Adrienne Macki Braconi, Assistant Professor of Dramatic Arts, presents research from her new book, Harlem’s Theaters: A Staging Ground for Community, Class, and Contradiction, 1923-1939 (Northwestern University Press).

She turns to the Harlem Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre and the company’s provocative retelling of George Bernard Shaw’s Androcles and the Lion on the eve of the Federal Theatre Project’s closure. Situated against the backdrop of the Depression, mass strikes (locally and nationally), and Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, she examines how this seemingly light-hearted fare drew attention to human rights issues.