Brooklyn theater company Hoi Polloi creates full-throttle theatrical experiences that look at how Americans come together and how we fall apart. In that vein, the OBIE Award-winning company The New York Times lauded for their “audacity, invention, and talent” took on the father of western philosophy’s blueprint for nation-building: Plato’s Republic. With Republic, Hoi Polloi created a dream-like theatrical experience that tackled the massive moral questions raised by Socrates, against an ever-shifting backdrop of characters and settings.

An intimate audience at Durham’s Manbites Dog Theater joined their symposium, addressing a fundamental human question: Why be good? Artistic Director Alec Duffy, a Duke graduate, developed Republic over a two-year residency on campus; the result was an adventure that stimulated both the senses and the synapses. The piece premiered February 20, 2014, and ran for eight performances at Manbites Dog Theater in downtown Durham.