This week is Banned Books Week, and the right to free speech is being threatened, now more than ever.
To raise awareness regarding the societal dangers of censorship in the theatre industry and at large, The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund is presenting Banned Together: The Anti-Censorship Podcast featuring excepts from 11 banned plays and musicals, including Rent, Angels in America, and Anna in the Tropics.
Download the episode now to hear performances from Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"), four-time Tony Award nominee Raul Esparza (Leap of Faith, Company), Tony Award winner Celia Keenan-Bolger (To Kill a Mockingbird), Tony Award winner Lisa Kron (Fun Home, Well), the Stonewall Chorale, and more! DLDF board members Lydia Diamond (Stick Fly, Smart People) and Cheryl Davis host the podcast and Greg Jarrett (Assassins, Cradle Will Rock) serves as music director.
Banned Together: The Anti-Censorship Podcast will only be available to download for a limited time during Banned Books Weekend 2022 (from September 18-September 24). This podcast is presented in association with Broadway Podcast Network.
For more information, visit www.thedldf.org.
The Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund advocates and educates on behalf of the right of free speech on stages across America. In light of dwindling public funding for the arts, the DLDF advocates not only for writers, but for theatres and other theatre artists (as well as audiences, schools, students, and the culture at large), all of whom are confronting censorship and other related issues of public import, including the assault on copyright and the diminishment of the public domain. The DLDF can also aid indigent artists who cannot defend themselves on a range of other theater-related matters. The DLDF’s aid and advocacy may take the form of letters, articles, and lectures in public fora, intervention in litigation through amicus briefs and expert testimony, or finding affordable representation for those caught up in these disputes. The DLDF’s mission also includes educating about the importance to our society of an ever-expanding public domain and a proper administration of the copyright laws that serve to ensure it.
My Name is Rachel Corrie
By Rachel Corrie
Adapted by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner
Performed by Celia Keenan-Bolger
The Vagina Monologues
By V (formerly Eve Ensler)
Performed by Lisa Kron
The Laramie Project
By Moises Kaufman
Performed by Raul Esparza
“Changing My Major”
from the Broadway musical Fun Home
Performed by Sarah Hogewood
Music by Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics by Lisa Kron
Music © 2014 Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics © 2014 Lisa Kron
All rights reserved. Used by permission of That’s Music to My Ears (ASCAP) and Kron-Tone Words for Singing (ASCAP).
Trouble in Mind
By Alice Childress
Performed by Gina Daniels
Angels in America
By Tony Kushner
Performed by Bryan Cranston and Richard Kind
Fat Free Chicana and the Snow Cap Queen
By Elaine Romero
Performed by Ashnah Strongheart and Alida Holguín Gunn
An Octoroon
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Performed by Frank Oglesby Jr.
Indecent
By Paula Vogel
Performed by Adam Chanler-Berat and Peter Friedman
Anna in the Tropics
By Nilo Cruz
Performed by Al Espinosa and Caro Zeller
“Seasons of Love”
From the Broadway Musical Rent
Performed by the Stonewall Chorale, NYC
Book, Music and Lyrics© by Jonathan Larson
All Rights reserved. Used by permission of Universal Music