Red Tape Resilience: deconstructing a dominant historical discourse in T. Letts’s "The Minutes"
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Tracy Letts’s satirical play The Minutes explores multiple dimensions of resilience within the context of contemporary political discourse in the United States. Centered on themes such as the silencing of minority voices, systemic corruption, nepotism, and—most prominently—the whitewashing of historical narratives, the play depicts a municipal board meeting in the fictional Midwestern town of Red Cherry. Through the search for the missing minutes of a previous meeting, the character Mr. Peele uncovers a series of attempts to conceal unethical, criminal, and ideologically driven acts of oppression that permeate the town’s political practices. In my presentation, I will examine the various manifestations of resilience portrayed in the play. First, I will analyze the subversive potential of resilience within the framework of political debate, focusing on the tension between democratic procedures and their practical implementation. From this angle, The Minutes functions as a “red tape thriller,” illustrating how rigid adherence to procedural formalism can serve as a façade for unethical conduct, while simultaneously offering dissenting voices a potent mechanism for disruption. |
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