The Public Square at the Illinois Humanities council facilitates community conversations before Timeline Theatre’s March 20 production of Guantanamo.
CHICAGO –The Public Square at the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) will host a City-Wide Café Society before the 8:00 P.M. showing of Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom at Timeline Theatre on Monday, March 20, at 6:45 P.M. Trained facilitators will lead participants in thinking and talking about the extent to which torture has become an accepted and lawful method of interrogation in recent years, how this practice fits into our ideals of democracy and human rights, and how these principles should play out in our treatment of Guantanamo detainees.
This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made at 312.422.5580 or info@thepublicsquare.org. Coffee and refreshments will be served. We remind participants that their attendance at the facilitated conversations is required for admittance into the play.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Originally produced to great acclaim in London in 2004 and a subsequent hit Off-Broadway, Guantanamo is based on interviews with the families of men detained in Guantanamo Bay. This stirring drama weaves together riveting personal stories, legal opinion, and political debate, putting a human face on the world’s headlines and examining the divisive line between maintaining national security and protecting human rights.
ABOUT CAFÉ SOCIETY
The Cafe Society Project began in October 2002 at four area coffee shops. This project fosters a more robust civil society, more cohesive and interactive communities, greater media literacy and a more informed and engaged citizenry through weekly coffee shop conversations about contemporary social issues. Current media reports (along with ample doses of caffeine) serve as stimulants for the conversations. The idea is to cross boundaries of class, race, ideology, and background to facilitate meaningful discussions about the underlying historical and philosophical issues implicated in topics in the news. The Café Society project taps the growing coffee culture in Chicago as a vehicle to promote conversations between strangers (a cornerstone of democratic practice) about relevant social issues, with a focus on the theme of citizenship, broadly defined, and critically examined. City-Wide Café Societies convene quarterly and draw all of the café discussion groups together at one of Chicago’s cultural institutions for a guided tour of an art exhibit or a theatrical performance, after which participants break into smaller moderated discussion sessions.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC SQUARE AT THE ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL
The Public Square at the IHC fosters debate, dialogue, and exchange of ideas about cultural, social and political issues with an emphasis on social justice. Programs promote participatory democracy by creating space for public conversations. Knowledge is power, yet much crucial knowledge still circulates only in small, isolated communities. We build bridges between theory and practice in order to empower individuals to use ideas as tools to improve their lives.
More information about The Public Square at the IHC and Café Society is available at www.thepublicsquare.org.
D A R E T O K N O W
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