7 days to the Satyagraha premiere!

“It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and non-violence. It is either non-violence or non-existence.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each of Satyagraha’s three acts references a historical figure connected to Gandhi and his ideas—Leo Tolstoy in the first, Rabindranath Tagore in the second, and Martin Luther King in the third act. King, who was assasinated 40 years ago on April 4, 1968, was a student of Gandhi’s teachings. He was struck by the concept of satyagraha, saying that “the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of non-violence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” During the turbulent times of the growing civil rights movement in America, King captured the attention of the world with his philosophy and commitment to non-violent resistance. He felt that it was the only solution that could right the evils of an unjust society. His and Gandhi’s message lives on throughout the world—and at the Met, in Satyagraha.

This entry was posted by Charles Sheek on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am and is filed under New Production Countdown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.