Published On May 28, 2024
Thomas Dabbs again speaks with James Shapiro of Columbia University, this time about his recent book entitled: ‘The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War.’
[SEGMENTS]
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:20 - ‘The Playbook’ and Shakespeare in America
00:04:17 - The Federal Theater (1935-39)
00:07:22 - Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theater
00:13:02 - Martin Dies and the conservative playbook
00:18:50 - The American culture war
00:20:05 - Beginnings of the Federal Theater
00:23:50 - A lost and found research archive
00:25:10 - Is Christopher Marlowe a communist?
00:31:35 - Race and Macbeth
00:36:50 - Criticism from the left of the left
00:39:25 - The death of innovation, the playbook redux
00:47:40 - The life of Othello in America