Signal Hill FEATURE | The Learning Play
Nov 4, 2025
Silvia Federici, scholar and feminist writer who links capitalism to reproductive labor, appears for a deep conversation. She and Rachel explore collective practices, Brecht’s learning play as political rehearsal, and how group work shapes selves. They debate moral dilemmas in organizing, joyful militancy versus duty, and how rehearsal models making and changing power.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Theater Exercises Link Spirituality And Political Rehearsal
- Rachel traces connections between her group's exercises and political theatre traditions like Brecht and Augusto Boal.
- Practices emphasizing sensing, role-play, and group processing can be both spiritual training and political rehearsal.
1930 Premiere Used Massive Choir And Afterplay Debate
- The premiere of The Measures Taken in 1930 used a 300-person choir and projected texts, attracting workers and avant-garde audiences during Weimar unrest.
- Brecht held a week-later "afterplay" discussion, inviting audiences back to debate the performance.
Federici On Collective Identity And Capitalism's Gendered Roots
- Silvia Federici argues individuals are always constituted collectively and critiques the American cult of the lone individual.
- Federici links women's unpaid reproductive labor and witch hunts to capitalism's formation in Caliban and the Witch.
