In the midst of a series of projects called The Hunger Cycle, founding Cornerstone artist Peter Howard shares the company’s history and unique process as well as his experience exploring hunger and food issues in Los Angeles through the lens of the recent school food production, Lunch Lady Courage. “We can look at cafeterias as microcosms of the larger school community, and indeed of society as a whole. How do the realities of our school cafeterias reflect the values we place on education and youth? How does the school food experience vary between vast urban high school campuses and smaller learning communities? How do young people see and experience the cafeteria environment? How is school food connected to success in learning and the universal hunger for a healthy and productive adulthood?”
The Hunger Cycle plays so far: Cafe Vida, by Lisa Loomer- a collaboration with Homeboy Industries and Homegirl Cafe; Seed: A Weird Act of Faith, by Sigrid Gilmer– a collaboration with urban and rural farmers, informed by corner store market converters and the community of activists and scientists connected to GMOs; and Lunch Lady Courage, a loose adaptation from Brecht by Peter Howard, created in collaboration with Los Angeles high school students, educators and food service workers. In fall 2013, Cornerstone will produce a collaboration with the neighborhood of Skid Row: Love on San Pedro, by James McManus.
Peter Howard is a founding member of Cornerstone Theater Company. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English and American Literature and holds a M.F.A. from the Department of Drama of the University of Virginia. With Cornerstone, Peter has performed in, written or otherwise collaborated on scores of productions in Los Angeles and around the country. As a playwright, his Cornerstone credits include Zones (an original, audience-interactive play exploring interfaith themes), an American Muslim adaptation of You Can’t Take It with You (the first adaptation ever approved by the Kaufman and Hart estate) and a bilingual adaptation of Lorca’s Blood Wedding (Boda de Luna Nueva: New Moon Wedding, created for the small California agricultural communities of Western Stanislaus County as part of the company’s 2005 Summer Institute). His regional theater work includes productions at the Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theatre Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf, and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Peter has served on staff of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), working as a facilitator, playwright and director in a variety of youth arts programs that use theater as a springboard for dialogue on challenging human relations topics. He has directed the participatory youth script development and performance programs of a number of regional theatres including the Mark Taper Forum and Shakespeare Festival/LA (Will Power to Youth). Peter is also the author of three plays (collectively known as the Compassion Plays series) now touring southern California high schools, colleges and community groups through ENCOMPASS, a youth development organization based in the San Gabriel Valley: Wheels explores youth attitudes toward immigration; Kick explores the Native American mascot issue in high school sports; Horizon Line explores the root causes and impact of bias-motivated crime.