Two Montreal theatre activists from the Optative Theatrical Laboratories were detained by the FBI in New York City yesterday. After several hours of interrogation they were released after "counter-terrorism" agents siezed their theatrical video footage.

 
Donovan King and George Mougias of the Optative Theatrical Laboratories were detained for several hours by the FBI in NYC yesterday. Their crime? Asking a police officer a question about a giagantic Kafkaesque building with no windows (the AT&T building near Ground Zero). The two theatricians were promptly accused of "filming federal buildings" and were escorted to a nearby park, which was immediately cleared of all pedestrians. Guards with machine-guns were posted at all park entrances and exits, and then several undercover FBI agents appeared, had them frisked, their bags searched, and passports and video camera siezed. A two-hour interrogation followed, which was bolstered by the presence of a "counter-terrorism" unit, who decided to sieze three days of theatrical video footage, highlighting theatrical resistance to the Republican National Convention. For example:

Sat 28th - the Reverend Billy's theatrical sermon at St. Mark's on the Bowrey

Sun 29th - King playing with the Billionaires For Bush in two events (croquet match on the Great Lawn & the Million Billionaire March); theatrical elements of the giant UFPJ March; footage of Canadian Artists Against War concert at the Knitting Factory.

Mon 30th - the Billionaires for Bush "corporate vigil" at the UN; the Naming Project at St Mark's; portions of the highly subversive show "I'm gonna kill the President"

Tues 31 - George Mougias reciting the First Ammendment through the Freedom of Expression Monument.

Theatre activists have been reporting ongoing harassment from NYC police forces since the RNC began, and many have been arrested. The "die-in" King & Mougias were en route to before their detention resulted in over 200 arrests - theatricians dressed in white were literally netted by massive orange police nets, then promptly sent to the notorious Pier 21 (Guantanamo on the Hudson). So far there have been over 1000 arrests, mostly of people expressing themselves theatrically (hundreds, for example, were sent to The Tombs the night before the Sunday protest for riding in a Critical Mass).

According to King, who was recording the theatrical activism for part of an MFA degree in Theatre Studies at the University of Calgary: "The FBI gave me a document saying that I could potentially reclaim the footage at a later date, but I am returning to Montreal tomorrow. Given the treatement we received, I think I'll wait until I'm north of the border before contacting them. It is ridiculous that they took the footage, which was very satirical and amusing. It belongs on the silver screen for popcorn-eaters, not in some sort of deranged Kafkaesque crime lab."

"While a lot of protesters complain about NYC being a police state," King said "I was really quite suprised when I heard an FBI agent confirm it ("New York City has been a police state since 9-11"). This place is dangerous for activists; the so-called authorities have made it clear that they will harass and arrest whomever they like without just cause or reason. Canadians should take note, because if Bush is re-elected it is likely we will continue to see the erosion of our own civil liberties north of the border. Now is the time to make our voices heard loud and clear, even if it means putting ourselves on the line."