Staging the City with the Good People of New Haven

Notes that in order to begin revising the relationship between the theater and the city of New Haven, Connecticut, Long Wharf Theatre Artistic Director Doug Hughes decided he needed not only to reflect the city via a representational narrative and semiotically resonant production, but also by inviting the city onstage, casting local residents alongside professional actors. Reports that between the summer of 1997 and June 2000, Long Wharf, Cornerstone Theater, various civic organizations, neighborhoods, and residents of New Haven worked together to produce "The Good Person of New Haven," adapted from Bertolt Brecht's "The Good Person of Szechuan" by Alison Carey. Borrows from urban geography, sociology, and performance studies to explore the performance-making process in terms of location, representation, and reception. Includes notes.