Whatever You Are, Be a Good One: Portraits

Whatever You Are, Be a Good One: Portraits is a project of the Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL) focused on the causes of political polarization in the US and how we can change it. Starting in October 2021 and continuing through August 2022, a team of trained interviewers spoke with participants from across the US about political polarization. After collecting over 100 interviews from as many states and points of view as possible, we selected 50 for this performance project. Ten actors investigated and learned an excerpt from five interviews each. They performed the excerpts word for word and gesture for gesture to create this series of verbatim performance portraits.  Sometimes, the actors portrayed across identity, meaning they played someone of a different identity than their own. All 50 portraits are available here.

Produced in collaboration with NYU-TV, NYU Libraries, & The NYU John Brademas Center, and with support from Global Research Initiatives, Office of the Provost.