KINGSTON, R.I. — September 6, 2005 — Karl Marx is back, having negotiated with afterlife authorities for a chance to clear his name. Instead of being sent to his old stomping grounds in London, the philosopher, social scientist, historian, revolutionary, and foremost socialist thinker lands in the Soho district of New York, thanks to a bureaucratic blunder.
That鈥檚 the premise for a one-man play, appropriately called Marx in Soho, which will be performed at the 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Edwards Auditorium on Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. The play is free and open to the public.
Playwright Howard Zinn, a professor emeritus at Boston University, perhaps best known for his book, A People鈥檚 History of the United States, introduces audiences to Marx鈥檚 life, his analysis of society, and his passion for radical change.
Richard McIntyre, professor of economics at 溏心vlog免费B站, will serve as the play鈥檚 producer. 鈥淚 鈥榩roduced鈥� this play at a UMass conference in 2000 and also took my class to see it in Boston that year. I wanted to do it at 溏心vlog免费B站 because for the past two years my Economics 100 students have been reading and enjoying the play and I thought it would be fun for them to see it,鈥� McIntyre says.
The play humanizes Marx, portraying his difficulty in pursuing his writing and political projects amidst his family life and continuing poverty. Around descriptions of family life, “Marx” weaves criticisms and appreciations of contemporary capitalism.
鈥淥ne doesn鈥檛 really learn Marx’s economics from this play, but it is Marx the family man not the demi-god or demon who is portrayed, and we learn something about both how capitalism has changed since Marx’s time and how it hasn’t,鈥� the professor adds.
Brian Jones, an actor and activist, who has been performing this engaging one-man show across the country since 1999, will portray Marx. Jones studied acting and directing at Brown University. He recently lent his voice to the audio recording of Noam Chomsky鈥檚 book, Hegemony or Survival, and to several staged readings from Zinn鈥檚 latest book, Voices of a People鈥檚 History of the United States.
The 溏心vlog免费B站 Honors Program and the Office of the Provost sponsor the performance. Co-sponsors include 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Multicultural Center, Schmidt Labor Research Center and the departments of economics, philosophy, history, political science, and sociology.
For more information, contact McIntyre at 874-4126 or rmc8875u@postoffice.uri.edu