Through July 3, theater group The Assembly presents the West Coast premiere of HOME/SICK at The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. Based on true events, HOME/SICK chronicles the fervor, the outrage, the organizing, and ultimately, the destruction of the militant radical left-wing student organization Weather Underground.
From the program notes:
Disgusted by the Vietnam War and rampant inequality at home, a handful of leaders from the 1960s U.S. student movement seized control of Students for a Democratic Society and reshaped it in the name of overthrowing the United States’ government. Believing violence to be the only means to a true and lasting peace, these passionate idealists accelerated a movement to its fervor, but left a country behind.
The writing of HOME/SICK is a collaborative effort by the entire ensemble, but it has it roots on the thesis written by The Assembly member and scenic designer Nick Benaceraff (Critical Studies MA 11) for the Masters in Aesthetics and Politics program.
“Every time we’ve done the piece, it’s felt so radically different based on how it reflects the political climate of the time, and I can’t wait to see how it lands today. I heartily invite you to join this essential conversation about our government,” he writes in an email.
HOME/SICK premiered in New York in 2011 to critical acclaim. The New York Times says the production is like witnessing “a sort of sociological Big Bang,” and Backstage calls it “an intelligent and dynamic package… worth a trip for a lesson in the vagaries of making history.”
Above: Trailer for ‘HOME/SICK.’
Event Details
HOME/SICK
June 9 through July 3
The Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles
Tickets: general audience $25-34