
So, at Ellen’s suggestion I saw Heat Wave the play last night. It was really great on various levels and I give it 2 thumbs up. If you are in Chicago, go see it.
So it is interesting because it is an adaption of a sociological monograph. You don’t see that very often. The book, by Eric Klinenberg was great, but how would it fare as a play?
Turns out, it was great. The cool thing was how the play and the production (like the book) make it clear that there were/are various ways to think about what happened in the Chicago Heat Wave of 1995 (in which almost a thousand people died). It can be seen as a failing of individuals and a “natural” disaster versus a failure of social services with a profoundly disparate impact on older people of color living in poverty. By the end of the play (or if you cannot get to it, the book), you feel pretty darn sure which interpretation seems more true to the events.
So – playwrites out there: street harassment. think about it as a stage production. I envision actors posing as audience members, sitting int he audience, harassing actresses on the stage.