Building the Wall

The Play and Commentary

Robert Schenkkan

• Éditeur: Arcade Publishing
• Année: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781628728781
• Sujet: Literatura
• Sous-sujet: Arte dramático americano

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of All the Way explores the dystopian consequences of Donald Trump's anti-immigrant campaign promises. Two years into President Trump's administration, his extreme anti-immigrant policy has resulted in the mass round-up of millions of illegal aliens, with their incarceration overflowing into private prisons and camps reminiscent of another century. The former warden for one facility is awaiting sentencing for what happened under his watch. In a riveting interview with a historian who has come seeking the truth, he gradually reveals how the unthinkable became the inevitable, and the faceless illegals under his charge became the face of tragedy. The play is accompanied by commentary from three prominent scholars: on the real purpose of the border wall, our dark nativist history of restricting immigration, and the tradition of political protest in art. Written in a "white-hot fury" on the eve of the 2016 election, Robert Shenkken's Building the Wall was immediately slated for production in five theaters across America in a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere that began in Los Angeles and Denver before making its way to New York City.