An Enemy of the People: A Public Health Project
Saturday, February 24, 2024, 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. EST
NAS Building, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Fred Kavli Auditorium
Free. Registration and government-issued photo ID required.
Attend in person or via Zoom
We are thrilled to announce the premiere of a very special Theater of War event. LabX – a program of the National Academy of Sciences – in partnership with Cultural Programs of the NAS, present An Enemy of the People, featuring performances by acclaimed actors David Strathairn (Nomadland), Frankie Faison (The Wire), Kathryn Erbe (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Peter Francis James (Oz), Brían F. O’Byrne (The Wonder), and Jay O. Sanders (True Detective) as well as public health leaders Francis Collins (Former Director, National Institutes of Health), Victor Dzau (President, National Academy of Medicine), Monica Feit (Executive Director, Health and Medicine Division, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine), Keshia Pollack Porter (Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Vivian Pinn (Senior Scientist Emerita at the NIH Fogarty International Center), Gloria Addo-Ayensu (Director of Health, Fairfax County Health Department), and many others!
Together they will perform dramatic readings of scenes from Henrik Ibsen's 1882 play An Enemy of the People to help frame powerful, guided audience discussions aimed at generating connection, understanding, compassion, moral repair, and much-needed healing.
Join us for an evening of profound exploration, thought-provoking dialogue, and shared intellectual engagement.
An Enemy of the People tells the story of a doctor who discovers the water supply in his small, rural town has been poisoned by a tannery. Despite his efforts to convey the truth to the public, the doctor fails to save his community from environmental disaster and is ultimately scapegoated for his whistleblowing. An Enemy of the People was first performed in Norway in 1882, and yet it speaks to the present moment as if it were written for our times — to the corrosive influence of power and money in politics, the distortions of the media, and the many other challenges to public health in our culture today, especially during times of crisis.
Presented by Theater of War Productions and LabX – A Program of the National Academy of Sciences in partnership with Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences. Adapted, directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.
