Avant Bard’s Scripts in Play Festival: Torn by John Becker

MoCA Arlington is pleased to host Arlington’s Avant Bard Theatre company for its Scripts in Play Festival! Join Avant Bard and Jane Franklin Dance for staged readings of Torn by John Becker in the Tiffany Gallery. Audience members are invited to provide feedback and perspectives to the playwright after the initial reading on Thursday. Come back for Saturday’s reading to see if the playwright made your suggested changes. This program is free. Registration is encouraged.

About Torn

When Booker T. Washington was invited by Teddy Roosevelt to dinner at the White House, both gentleman were unaware of the shock waves this meeting would cause in communities across the nation. In 1901, the public was nowhere near ready to accept a former slave and an American president eating together as equals. The extreme right wing found its voice in the form of Senator Ben Tillman, whose sly words echo eerily in the hateful speech we hear today. In this play, Torn, we see that American history is still being written, as though the conflicts of Washington and Roosevelt are lingering under our modern surface. In many ways, we are still torn.