Join us for a staged reading and discussion of "Building the Wall," a dystopian drama by Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan, author of 'All the Way' and co-screenwriter of 'Hacksaw Ridge.'

7 p.m. Thursday, September 17
University at Albany
Recital Hall, UAlbany Performing Arts Center
1400 Washington Avenue, Albany NY 12222
A brief Q&A with faculty members will follow this 90-minute staged reading.
Directed by Shaun Tubbs, and featuring Michael Schantz and Krystel Lucas.

Writing on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Robert Schenkkan imagined how far the anti-immigrant rhetoric might go. Executive actions. An immigration round-up of unprecedented scale. A declaration of martial law. In a play that recalls George Orwell’s 1984 and the Nazi regime, "Building the Wall" is a terrifying and gripping exploration of what happens if we let fear win.

Reviews:
“[A] terrifyingly plausible work of dystopian fiction…Step by step, Schenkkan gets us to see the way the collapse of institutions leads to the collapse of morality and the rule of law.” — Los Angeles Times

“In his mesmerizing two-hander, Schenkkan illustrates the chilling speed at which fascistic tendencies can overtake ordinary Americans.” —The Hollywood Reporter.

“At present, "Building the Wall" sounds far-fetched; one lesson of the first 100 days is that even presidents must operate within legal confines…but Schenkkan’s project puts down a marker declaring that the American theater always can be—and had better be—a swift-moving imaginative and intellectual platform.” — Washington Post

“There’s a hold-your-breath inevitability to what is finally disclosed in "Building the Wall," [a] powerful dystopian drama about life in the Donald Trump era…what the writer imagines is not so much a fanciful futurist leap but a calculated cautionary tale…[a] scorcher of a play…” — Variety

A special Authors Theatre event scheduled on Constitution Day, a featured presentation of Great Dane Dialogue.

Presented by the UAlbany Theatre Program and the Jarka and Grayce Burian Endowment in collaboration with the New York State Writers Institute, and the University at Albany Department of History.