Event

BUILDING THE WALL

by Robert Schenkkan
directed by Desdemona Chiang

On January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Set in the not-so-distant future, Building the Wall lays out in a harrowing drama the consequences of Trumps anti-immigration campaign rhetoric turned into federal policy. Over the next sixteen months, events would unravel that test every Americans strength of character: systemically racist executive actions, a declaration of martial law, and a round-up of millions of illegal aliens, with their incarceration overflowing into private prisons and camps reminiscent of another century.

Rick is a former warden awaiting sentencing for a catastrophic event that has happened at a prison facility under his watch. Gloria, a Black female historian, has come to seek the truth behind what has happened, and over the course of her interview with him, Rick gradually reveals how the unthinkable became the inevitable, and how the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

** ASL-interpreted performances on Dec 16 and 18.