Climate change protestors disrupted Thursday night’s performance of the Broadway play “An Enemy of the People” and it was to such a degree that their protest briefly halted the play and resulted in several cast members (including Michael Imperioli, forever Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos) helping to usher the protestors out of the theater.
The protestors, who identified themselves as Extinction Rebellion, interrupted the performance three separate times, shouting phrases like “No theater on a dead planet” before Imperioli, in a remarkable display (because he never broke character) began pushing one of the protestors toward the exit.
“An Enemy of the People” stars Jeremy Strong (recently of “Succession”) as Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a medial professional who discovers harmful bacteria in the town spas. But those in power, including the mayor (played brilliantly by Imperioli), who also happens to be Dr. Stockmann‘s brother, do their best to silence him and turn him into, as the title of the play says, “An Enemy of the People.”
During the interrupted scene, select audience members happened to be seated on stage for a town hall, causing some in the crowd to think the protesters were part of the show. In a statement, Extinction Rebellion called theater a “powerful medium for provoking social change.”
“[Thursday’s] action highlights the failure of governments and corporations to treat climate and ecological breakdown as the crisis it is,” the group wrote. “The group emphasizes that the present socio-economic system can’t protect people from the environmental crises to come, because its very structure creates these crises and then ignores them.”
Imperioli acknowledged the incident on Instagram, implying that although his character may not side with the protestors, he supports science. “Tonight was wild….no hard feelings extinction rebellion crew,” he wrote. “Michael is on your side but mayor stockmann is not. Much love.”
The play (and its stellar cast) runs for 16 weeks at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre.
