BRIC and the american vicarious, are pleased to announce, DEBATE: Baldwin vs Buckley. For three consecutive nights, the american vicarious will restage the historic 1965 debate between intellectual heavyweights James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr., echoing the original question: "Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?"
On February 18, 1965, students at the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, gathered to bear witness to a historic televised debate between
James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the Civil Rights movement, and
William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America's most influential conservative intellectual. The stage was set for an epic confrontation that pitted Baldwin's call for a moral revolution in race relations against Buckley's unabashed elitism and implicit commitment to white supremacy.
The objective of the american vicarious in restaging this historic debate is not to inhabit such monumental figures as
James Baldwin or
William F. Buckley, their shoes are too large to fill. Rather, the objective is to place their words, which still resonate 55 years later, within the voice of contemporary artists on the
Contemporary Stage.
Live performances of the debate will take place every night at 7:30PM EST between Thursday-Saturday, October 22-24, 2020. Viewers can tune in on BRIC's YouTube and the following cable channels: Spectrum 1993, Optimum 951, and Verizon 47.
Cast to be announced.
CREDITING
Adapted & Directed by
Christopher McElroen
Resident Artist:
Jaymes Jorsling
Costume Design:
Elivia Bovenzi
Lighting Design: Zach Weeks
Sound Design:
Andy Evan Cohen
Video & Graphics Design:
Adam J. Thompson
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