Abstract

This paper reports on a unique project using the arts to explore political experience via social media. Built around the controversial American Congressional election in 2010, during which a splinter group of the Republican Party established a beach-head within mainstream conservative politics, the author sought to capture both intellectual and emotional material by using Twitter to issue a public call for submissions, soliciting “thoughts and feelings, hopes, fears, reflections and surprises” about this watershed event. These response tweets, called “Twitter poems,” were then crowd-sourced back to the Twitter community to decide which would become the basis for a an original radio play, aired in December 2011 on Sirius (Channel 205), XM Radio (Channel 121) and Federal News radio (1500 A.M.). This project builds on the author’s previous work exploring New Media Storytelling formats and adapting Drama for Conflict Transformation (DCT) to virtual and online environments. The entire radio production, plus interviews with the cast, crew, and author, can be heard at www.globalmedia.gwu.edu.