for information on the Petra
Kelly Project (includes connections to important Pacifist and Green Party
websites:
for information on the 2000 Walk for
Nuclear Disarmament, 15--30 May, 1999. It includes pictures of the Rotterdam
performance of A Clown, A Hammer, A Bomb, and God. to read an interview with actor Ben
Roberts.
to read a synopsis and a short
scene from A Clown, a Hammer, A Bomb, and God :
My name is Dan Kinch. I write plays on real-life historical or current
event topics. The information on these pages is an outgrowth of two such
projects.
I've listed a number of my plays at the bottom of this page--if you're
interested, I can send you selected scenes from these plays electronically. I'll
also use this part of my site to advertise future productions, including dates
and times and box office information.
My interest in Petra Kelly is an outgrowth of a theatre workshop on
heroines. I was intrigued by the notion that women did not/do not become
protagonists in plays except as a reaction to the men around them. In other
words, Thelma and Louise rise to an occasion thrown at them by a
patriarchal world. But they are reacting, not acting. In a quest for a different
sort of role model, I began studying Petra Kelly, a woman who was judged (by the
Times of London) to be one of the two most important European women of this
century. Yet (outside of feminist and Green circles) six years after her death
in 1992, her name is almost unknown.
Ms. Kelly's involvement with the East German counterpart of the
Plowshares lead me to research their movement. There have been one hundred plowshares
actions since 1980 involving over 200 activists. In most cases, activists have
been able to symbolically disarm or disable weapons--everything from an infantry
assault rifle to Trident Submarines. Yet oddly, the reporting around these
actions has been minimal. For information about the Plowshares movement, visit
their website.
For more information about these
or other plays drop me a note here.
Also, click at the marker for information about LaRonde, the Playwrights'
Circle. Thanks.A Clown, A Hammer, A Bomb, and God--a one-man show based on the Good Friday Plowshares action of Father Carl Kabat. This play explores the issues of Christian non-violence as it relates to nuclear proliferation and pop culture. Running time approximately 45 minutes.
In 1994, Good Friday fell on April Fool's day. So on Good Friday 1994, an Oblate priest named Carl Kabat dressed as a clown. He then went out to a Minuteman missile site in North Dakota, where he used a hammer to bend the guide rail that allows the missile silo to open. Kabat, a longtime peace activist, was sentenced to prison for this action.
Father Kabat is part of the Plowshares. The plowshares are a group of pacifists who take literally the Biblical prophecy of Isaiah to 'beat swords into plowshares'. Since 1980, there have been over 56 Plowshares protests that have resulted in the arrests of over 150 peace activists.
Father Kabat's action was the inspiration for a new play entitled "A Clown, A Hammer, A Bomb and God" by Playwright Dan Kinch. The play mixes some of the writings of the Plowshares activists with a decidedly skewed view on Pop culture's call to violence. Last Summer, Artists In Search Of..., a New York based theatre group committed to promoting peace and community, produced Mr. Kinch's play for the first International New York Fringe Festival. Featuring associate artistic Director Ben Roberts as 'Father Ben', the play was enthusiastically received and was included in the 'Best of the Fringe' festival in September. On Christmas Eve 1997, actor Ben Roberts read a short passage from 'A Clown, A Hammer, A Bomb, and God' on Pacifica Radio's DEMOCRACY NOW. We've taken the play to the Netherlands and Belgium, and we've performed in Lafayette Park in Washington DC.
Click here to read a synopsis and a short
scene from A Clown, a Hammer, A Bomb, and God.
Goodnight LBJ--the true-life story of a Vietnam Veteran. Premiered in New York in 2001. Currently available for tour in NY. Click Here for an overview of the play.
On The Grid--a play about the WTO and the movement for 'globalization'. Ben Roberts has toured this play to Prague, Czechoslovakia as part of the protests there in 2000. Tour information here as we have dates.
The Blood of Lambs-- a full-length play about an all-women's plowshares action and the FBI agent assigned to profile the activists. Running time 1 Hour, 45 minutes. Cast of four women, six men (Four men with double-casting). This was produced in November1999 at Kairos Theatre in New York. Click here for information about the
production.
A Good Day to Pie--a one-woman show about the Biotic Baking Brigade, the anarchists who throw pies at the powerful. This was produced at the NOT the Second Annual Kairos Theatre One-Act Festival in May. It has since been performed in six different locales, including Drew Seminary, America Corps, ABC No Rio in New York, and the United Methodists Womens' retreat in July 1999. For information about a tour, Write to us here.
Click here for information about Washington Square United
Methodist Church .
Click here for links to the Biotic Baking Brigade.
Petra Kelly Speaks to Power--Biography of the founder of the
German Green party. George Bush narrates the story of her life. Petra is
everything George Bush is not--passionate, unwilling to compromise, and
unconcerned about her place in history. Cast of 8--four men, four women.
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