REVOLUTIONS PUPPETSHOW PLAYBILL 5th period
· “GRAN COLOMBIA,” 1811-1830
- performed by Ashley Blumer, Cloey Chester & Sierra McKissick
The dashing South American hero Simon Bolivar rides across the continent, driving out the Spanish, dreaming of a great confederation along the lines of a United States of South America. One revolution gives birth to five countries.
· CHINA, 1911-1916
- performed by Angelus McNally, Zoe Rierson & Kate Sapek
The last holdout of the great empires of antiquity falls at last, with none other than the Son of Heaven himself going down (well, he was only six but watch out for that evil stepmother!).
· MEXICO, 1911-1920
- performed by Liam Haeffele, Zach Morris & Ty Pedro
Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, but they had Unfinished Business. Learn to tell your heroes from your banditos (“Badges? We don’t need to stinking badges!”). If you like your bullets strapped in an X across your chest, this one’s for you.
· INDIA & PAKISTAN, 1930-1947
- performed by Manhattan Lowell, Ty Rodshagen & Ricky Shell
Can a revolution be non-violent? This one certainly wasn’t. But Ghandi showed his people –and the mighty British Empire—that one can be won without it.
· ALGERIA, 1945-1962
- performed by Alec Savoye & Connor Shabro
Before there was the Arab Spring, there was the Algerian Revolution. Before it, nearly an entire continent suffered under imperial rule. One of the first of a wave of revolutions that set Africa free from Europe, it foreshadowed the Arab world’s troubles of today.
· VIETNAM, 1945-1975
- performed by Matt Schramm, Cole Stafford & Alex Thornber
What starts as yet another imperial revolution by a small country against a colonial power gets swept up by the forces of history –those forces being America vs. Communism in the Cold War.
· CUBA, 1952-1958
- performed by Paulina Chalmers, Grace McCuistion & Megan Rogers
Che Guevara may be on your shirt or coffee cup, but do you know anything about him, really? See Fidel Castro when he actually looked good in khaki and a stogie. See 50’s Americans tremble at the Commie revolution next door.
· KENYA, 1952-1963
- performed by Sammy Dammrose, Sarah Minnich & Sydny Short
On the south side of the Sahara, African freedom came hardest. The brutality in this one is not for the faint of heart, but is has a happy ending.
· IRAN, 1979
-performed by Peter Clifford, David Dunajsky & Aiden Zappone
Images of blindfolded Americans are only part of the story of how Iran became a country where the supreme religious leader has more power than the head of government.
(one more, next page)
· EGYPT, 2011-?
-performed by Maya Goldroot & Abbey Nelson
When a young Tunisian man set himself on fire on a busy street corner, it set the dictator-dominated Arab world on fire from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, but the biggest and most complicated of these uprisings has been Egypt. Unfolding like a classic drawn-out revolution of several phases, we can wonder: Is it over yet?