Event

The Bomb in Haymarket Square

Trouble Puppet Theater, current Artists-in Residence at Dougherty Arts, announce The Bomb in Haymarket Square by Connor Hopkins, another in the tradition of past award-winning Trouble Puppet productions such as Upton Sinclairs The Jungle and The Gunpowder Plot.

Presenting an elaborately staged theatrical exploration of a pivotal moment in history, performed with precise and expressive puppetry, media integration, and sing-alongs, The Bomb in Haymarket Square brings a largely overlooked event to light at a time when its relevance is grimly undeniable.

1886- A violent confrontation with police at a rally in Haymarket Square sparked the greatest Red Scare yet seen in the country, and its aftermath endures as a tragic example of justice miscarried.

The ascendency of Industrialization and the corresponding rise of the American Labor movement, with unprecedented waves of immigrants flooding the nations cities, created violent upheaval on the streets of Chicago in the 1880s. At that time, America was torn by racism, police violence, and economic injustice. Anti-immigrant sentiment was manipulated by politicians and corporate chiefs, who used the police and privately funded militias to suppress the Labor movement and target its immigrant leaders.

The Bomb in Haymarket Square is part of Trouble Puppets continuing mission to use the art of puppetry to promote messages of social and economic justice.

Presented with the support of the Dougherty Arts Center and the City of Austin.