Description:

The panel will address how a 2023 performance adapted from Joseph Addison's "Cato, A Tragedy” — a play favored by George Washington and performed for troops at Valley Forge — experiments with this possibility. Can it speak to a decolonizing agenda, matters of race and gender, as well as the viability of ancient models in the 21st century? The panel features the dramaturg and an actor from this performance as well as three scholars in political theory. A screening of a video of the 2023 performance is will take place a week earlier, January 22, 3:30-5 p.m. in the Main Library Forum Room. These events are part of the year-long Sawyer Seminar “On Decolonizing Theatre.” 

The panel will be moderated by Al Tillery (Northwestern University). Panelists include: Misty Anderson (University of Tennessee), Shinnerrie Jackson (University of Tennessee), Sara Monoson (Northwestern University), and  Melvin Rogers (Brown University).