"THE RACE 2020"
Script/Score by Michael Rohd

Oct. 30, 2020 at 7 p.m.
Oct. 31, 2020 at 2 p.m.
Nov. 1, 2020 at 2 p.m. (ASL interpreted performance)
Nov. 2kn 2020 at 7 p.m.

Visit "The Race 2020" website to learn about the production, meet the team, and more.

What can we build together in this immense time of culture shift? And who are the leaders we need to call on to trailblaze a rapidly-changing world? 

"The Race 2020" is an interactive live-streamed workshop theatre performance that combines spectacle and collaborative conversation to investigate the state of our democracy. The production blends performance, call and response, question and answer, dance and karaoke into a participatory, highly choreographed, and at times improvised exploration. In this era of increased partisanship and division, "The Race 2020" examines how theatre can promote an active conversation about leadership and campaigns - a race to discover what binds us together and tears us apart.

"The Race 2020" is developed in collaboration with The Civility Project: a hub for inquiry, skills-sharing, and experimentation in civil dialogue and community trust building. Through both projects, we seek to inspire social repair through communication and healthy deliberation. 

Drawing on social science methods for building empathy and understanding, the performancers will explore how storytelling and human communication function in digital environments, seeking to  better equip themselves and their communities to make decisions, and to build consensus around polarizing topics.

Read: 'The Race 2020:' How the arts can help illuminate politics

"The Race 2020" will be presented across the nation in 2020 as part of a festival of performances leading up to the Presidential Election. 

This adaptation of "The Race 2020" is developed in collaboration with TeAsya Hudson, Keith Patrick McCoy, Courtney Surmanek and Taylor Wood, in conjunction with a creative team comprised of Virginia Tech students, faculty, and New River Valley community members.

"The Race 2020" is produced by the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts as part of the Fall 2020 Online Season and supported in part by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology’s Major SEAD Grant.