DEBATE: BALDWIN VS BUCKLEY With Broadway's Teagle F. Bougere Comes to the A.R.T./New York South Oxford Space

the american vicarious will present Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley, a staging of the historic clash between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. Adapted and directed by Founding Artistic Director Christopher McElroen, the production stars Teagle F. Bougere (Broadway's The Tempest with Patrick Stewart, A Raisin In The Sun with Phylicia Rashad, and Ivo van Hove's The Crucible) as Baldwin and Eric T. Miller (Mope at The Ensemble Studio Theater) as Buckley with Spencer Hamp. Charlie O'Rourke, and Oliver Shirley.

Performances begin March 5 at the Great Room at the A.R.T./New York South Oxford Space (138 S Oxford St, Brooklyn), with an opening set for March 6, for a limited run through April 3. Tickets are now on sale at www.theamericanvicarious.org.

This was the topic on February 18, 1965, when an overflow crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, 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. Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley reveals the deep roots and lasting legacy of racial conflict that continues to haunt America.

McElroen commented, "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 Jr., their shoes are too large to fill. Rather, our desire is to simply place their words, which still resonate 55 years later, within the voice of contemporary artists."

The creative team for Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley includes Elivia Bovenzi (Costume Designer), Andy Evan Cohen (Sound Designer), Adam J. Thompson (Video and Graphics Designer) and Jaymes Jorsling.

Thirteen performances of Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley will take place March 5 - April 3, 2022, at the Great Room at the A.R.T./New York South Oxford Space, located at 138 S Oxford St in Brooklyn. The performance schedule is Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3pm with no performance on March 20. Critics are welcome as of March 5 for an opening on March 6. Tickets, priced at $25, can be purchased online at www.theamericanvicarious.org.

Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley was originally produced in 2020 and broadcast in partnership with BRIC.

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