The idea for this project began in the weeks after the 2016 Presidential election. Like many liberals living in large cities, the level of support for Donald Trump across the country mystified me. Yet he won. Clearly there were worries, needs, and values he addressed that connected with some of my fellow Americans. During and after the election I heard sweeping generalities about those who supported Trump and from Trump supporters about "liberal elites". As a vegetarian atheist theater professor from New York City, it dawned on me that I might be exactly who they meant.
I began to wonder what I could do, personally, to bridge this gap somehow. I thought about the way my own view of the world gets complicated every time I travel, meet new people, or come face to face with experiences different from my own. I found the three "reddest" states in America based on their Presidential voting in 2016 (Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wyoming) and the counties in those states (Cimarron County, OK; Crook County, WY; and Grant County, WV) that voted in the highest percentage for Donald Trump. My plan is to spend a week in each county this summer having every breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a different resident. I hope to hear about their lives and histories and learn a bit about how that translates into values while I share the same about me. I hope to complicate their view of me while they complicate my view of them. What comes of that (personally or theatrically) is anyone's guess.
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AuthorScott Illingworth is an Assistant Arts Professor in the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a freelance theatre director. Archives
July 2017
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