artists were paid to create art through initiatives such as the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Theatre Project.
Much of the art created during this time confronted and spoke directly about social issues such as poverty, racism, and more. One of the most important projects of the time was implemented by the Federal Writers Project. From 1936-1938 the FWP compiled oral history narratives from formerly enslaved people, which became known as the WPA Slave Narratives. These narratives “consist of 3,500 relatively brief oral histories (most of them two- to four-pages long), representing about 2 percent of all ex-slaves surviving in the late 1930s” (McMillen, Mississippi History Now) and are considered to be among the most important first-person records ever compiled.
Sources: History.com Editors. “New Deal,” History.com
“Works Progress Administration (WPA) (1935). Livingnewdeal.org
Neil R. McMillen. “WPA Slave Narrative,” Mshistorynow.org.mdah.state.ms.us
“Art can be used to reinforce values of the group, raise questions about current social conditions, and construct an image of social change,”
Melody K. Milbrandt, “Understanding the Role of Art in Social Movements and Transformation”
In “Broadway by the Numbers ” ProductionPro reports that in the 2018-19 Broadway season, 87% of directors, 76% of choreographers and 85% of writers were men. This is important to note here because access and participation are core tenets of social justice. We can see that art is not always in line with social justice efforts. It is important, however, to celebrate the wins. Hadestown was the most nominated Broadway show at the 2019 Tony’s and it was written and directed by women (Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin, respectively) and featured people of color in three of its five principle roles.
Of course, there is always more work to be done. The Visibility Report, published by the Asian American Performers Action Committee revealed that in the 2018-19 Broadway season 58.6% of all roles on Broadway stages went to white actors while 89% of writers and 93.8% of directors were white.
Sources: Patrick Henry, Sean, et al. “Broadway by the Numbers” via ProductionPro
Watch HADESTOWN Director Rachel Chavkin speak to the lack of diversity on Broadway in her 2019 Tony Award for Best Director acceptance speech.
Artistic mediums such as theatre, photography, oral storytelling, music, poetry, and more provide a way for artists to grab the attention of their community while bringing attention to important issues. Of course, social change rarely happens solely because someone created art about an issue; it is more often a combined and sustained effort on the part of organizers, activists, and everyday people that leads to building a better world through activism and social justice, but it’s hard to deny that art can be a big part of that process.
Read VOGUE’s take on ‘The Liberating, Radical Politics of HADESTOWN’
ARTS ACTIVIST SPOTLIGHT
STUDENTS RESPOND!
1) Tell us about a time you used art to respond to a social justice issue. Share your work with us (photos, videos, words, etc.) here.
2) Connect Hadestown with another piece of art that has social justice relevance. How are the two in conversation? Submit your essays here!