Open to Public / Long form Journalism Series
Transformative Justice for Victims of Domestic Violence
Free Event
Wed, May 07.2025
Please join us for the fourth installment of Theater of War Productions’ new long-form journalism series at WNYC. The acclaimed actors Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment, Urban Cowboy), Josh Hamilton (Eighth Grade, The Walking Dead), Daphne Rubin-Vega (In the Heights, Only Murders in the Building), and Bill Irwin (Interstellar, Rachel Getting Married) will perform “In Rural Tennessee, Domestic Violence Victims Face Barriers to Getting Justice. One County Has Transformed Its Approach,” written by Paige Pfleger for WPLN and ProPublica, as a catalyst for a guided audience discussion about domestic violence, gun violence, and innovative approaches to preventing both. The event will be recorded with a live studio audience and broadcast two weeks later on WNYC.
Co-Presented by Theater of War Productions and WNYC, with special thanks to WPLN and ProPublica.
Supported by a generous grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
Cast Members
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Debra Winger
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Daphne Rubin-Vega
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Josh Hamilton
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Bill Irwin
Explore Projects
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War & Mental HealthTheater of War: Hector, Andromache, and the Death of AstyanaxTheater of War: Hector, Andromache, and the Death of Astyanax presents live, dramatic readings of selections from Homer’s Iliad, Book VI and scenes from The Trojan Women by Euripides—featuring acclaimed actors and a Chorus of students, from a variety of backgrounds, whose lives have been impacted by war—to help frame powerful, healing dialogue about the human cost of war, centered on the suffering of children and civilians. The project uses ancient texts that explore and depict the dehumanization of war to create a vocabulary for openly discussing challenging and divisive subjects, with the aim of generating compassion, empathy, moral repair, understanding, and positive action.
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Domestic ViolencePatient and Impatient GriseldaTheater of War Productions and Margaret Atwood return to the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an exciting new collaboration exploring power and control, domestic violence, and family dynamics by way of two versions of the same story, one written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1348 during the bubonic plague and the other by Atwood in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bocaccio’s version, a woman named Griselda remains in an abusive and controlling relationship, showing great patience and forbearance in the face of her husband’s sadism and cruelty. In Atwood’s version, Griselda takes matters in her own hands and, with the help of her sister, turns the tables on her husband.
This free, public event featured a live, dramatic reading of the “Patient Griselda” story from Boccaccio's Decameron by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Fleishman is in Trouble), Maev Beaty (Beau is Afraid, Mouthpiece), and Araya Mengesha (Tiny Pretty Things, Nobody). Then, in response, Margaret Atwood performed “Impatient Grisleda,” a story that is narrated to a group of humans in quarantine by an alien that looks like an octopus. The readings of both texts was followed by immediate responses by community panelists and culminated in a guided audience discussion, facilitated by Bryan Doerries (Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions).
Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This hybrid presentation took place in person at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Theatre and on Zoom Webinar on September 30, 2023.
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RacismA REFUTATIONA REFUTATION presents dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of excerpts from two conflicting historic accounts of Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic as a catalyst for guided audience discussions about health inequities in America today, grounded in the perspectives of nurses, caregivers, and first responders.