New videos from Banned Together 2020 are now available to view via the Dramatists Guild website. This series of events, presented by The Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund (DLDF) in partnership with The Dramatists Guild Political Engagement Initiative, included two online panel discussions highlighting BIPOC writers who have previously been left out of significant cultural conversations.
In "Facing Censorship: Personal Experiences on Being Banned," Professor Jimmy Noriega moderated a panel with writers Elaine Romero and Alex Alpharaoh, who discussed their own personal experiences with censorship, the challenges they faced, and their takeaways.
The following day, The DG and the DLDF proudly welcomed professors William Maxwell, Mary Helen Washington, and William J. Harris for "Unknown Legacies: Black Playwrights in America." This panel of esteemed scholars examined the nuanced legacies of playwrights Amiri Baraka and Alice Childress, and explored the complicated reasons why those two writers are not part of the theatrical canon as we know it today.
The Dramatists Guild recognizes the importance of including writers of all different backgrounds as we move forward to create a more diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist theatrical cannon.