Lawrence McCullough: Pittsburgh arts rise to the political moment

A hallmark of live theater is presenting plays that offer audiences the opportunity to examine important social issues of the day in a fresh, often provocative light.

That recently transpired in an unexpected manner when Fowlerville Community Theatre’s production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” was menaced by a masked gang of swastika-waving self-identified Nazis chanting antisemitic and racist slurs outside the show venue, an American Legion post in the small Michigan town of Howell, 38 miles southeast of the state capital in Lansing.

The brazen intimidation on the darkened street mirrored the harrowing narrative inside the theater depicting the tragic story of Anne Frank, a Dutch Jewish girl among the millions killed by Nazis in the Holocaust.

Over the past 70 years, thousands of theaters around the world have staged the play as a cautionary tale against the return of Nazism and other forms of intolerance and political extremism that have reemerged in our society today.

Censorship and book banning, public art vandalism and onstage assaults against musicians and other performers are on the rise across the U.S. Increasingly, American artists in all genres are being challenged to defend not only their right to create work with themes relevant to the times but to peacefully convene that work in public.

In a city that has resolutely declared itself to be “Stronger Than Hate,” many Pittsburgh artists and arts organizations labor throughout the year to produce books, films, plays, songs, dances, festivals and exhibits that invite audiences to consider an array of issues impacting our community.

They create innovative, purpose-guided works in tandem with nonprofit partners like Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, City of Asylum, Achieva, 1Hood Media, Casa San Jose, Homeless Children’s Education Fund, 412 Food Rescue, YMCA Lighthouse Project and dozens more groups pursuing daily missions of service and civic enlightenment.

Though artists can begin the conversation, audience involvement is required to close the circuit allowing the current of new ideas to flow, involvement where attendees contribute imagination and empathy, along with commitment to share in the unique experience taking shape on stage, screen or canvas.

At the American Legion post in Howell, once the initial shock subsided, the audience settled back into their seats as the actors and crew finished the play. The next day, “The Diary of Anne Frank” was performed without incident, and — for the moment — this small theater and its community had proven stronger than the haters lurking in the shadows.

“Theater was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation,” famed acting teacher Stella Adler said. “Life beats down and crushes the soul. Art reminds you that you have one.”

During the uncertain social situations ahead, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, artists and their audiences will likely be called upon to remind us of ways we can expand our appreciation of truth and render our souls as crush-proof as possible.