At least three North Texas groups are joining an artist-led nationwide protest against what its organizers deem to be a rise in authoritarianism under the administration of President Donald Trump.
Fall of Freedom, as the protest is called, is billed as two days of coordinated activity between Nov. 21 and 22.
It was announced in October by artists including Dread Scott, who courted controversy in the late ’80s with an exhibit that placed an American flag on the floor, and playwright Lynn Nottage, known for her Pulitzer Prize winners Ruined and Sweat.
Local participants include Dallas Contemporary, Auriga Productions and the artist collective Empire of Dirt.
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The “creative resistance,” as organizers have described it, comes on the heels of last month’s nationwide “No Kings” protests, where demonstrators took to the street and criticized Trump’s policies as monarch-like behavior. “I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great,” the president told reporters in response to the protests.
For Fall of Freedom, Auriga Productions is presenting Shakespeare’s Richard III at Dallas’ Bath House Cultural Center. The play depicts the 15th-century king of England as a Machiavellian villain.
Auriga Productions is staging Shakespeare’s “Richard III” at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas. Artistic director Bert Pigg sees parallels between the play and the current political moment.
Courtesy of Bert Pigg
Although the show’s run ends on Nov. 16 — before the protest dates — artistic director Bert Pigg still signed on to participate because of the parallels he saw between the play and the current political moment.
“The play’s questions about who gets to hold power and whose voices are heard feel critical in 2025,” Pigg said in an online statement.
In a phone call, he added: “I can’t get rid of Trump or his henchmen. I can’t make Congress do their job. I can’t do anything except vote, choose to spend my money on causes I support and utilize whatever creative ability I have to speak out.”
“All we have is our voice, and silence is complicity,” he said.
Empire of Dirt, in partnership with Goldfish Dreams, an artistic publication and publication house, will put on “Word is Bond,” a spoken word event at the South Dallas Cultural Center on Nov. 21 between 6 and 9 p.m.
“It’s a good way to get people active and to give them the freedom to speak in the form of a poem. Many people feel kind of caged in their thoughts,” said Xxavier Edward Carter, a Dallas-based member of Empire of Dirt.
He holds a romantic view of poetry as a medium. All poems are love poems, Carter said, because of the care put into the storytelling. From that view, he said, “we’re essentially talking about the love of justice” at the event.
“We’re trying to present a world that is different than the one we’re being told,” he said, citing political rhetoric he has heard targeting immigrants, LGBTQ communities and people of color.
The Dallas Contemporary will invite patrons into its Design District space on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 to create buttons, signs and T-shirts in a protest vein.
“Whatever it is that everybody makes individually will be one of those personal effects that ignites conversation,” said Lucia Simek, the museum’s executive director.
Visitors can also see Chris Wolston’s Profile in Ecstasy, which features unorthodox sculptural takes on furniture and a fountain sculpture of model Grace Jones, based on the cover of her 1985 album Island Life and made of sand-cast aluminum.
Simek describes the show as rule-breaking but also playful. In this regard, she sees synergy with Fall of Freedom.
“Rebellion and protest don’t always look the same,” she said, adding there are “ways of expressing defiance and freedom that are joyful.”
Chris Wolston’s “Profile in Ecstasy” on display at the Dallas Contemporary in the Design District.
Joe Kramm / Courtesy of The Future Perfect