In a new episode of “On Contact,” host Chris Hedges sits down with acclaimed theater director and writer JoAnne Akalaitis to discuss the decline of theater in the corporate state over the last several decades.

“The stage is a luxury,” Akalaitis tells the Truthdig columnist. “To think of a life in theater as a profession is sort of a joke, because people who have professions like doctors, or lawyers or professors — they’re paid. They’re honored in the society and paid a living wage, and they have health insurance.”

Watch the full interview, in which Hedges and Akalaitis explore why theater is crucial to the “soul of a society,” below:

—Posted by Emma Niles

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