UPDATED NOTICE: The general public is now welcome to attend events in the ’62 Center. Members of the public are required to show proof of full vaccination including a booster, if eligible (ages 12+), by showing your physical vaccination card or photo of your card. Patrons over 18 will need to present an ID matching the name on your vaccination documentation. Williams students, faculty, and staff are only required to show their Williams ID. All patrons are required to wear a well-fitted KN95 or surgical mask covering your mouth and nose at all times while inside the building. These policies are subject to change at any time.


CONCEIVED BY GREIG SARGEANT WITH ELEVATOR REPAIR SERVICE DIRECTED BY JOHN COLLINS

In 1965, James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. were invited to the Cambridge University Union to debate the resolution “The American Dream is at the Expense of The American Negro.” What resulted was an incendiary and revealing confrontation between one of the most influential figures of the Civil Rights Movement and the father of modern American conservatism. The highly-acclaimed experimental theater company Elevator Repair Service continues its rich tradition of adapting unconventional texts (Gatz, Arguendo, The Sound and the Fury), and stages the historic debate verbatim. In our contemporary moment, Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge invites reckoning with the timeliness of Baldwin’s arguments and the power of debate to illuminate truth and point towards justice.

The CenterSeries performances are made possible by the W. Ford Schumann ’50 Endowment for the Arts and the Lipp Family Fund for Performing Artists.