This Ohio community theater group thinks the stage needs conservatives

COLUMBUS, Oh. — Columbus is the front line of an unlikely skirmish in the culture war. Stage Right Theatrics, a community theater company dedicated to producing plays with pro-conservative content, is trying to break what members say is a liberal stranglehold on the American stage.

The directors, playwrights, and actors at the Third Annual Conservative Theater Festival — held in Columbus last month — are all theater people. They love the classics of American theater. But they told VICE News that theater doesn't speak to them anymore. One said she wants more shows with a “cis-gender nuclear family lens.”

And so Stage Right is trying to make that happen.

The shows in its festival include stories about how gun ownership can save lives, the emotional toll of abortion, and the breakup of an unmarried couple.

It's not clear if there's a large audience for shows centered about conservative values — but Stage Right is holding its first full season in Columbus this year.

This segment originally aired February 13, 2019, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.