Current Projects

Convening on Global Performance, Civic Imagination, and Cultural Diplomacy

The Lab hosted an invited convening, supported by the Georgetown University Reflective Engagement in the Public Interest Grant, featured more than 75 theater artists, policymakers, government officials, activists, cultural leaders, educators, and scholars from across the country and around the world, as well as Georgetown University faculty, students, and alums. Led by Derek Goldman and Cynthia Schneider, this three-day convening explored how to maximize the potential of theater and performance in the context of international challenges, and how to bridge the gap between the worlds of foreign affairs and policy, and global performance.

Lab Think Tank Members Roberta Levitow and Ping Chong, along with Carole Brzozowski and Belayneh Abune participate in Opportunities and Challenges in Africa.

Nicholas Kent, Sharon Memis, Susan Loewenberg, and Shahid Nadeem participate in Global Theater Meets Global Politics.

Participants included:

• Alicia Adams, Vice President for International Programming, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Lab Think Tank Member
• Daniel Banks, Co-Director, Theatre Without Borders; Co-Director of DNAWORKS; Faculty, M.A. in Applied Theatre, City University of New York
• Marvin Carlson, Distinguished Professor of Theatre, Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies, City University of New York
• Ping Chong, Artistic Director, Ping Chong & Company, and Lab Think Tank Member
• David Diamond
• Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Jonathan Hollander, Artistic Director, Battery Dance Company
• Chris Jennings, Managing Director, Shakespeare Theatre Company and President, International Theatre Institute (TCG), and Lab Think Tank Member
• Nicholas Kent, Director, The Great Game; former Artistic Director, Tricycle Theatre
• Shiloh Krupar, Assistant Professor, Culture and Politics, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and Campus Cohort Member
• Roberta Levitow, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Theatre Without Borders; Artistic Associate, Sundance Institute East Africa, and Lab Think Tank Member
• Peter Marks, The Washington Post
• Sharon Memis, Director, British Council
• Shahid Nadeem, Pakistani Playwright and Director
• Alyse Nelson, President and CEO, Vital Voices
• Ruben Polendo, Artistic Director, Theater Mitu; Theater Program Director, NYU – Abu Dhabi
• Diane Ragsdale, former Program Officer, Performing Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• Christina Scheppelmann, Director of Artistic Operations, Washington National Opera
• Andy Shallal, Founding Owner, Busboys and Poets; Co-Founder, The Peace Cafe
• Joanna Sherman, Artistic Director, Bond Street Theatre, and Lab Think Tank Member
• Torange Yeghiazarian, Artistic Director, Golden Thread Productions

Watch the livestream of the Convening on Global Performance, Civic Imagination, And Cultural Diplomacy, courtesy of HowlRound TV: