The public is invited to a performance of historian Howard Zinn's one-man play, "Marx in Soho," on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Theater. First performed in 1999 and now regularly produced around the world, Zinn stated that he wrote the play to "show Marx as few people knew him, as a family man, struggling to support his wife and children." This event is free and open to the public.
The premise of this witty and insightful “play on history” is that Karl Marx is demanding from the authorities of the afterlife for a chance to clear his name. Through a bureaucratic error, though, Marx is sent to Soho in New York, rather than his old stomping ground in London, to make his case.
The play introduces audiences to Marx’s wife, Jenny, his children, the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, and a host of other characters.
Marx in Soho is a brilliant introduction to Marx’s life, his analysis of society, and his passion for radical change. Zinn also shows how Marx’s ideas are relevant in today’s world. Academy Award-winning director and author Michael Moore calls "Marx in Soho" "smart, funny, and perfect for the times in which we live."
Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was a historian, filmmaker, playwright, and activist. Zinn was co-director and executive producer of the documentary feature film "The People Speak," based on his acclaimed book "A People's History of the United States" and the companion volume, "Voices of a People's History of the United States."
Zinn was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his PhD from Columbia University. He taught at Spelman College and Boston University, and was a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna. For more information about Zinn, visit www.howardzinn.org.
Howard Zinn received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. In 2000, a published version of "Marx in Soho" (South End Press) won the Independent Publisher Award for Best Visionary Fiction.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Department of Economics. The Weitz Center for Creativity is located at Third and College Streets in Northfield. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4389.