(Photo from Jump the Curve.)

Brooklyn Academy of Music – On racism and anti-Semitism; created with African-American and Jewish Brooklyn teens. First broadcast in 1997 on PBS.

The Hating Pot is a musical theater work on the subject of prejudice and bigotry using a multicultural cast of teen and adult performers. The piece was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to youth audiences from public and private schools and was also presented on tour. Artist Liz Swados incorporates folk music from different cultures, blending the musical styles of Yiddish song, African and Spanish rhythms, and incorporating a variety of dance genres. The performers tell stories about their own attitudes toward people who are different. Its goal is to open up a dialogue with young people through music and movement to understand what underlies these issues.

The Hating Pot was developed through workshops with hundreds of junior high and high school youth from New York public schools. Through music making and improvisation, Swados looked for the vocabulary of bigotry and its opposite, compassion and hope. She hired more than 20 young people and ten adults to make the show with her. Swados believed it was important "to develop artistically as an ensemble." The production incorporated material from talks and improvisations and guest presentations about the history of hate. A curriculum guide was developed for teachers to support classroom preparation and post-performance discussion with students.