The primary goal of this course is to invite you to take on the role of “journalist” as a theater maker. Following ethical/moral/aesthetic axioms put forth by journalists and critic-artists including Gary Indiana, Janet Malcolm, Hilton Als, and Susan Sontag, we will explore how current events can be used as material for artworks. Additionally, we will look at how social scenes are documented and created through performance. Various points of reference will include Mac Wellman’s Sincerity Forever, Indiana’s The Roman Polanski Story, Fassbinder’s Garbage, The City and Death, Ron Vawter’s performance work Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus. Using research, hearsay and delivery methods offered across various media, we will make a series of short works--collaborative and solo--reflecting the methods employed by artists who openly contest the veracity of popular public narratives.