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‘Beertown’ En Route To North Carolina

Guest Host Adam Hochberg talks with director Rachel Grossman.

As the 2016 general election draws closer, conversations about what is important to American voters become increasingly polarized. These conversations also tend to happen in silos within particular partisan, academic, or journalistic circles. A DC-based ensemble theater troupe is attempting to break down those divides with their new multi-city theater project‘Beertown.’The production integrates community and audience members in the process of defining what objects best tell the story of their community, and how they want their community to be remembered moving forward. The troupe is currently wrapping up productions of ‘Beertown’ in Cincinnati, OH, and will begin performing at Raleigh Little Theatre, alongside local actors, in early May. Guest Host Adam Hochberg talks with Rachel Grossman, director of the production, about the process of ‘devised theater,’ and how communities across the country are expressing their stories through this production.

Preview the production:

https://vimeo.com/92538150

'Beertown' on stage at Omaha Community Playhouse in 2015.
Christian Robertson /
'Beertown' on stage at Omaha Community Playhouse in 2015.
'Beertown' on stage at Know Theatre of Cincinnati earlier this year.
Daniel R. Winters /
'Beertown' on stage at Know Theatre of Cincinnati earlier this year.

Copyright 2016 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Adam Hochberg is a journalist with more than two decades experience with national news organizations. Hochberg spent 15 years as a correspondent for National Public Radio. His work also has been featured on CBS, ABC, and the PBS Newshour.