Meet Jana Natya Manch aka Janam, one of India's storied street theatre companies. We follow their journey from one of their most crucial, catalyzing and tragic moments in the 1980's, all the way through to the work they make today.
Join us at a graveyard in Jenin Refugee camp for the unlikely start of a young actor's journey with The Freedom Theatre. And stay for the cross-border connections between The Freedom Theatre and our friends at Janam.
In this episode, we take you to the farmlands and rolling hills of Central California, where El Teatro Campesino was forged on the picket lines of the historic California Grape Strikes. And just like the companies we've covered in this series, we'll look at how their story has continued into the present — as well as how their tactics and tools had a profound influence on shaping Radical Evolution's trajectory.
This week, we're sharing an episode from our comrades at The Art of Resistance, a podcast about channeling our rage and fear into creation, and using writing, music, and all kinds of art to resist the status quo… How did a creative workshop across borders and across languages further a revolution? How did music, one-act plays, poems, murals and more connect humans more thoroughly than anything else? And what can we learn from the Chicana art scene in East LA in the 90s and their alliance with the indigenous Zapatistas in Mexico about how to make art as resistance today and tomorrow? This episode's full title is Un Encuentro Para Libertad: Chicana Artivistas + Zapatistas, 1997… Check it out along with the entire Art of Resistance series wherever you're listening now…
In our last episode of the season, we come full circle, diving into Radical Evolution's 2023 exchange with Janam that took place in New York. We learn about their collaboration with PSC-CUNY (Professional Staff Congress, the union of Faculty & Professional staff at CUNY, the nation's largest public urban university) - as well as how it has informed the work Radical Evolution has made since.