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The Originalist

Published by USC Bedrosian Center on

Podcast featuring conversation on John Strand’s The Originalist, encore performance at the Arena Stage July 7-30, 2017.

Go, see it if you’re in DC!

Spoiler Alert!

John Strand’s The Originalist shines a light onto a polarizing Supreme Court Justice; Antonin Scalia. When a bright, liberal law school graduate embarks on a nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Scalia, she discovers him to be both an infuriating sparring partner and an unexpected mentor.

Listen as Jody David Armour, Oliver Mayer, John Sonego, and Jade Wheeler delve into the politics of individual court members, Originalism, civil rights, civic duty, and what it means to be an American. We seek to look at the line between complicity in oppression of others and the attempt to absolve the complicity by attempting to form personal relationships with the oppressed. Is there a line between a complex individual and a monster?

To listen to the Price Projection Room discussion of The Originalist, click the arrow in the Soundcloud player at the top of this post. Or download and subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

Follow us on Twitter!

@NiggaTheory, @ActorJade216, @BedrosianCenter

Links and related reading/listening …

Lawrence v. Texas
DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)
Angels in America
Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?: The Asian Ethnic Experience Today by Mia Tuan
Pepsi
@PasPlayhouse, @arenastage

Let us know what you think of the play and/or our conversation at Facebook or Twitter.

This podcast continues our ongoing efforts to bring policy and its impact into the public discourse.

Special thanks to Dean Jack Knott, USC Price and Dean David Bridel, USC School of Dramatic Arts for their support of this interdisciplinary conversation. Thank you to the Pasadena Playhouse for supporting conversations on governance in the theater and beyond!

This podcast was produced by Aubrey Hicks and Jonathan Schwartz, recorded and mixed by Corey Hedden.

Bedrosian Center