Breaking
Through the Cultural Apartheid
by
Jay Blotcher
“Many
of the colleges erupted after theydid their performances,”
he said.
When
he left New York in 1985, Grund came to Ulster County. Employed
as a social worker for the county, he again combined his twin passions
of agitating for social justice and creating provocative theater.
After adapting poetry by Harlem Renaissance avatar Langston Hughes
for the stage, Grund wrote and produced a play called Crack Alley.
He cast former addicts and other youths at risk in the production.
“It
was a transformative experience,” Grund said. “Here
they were being applauded for doing something that was positive,
instead of ripping off somebody.”
Most
recently, Grund directed a 2004 production of Howard Zinn’s
Emma, a stage dramatization of the life of one of his heroes: the
20th-century social activist Emma Goldman, at Byrdcliffe Theater.
Goldman
was a fierce, uncompromising feminist, free speech activist, union
organizer, and anarchist. An immigrant to the United States, Goldman
worked to improve ghetto conditions and spoke out against the Great
War. For her efforts, Goldman was finally deported to Russia in
1919. In a 2004 interview, Grund told me that the playwright gave
him permission to streamline the epic play. “He trusted me
to go ahead and interpret his work the best I can.”
Michael
Monasterial was a jock at Yonkers’ Roosevelt High School in
the late 70s. He was also class clown. A friend suggested he apply
that natural talent to joining the drama club. Looking back, Monasterial
understands the dynamics at the work...
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