Breaking
Through the Cultural Apartheid
by
Jay Blotcher
“I really believe that racism is alive and
well in this country -- and that includes Kingston,” Grund
said. These
plays address the poisonous effects of racism, but also depict black
lives, still an infrequent occurrence in local theater, Grund said.
“The
ASK building stands across from two low-income housing projects,”
Grund said. “Young and old people of color pass ASK ten times
a day and will not come in.” By staging Chickens and Recidivism,
Grund not only hopes to change the ASK audience dynamic, but also
to provide inspiration to local youths.
“There
is relevance [in Chickens] for today’s audience,” Grund
said. He points out that Malcolm Little began his life not as an
inspirational leader to millions, but as a petty criminal known
as Detroit Red. “He was selling crack, pimping, robbing houses,
and he turned himself around.”
Bruce
Grund has always believed that theater could change minds. That
is why he has mounted shows wherever he can, whether on the stage
of a small hole in the wall, or in the streets. [Most recently,
he collaborated on the ImpeachMobile which participated in the Artists
Soap Box Derby in Kingston.] For many years, Grund toiled in downtown
New York City among fellow freedom fighters and unabashed old-school
lefties. His early resume includes work with Bread & Puppet,
reviewing local theater for underground papers and later shooting
an award-winning documentary about the American involvement in Southeast
Asia. Theater was indivisible from his existence as a political
activist; he helped organize a college tour for Judith Malina and
Julian Beck’s The Living Theater. The message of the theater
pieces was unequivocal: students must protest to end the Vietnam
War.
CONTINUE...
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