As today’s catastrophic Covid-19 pandemic exacerbates ongoing crises, including systemic racism, rising ethno-nationalism, and fossil-fuelled climate change, the neoliberal world that we inhabit is becoming increasingly hostile, particularly for the most vulnerable. Even in the United States, as armed white-supremacist, pro-Trump forces face off against protesters seeking justice for African Americans, the hostility is increasingly palpable, and often frightening. Yet as millions of Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrated after the brutal police killing of George Floyd, the current, intersecting crises – worsened by Trump’s criminalization of anti-racism protesters and his dismissal of science – demand a serious, engaged, response from activists as well as artists. The title of this article is meant to evoke not only the state of the unusually cruel moment through which we are living, but also the very different approaches to performance of both Brecht and Artaud, whose ideas, along with those of others – including Benjamin, Butler, Latour, Mbembe, and Césaire – inform the radical, open-ended, post-pandemic theatre practice proposed in this essay. A critically acclaimed dramatist as well as Professor of English and Playwriting at California State University, Northridge, Mitchell’s published volumes of plays include Disaster Capitalism; or Money Can’t Buy You Love: Three Plays; Brecht in L.A.; and Ventriloquist: Two Plays and Ventriloquial Miscellany. He is the editor of Experimental O’Neill, and is currently at work on a series of post-pandemic plays.

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史诗般的残酷：关于大流行后的表现

随着今天灾难性的 Covid-19 大流行加剧了持续的危机，包括系统性种族主义、民族主义抬头和化石燃料气候变化，我们所居住的新自由主义世界正变得越来越充满敌意，尤其是对最弱势群体而言。即使在美国，作为武装的白人至上主义者，支持特朗普的力量与为非裔美国人寻求正义的抗议者对峙，敌意越来越明显，而且常常令人恐惧。然而，正如数百万“黑人的命也是命”抗议者在警察残忍杀害乔治·弗洛伊德（George Floyd）后所展示的那样，当前的交叉危机——因特朗普对反种族主义抗议者的刑事定罪和他对科学的蔑视而恶化——也需要积极分子做出认真、参与的回应作为艺术家。这篇文章的标题不仅是为了唤起我们所生活的异常残酷时刻的状态，而且是为了唤起布莱希特和阿尔托的表演方式截然不同，他们的想法以及其他人的想法——包括本雅明， Butler、Latour、Mbembe 和 Césaire——为本文提出的激进、开放式、大流行后的戏剧实践提供信息。米切尔是一位广受好评的剧作家，也是北岭加州州立大学的英语和剧本写作教授，他出版的剧集包括 本文提出了大流行后的戏剧实践。米切尔是一位广受好评的剧作家，也是北岭加州州立大学的英语和剧本写作教授，他出版的剧集包括 本文提出了大流行后的戏剧实践。米切尔是一位广受好评的剧作家，也是北岭加州州立大学的英语和剧本写作教授，他出版的剧集包括灾难资本主义；或金钱买不到你的爱：三部戏;布莱希特在洛杉矶; 和腹语者：两出戏和腹语杂记。他是杂志的编辑实验奥尼尔，目前正在制作一系列大流行后的戏剧。