Zinn, actors bring stories of the people to campus

Emma Epstein Assistant Life Editor

Hundreds of students, faculty, and community members packed into the Chapel to hear acclaimed historian Howard Zinn speak on Sept. 22. After a short introduction by the authors of Voices of a People’s History, other voices claimed center stage. Former slaves, civil rights activists, abolitionists, musicians, and war protesters spoke to the audience through a group of performers.
Faculty, staff, students, administrators and professional actors from the New Day Repertory Company performed the dramatic reading “Voices of Social Justice” on Sept. 22, exposing the Poughkeepsie community to primary historical texts from points of view often neglected in traditional history textbooks.

The readings that comprised the performance were excerpts from Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn’s Voices of A People’s History. The book contains primary documents with short introductions by the two co-authors. It is the companion volume to Zinn’s highly acclaimed work, A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present.

Zinn said he attempted to depict American history from perspectives usually ignored in traditional history texts in writing A People’s History. Zinn represents minority points of view and those who opposed government actions. Zinn’s unique view of history has earned him the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannen Literary Award.
When reviewing his work, Zinn discovered that the sections he found most fascinating were the parts he did not actually write himself. “Those nuggets of stuff were the most interesting things in my book,” he said.

With the help of Arnove and publisher Dan Simon, a book containing “just those voices…with a little interruption by [Zinn]” was published in 2004. “It started with the realization that there was a lot of interesting raw material that should be exposed. So we made a book just with raw material,” said Zinn.

Arnove said that sources were chosen in a deliberate fashion. “We were greatly influenced by A People’s History,” he said. “It parallels the structure with respect to periods and themes. We wanted to include voices Howard hadn’t been able to in the literary approach. We also wanted voices that would have relevance for today.”

Zinn and Arnove have both become very involved with theater. To celebrate the millionth copy sold of A People’s History, a group of well-known actors performed many of the primary sources the authors were collecting for the yet-unpublished companion volume. “We both had a sense that the voices were so powerful and eloquent, to really do them justice we had to bring them into public performance,” said Arnove.

The authors organized another performance to launch Voices of a People’s History. Since the book has been published, similar readings have been performed throughout the nation. “When passages from the book are read by actors, with feeling, it adds greatly to the words, enlightens their meaning, and brings an element of personality to the words on the printed page,” said Zinn

Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies Eva Woods Perió attended one such sold-out performance in New York City in October of 2004. After the performance, she asked Zinn and Arnove if they would consider participating in a similar performance at Vassar College.

Woods helped form an organizing committee to plan the logistics of the event consisting of a representative cross-section of Vassar faculty and staff. The committee picked passages, readers, and helped solicit funding.

One aspect of the performance that the committee decided to prioritize was the participation of the greater Hudson Valley community. “We want people in the community to know that we’re not interested in being an ivory tower of scholarship, but about being invested in the community,” Woods said.

Field work director Peter Leonard, who was on the organizing committee, suggested that the Vassar community pair up with the New Day Repertory Company to both involve the Poughkeepsie community and enhance the performance.

The New Day Repertory Company, founded in 1963, holds workshops for professional actors, at-risk youths, and the developmentally disabled. It is one of the organizations that receives donations from Community Works.

Douglas held seven coaching opportunities in preparation for Thursday’s event for readers to perfect their delivery. In addition, three members of his company joined students and faculty to perform.

The event was hailed by all involved as a huge success. Both authors commented to Woods after the performance that it was one of the best that had seen. “The thing that made the difference was that the content was so inspiring,” Woods said. “When everyone sat down and listened to the inspiring readings, that was the real magic of the performance.”

The authors organized another performance to launch Voices of a People’s History. Since the book has been published, readings have been performed throughout the nation. “When passages from the book are read by actors, with feeling, it adds greatly to the words, enlightens their meaning, and brings an element of personality to the words on the printed page,” said Zinn.
Allen Chong ’08, a former student of Woods’ who read Felix’s “Slave Petition for Freedom,” found the experience of representing someone’s personal history onstage extremely rewarding and poignant. “It’s a fantastic thing to have someone else’s voice come through yours,” he said.

“The response has been really encouraging,” said Arnove. “Each time we do these events, people seemed very moved and inspired. It makes us want to do more.”

Zinn and Arnove plan to continue spreading the voices of the repressed, as they view the performances as a part of political awareness for the present day. “The theme [of the performance] is resistance, people resisting exile, people resisting war, people resisting racism,” said Zinn. “We need these stories of resistance today.”
“Without contraries, there is no progression,” added Arnove.