The Lab was founded in 2012 by Derek Goldman, award-winning professional theater artist and leader in the field of global performance, and Professor of Theater & Performance Studies, and Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and former US Ambassador to the Netherlands (1998-2001), as an outgrowth of a Convening on Global Performance, Civic Imagination, and Cultural Diplomacy. Since then, The Lab has emerged as a global leader, widely recognized as unique for its pioneering interdisciplinary approaches integrating the performing arts and international politics.
Want to learn more about The Lab’s history?
Take a look at the timeline below.
Our History
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The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics is co-founded by Dr. Derek Goldman and Dr. Cynthia Schneider as an outgrowth of a Convening on Global Performance, Civic Imagination, and Cultural Diplomacy. The Lab is a collaborative initiative between the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the College.
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Award-winning actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith and cellist Joshua Roman participate in a residency at Georgetown, showcasing their ongoing work of Anne Deveare Smith’s On Grace.
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My Report to the World, the first ensemble iteration of the play that becomes Remember This, is first presented as part of the Karski Centennial Celebration with David Strathairn and an ensemble of students.
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The Lab presents Myriad Voices: A Cross-Cultural Performance Festival, two-year festival as part of the Doris Duke Foundation’s Building Bridges Program. This series of performances from leading artists from around the world, accompanied by convenings, public forums, interdisciplinary courses, and the creation of new work.
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The Myriad Festival presents ‘Generation Wh(Y): Global Voices on Stage,’ an immersive theatrical experience based on a year of dialogue and collaboration.
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‘Politics, Revolution, and Art: A Theatrical Symposium‘ explores the ‘theatricality of global politics.’ The event unpacks the relationship between theater, political activism, and global politics.
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Inaugural cohort of The Lab’s Global Fellows is selected. The Fellowship is launched with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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I Pledge Allegiance, original piece created by immigrant and first generation students at Georgetown, premieres at the Student Festival and ITI World Congress in Segovia, Spain.
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The Lab launches its SFS Centennial Lab, Politics and Performance, a semester of rich discussion of the role of art and performance in a politically fragmented world co-taught by Derek Goldman and Cynthia Schneider. This class travels to Cambodia in partnership with Cambodian Living Arts.
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The Lab launches its ‘Lab PerForum,’ series in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center and their International Programs.
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The Lab hosts the inaugural CrossCurrents 2019, a citywide festival of performance and discussion, culminating in The Gathering 2019 which hosted hundreds of artists, and change-makers from around the world.
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Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, the realized solo production, premieres at Gaston Hall as the featured performance of the SFS Centennial Celebration before traveling to London in conjunction with International Holocaust day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
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The Lab launches In Your Shoes, building on more than a decade of development of its signature ‘Performing One Another” methodology around the world. This storytelling tool is used to help people from different backgrounds understand one another.
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Lab student employees launch the Lab Student Fellows program for Georgetown students to realize their own projects.
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Mélisande Short-Colomb ‘s original solo performance Here I Am premieres virtually in celebration of Emancipation Day.
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The professional world premiere of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski at Shakespeare Theater Company Washington, DC. Followed by a celebrated run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
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We Hear You—A Climate Archive launched at the COAL + ICE exhibition presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Asia Society
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The Lab hosts The Gathering 2022 Festival, centered around the contributions of our Global Lab Fellows including productions, readings, discussions and workshops focusing on climate change, immigration and indigeneity, with comprehensive live-streaming for all of our community.
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Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski runs a string of performances at Gonda Theatre, Georgetown University. Completed successful runs at TFANA in New York and Berkeley Rep in San Francisco garnering critical acclaims
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Remember This Film successfully premiered at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and various festivals throughout the year ahead of its official theatrical release in Jan, 2023 at various cinemas nationwide.
