A People's Theater on Skid Row

In Acting Like It Matters, James McEnteer gives a compassionate account of John Malpede—actor, activist, and co-creator of the political theatre troupe the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD)—and of the Skid Row community that is the organization's heart and soul. The story of Malpede and the LAPD is one of life as art and art as life, and its protagonists are the dehumanized homeless citizens of Los Angeles and their compatriots in cities across the United States and the world, who represent a growing part of today's global working class pushed out of the formal economy.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website

Aesthetics · Art · Dehumanization · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Skid (aerodynamics) · Sociology · Soul · Theology · Engineering · History · Law · Philosophy · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Race, History, and American Society · Theatre and Performance Studies