A conversation with Giant's John Lithgow and Mark Rosenblatt
Actor John Lithgow and playwright Mark Rosenblatt debate whether celebrated creative work can be separated from the harm caused by its creator.
Why we picked this
Lithgow brings Roald Dahl's antisemitism to the Broadway stage in Giant — this conversation unpacks whether we can ever truly separate the art from the artist, and why the question keeps returning.
John Lithgow and playwright Mark Rosenblatt sit down to discuss the Broadway play Giant, which dramatizes the real-life antisemitic scandal that forced a public reckoning with Roald Dahl’s legacy. The conversation centers on a question that refuses to go away: can celebrated creative work be separated from the harm caused by its creator?
Rosenblatt wrote the play as what he calls “an urgent response to seeing these debates resurface.” With Lithgow bringing decades of stage and screen experience to the role, the evening promises a conversation that goes well beyond the usual platitudes about cancel culture.
The event is free and takes place at the Streicker Center at Temple Emanu-El, with audience Q&A to follow.