In what ways might this room match what Robert Vorliky in his intro. to KUSHNER IN CONVERSATION suggests is Kushner's "political and aesthetic appreciation for preserving the dialectic...[his belief in] the value of community, to the vital necessity for discussion and argument between and among peoples--to his belief the human species is 'two not one'."? (3).

In this room please gather to share your thoughts in the form of a modified dialectical method as used by Kushner in ANGELS "about the longstanding problems of virtue and happiness," as well as other issues raised in the play, with those in the room with you.

"The political is simply the striving for a better life, striving for a decent life. It's the side of of struggle in life, and so what else can you do as a playwright, but write about politics. It's always dialectical. The theatre is always about dialogue. It's about debate. It's about "he said," "she said." You know, back and forth controversy and connection."
--Kushner IN CONVERSATION (236)

dialectic (d-lktk)
n.
1. The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments.
2.
a. The process especially associated with Hegel of arriving at the truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis.
b. Hegel's critical method for the investigation of this process.
3.
a. The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb.
b. The Marxian critique of this process.
4. dialectics (used with a sing. verb) A method of argument or exposition that systematically weighs contradictory facts or ideas with a view to the resolution of their real or apparent contradictions.
5. The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.

(The Free Dictionary)


"Reading Brecht and Shakespeare at the same time was wonderful because I was discovering what a dialectical method was and finding it was a critical tool for understanding the two playwrights whose work I admired the most. I was also vey much drawn in Brecht to the epic form, to the chronicle play. It was almost immediately as soon as I read Mother Courage that it became my favourite Brecht. I loved the multifocal, the multiple perspective of it. You, know, Brecht talks about it when he writes about Breughel and the lack of a single point of perspective, the complexity of signs, and the physical conflict in a terribly grandiose prism. I liked this sort of sprawl of the big epic plays in Brecht."

(KUSHNER IN CONVERSATION, ibid., p.107)