Public History as Theater
This morning's StarTribune has an article about West Bank Story, a "grassroots musical" about the history of the West Bank in Minneapolis. This is a remarkable neighborhood bordering the University of Minnesota. According to the story:
The West Bank or Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is the most ethnically diverse zip code in the state of Minnesota and the most densely populated between Chicago and Los Angeles.... On its western border, along Interstate Hwy. 35W, it is defined by the towers of Riverside Plaza. Somalis comprise the majority population, with strong contingents of Oromo, Ethiopian, Eritrean and other East African immigrants, Southeast Asians, Hispanics, Koreans and Middle Easterners.Moving eastward, the neighborhood turns to business and entertainment along Cedar and Riverside avenues, with the legacy of 1960s and '70s activism in such places as the Hard Times Cafe, North Country Co-op and Freewheel Bike. Many of the radicals who stoked that fire still live in the area, in new co-op housing. The final element is institutional -- the University of Minnesota, Fairview Health Services and Augsburg University, on the eastern edge.
The production, put on by the Bedlam Theater, was based in part on work done by students in the public history class taught by University of Minnesota faculty member Kevin Murphy. Students did research which was used in the production, and were summer interns at the theater to work on transforming the research into effective theater.