Our nation struggles with a loneliness epidemic and decaying democracy. Join artists Pablo Hernandez Basulto and Michael Rohd in a participatory session exploring how theatre can build social connection, trust and coalition.

Registration is required. This event is limited to 40 people.

About the Event

Join Michael Rohd, Founder/Director of University of Montana’s Co-Lab for Civic Imagination and Pablo Hernandez Basulto, Director of Civic Artistic Programs and at The Public Theater, for this three hour session that explores the Co-Lab's State of Mind, a rural touring theatre and public dialogue project about Behavioral Health in Montana, and The Public’s Mobile Unit and Public Works programs, the city-wide touring and participatory theatre initiatives in New York City.  

State of Mind has reached over 2,500 Montanans through performances, workshops, and town meetings in 21 rural Montana communities; The Mobile Unit and Public Works have reached tens of thousands of New Yorkers through performances, workshops, and deep community partnerships that build relationships with New Yorkers on and off stage. 

Both projects often center youth voices; both projects explore local and national networks and model replication; both are committed to the intentional activation of cross-sector collaborations and building local coalitions as a strategy through which communities can tackle big challenges and manifest bold visions. 

In this session, Michael and Pablo will use stories and participatory activities to engage participants in a conversation about what is required to aim art - and in this case, theatre - at civic health. Art makes healthier bodies- but to make a civic body healthier, strategic inclusion and radical collaboration is necessary.

About the Leaders

Michael Rohd  is a theater-maker who has spent 35 years leading process and facilitating conversation around complex public issues across the nation, as well as supporting and training arts, municipal and non-profit staff in designing effective community programs, convenings and public engagement work. He’s been a founder and co-leader with three organizations- Hope Is Vital (theatre-based HIV Prevention work in DC and nationwide in the ‘90s); Sojourn Theatre (ensemble theatre company1999-2023, Portalnd Or and nationwide) and Center for Performance and Civic Practice (artist collective consulting on institutional and system change work nationwide 2012- present). He co-founded/co-led Art-Train, a national technical assistance program with Springboard for the Arts;  he just finished four years as Civic Collaborations Director with One Nation One Project, a national arts and health initiative; he is lead process-designer and facilitation trainer for national Veteran led bridge-building organization More Perfect Union; and in 2022, he founded Co-Lab for Civic Imagination at University of Montana, where as a tenured Professor he serves as Co-Lab Director and as a University-Wide System Dramaturg/Artist-in-Residence. www.michaelrohd.com

Pablo Hernandez Basulto is the Director of Civic Artistic Programs at The Public Theater where he oversees initiatives including Public Works and the Mobile Unit. Through his work, he has consulted community-based theater at institutions including the National Theatre in London, Seattle Rep, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan. Born and raised in Mexico, Pablo has also previously worked at American Repertory Theatre in Harvard, working closely with Anna Deavere Smith's Pipeline Project, and the Augusto Boal Institute in Rio de Janeiro. In 2022, Pablo was the inaugural Staff Board Representative of The Public. He has also facilitated and been a speaker with the Chautauqua Institute, NAMT, WP, and Musical Theater Factory among others. He is an Artist Ambassador with the NYCLU, an alumnus of Northeastern University, and a member of the board of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC.