Introducing Just Cause: The Experience
Here’s The Story:
With the power of theater and civil discourse, Your audience will adjudicate a captivating legal drama about an artistic director who is suing her former employer—a prestigious Chicago Theater—for breach of contract after firing her for “racial insensitivity.” The issues explored throughout the case lead into facilitated discussion about how we each view these topics in today’s society and in our own lives.
Convenient Programming Formats To Meet Your Organization’s Needs

— Your Audience Is The Jury —



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One-Time Event: An all-encompassing event with all 3 phases of the experience presented together.
FLEX Event: Attendees will be able to view the film on their own within 48 hours leading up to a scheduled deliberation and discussion.
Custom Program: We’re happy to work with your scheduling and programming needs to customize our online programming for your organization.
Follow-Up Discussion (Optional): Invite your attendees back to rejoin our expert facilitators and continue the conversation after they’ve had time to think and process.
Break the barriers of diversity programming —
- Racial Insensitivity
- Cancel Culture & Social Media
- Incrementalism Vs. Systemic Change
- Code Switching
- Ageism & Sexism
- Reverse Discrimination
- The Value Of A Contract
- Workplace Drama
- Public Accountability
- The Definition Of “Diversity”
It’s an ideal solution for your diversity programming needs:
Summary: A Brand-New Three-Phase Online & Interactive Diversity Opportunity
Captivating Legal Drama: A 70-minute performance of Just Cause, co-written by the creator of The Defamation Experience Todd Logan and award-winning playwright Lisa Dillman. The play explores the highly charged issues of race, class, gender, and social justice, and is optimized to engage attendees individually on Zoom or on a large screen in your venue.
The Case: A white artistic director sues her former employer—a prestigious Chicago theater—for reverse discrimination after she is fired for “racial insensitivity.”
Interactive Audience Deliberation: Once the judge announces she won’t be deciding the outcome, your jurors, the audience, answer a poll in favor of the plaintiff, the defendant, or undecided. They are then led through a deliberation. Promoting attendees to the panelist role and using split screens, your audience members come to life for one another.
Facilitated Post-Show Discussion: Let’s Go Deeper: Our facilitator returns after the deliberation to guide civil discourse that challenges biases and preconceived notions. Your audience members will be led in conversation that goes beyond the case to exchange personal perspectives about how they see these important issues based on their own lenses and life experiences.
Facilitated Follow-Up Discussion (Optional): For the past 11 years, venues have given us the feedback the conversation that began in their venue continued for days, weeks, and even months. One week after your initial event, your attendees will be invited to an hour-long follow-up conversation. It’s another opportunity to share feelings, thoughts, and observations; another opportunity for your community to connect online.
Tech Requirements
The minimal tech requirements for Just Cause: The Experience are likely already met by your infrastructure for online/distance learning or meetings within your organization.
The Defamation Experience is hosted on Zoom, so you and your audience members should have access to the Zoom platform.
You and your audience members should each have a working webcam and microphone in order to participate in jury deliberations and post-show discussions in our online events. For Telepresence events, we will setup technical pre-work to help you setup your digitally-connected venue(s) for an optimal experience.