“Broadway is boarded up for the rest of 2020, but we can look forward to high drama at the presidential and vice presidential debates, even without a live audience. The playwright Bertolt Brecht thought that theatre ought to be more like boxing — a theatre of the unexpected, appealing to the animal in us. I think he’d get his wish with these debates.“The main event will showcase two mastodons, with old age as a determining factor here. Trump’s sheer physical mass will seem superheavyweight when set against Biden’s brittle sinew. My money is on a surprisingly in-shape Biden striking often and hard into the saggy tire under Trump’s ill-fitting suit.
“If this were a play, it would be one teetering on melodrama even as it wows us with violent emotions and — dare one say — moments of truth. Trump will posture, but Biden will win the debate on old-fashioned values like gumption, preparedness and a good heart.
“The match between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris could be one of the great mismatches of all time. Pence’s utter colorlessness — not simply of complexion but lack of warmth — will be immediately on display, making Harris seem that much more vivid. Her one real danger is in getting hot and seeming caustic in the face of his awesome blandness. She will need to summon her own cold smile and jab through his bloodless defenses.”
Oliver Mayer, a self-described “political junkie,” is a professor of dramatic writing and associate dean of faculty at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. He has expertise in contemporary American theatre, Latinx theatre and professional boxing analysis.
Contact: omayer@usc.edu
“I’ll be paying close attention to the vice presidential debate. Kamala Harris’ selection as Joe Biden’s running mate is historic in many ways. For those of us who are happily and confidently mixed race, it is also historic because she is a mixed-race woman. Like me, I think Kamala Harris understands that even though we are Asian and Black, society challenges us to navigate its waters as Black women.
“The debate we’d like to hear would focus on the progress of COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines, economic relief and recovery, and an end to systemic racism with better policing for America. If our candidates cannot meet those expectations, voters would settle for empathy, compassion and any proposed solution which would help all of us find the way back to normal.
“The 2020 presidential and vice presidential debates will play a very different role than usual in the upcoming election. With COVID-19 disrupting the typical routine of campaign events, the debates will provide a rare opportunity for the public to see the candidates directly engage with each other in real time.
“Donald Trump has made the basic political mistake of relentlessly lowering expectations for the man he calls ‘Sleepy Joe.’ Biden’s masterful acceptance speech seriously dented that attack. If Biden performs in the debates at the level he did in his last primary exchange with Bernie Sanders, there will be nothing left of the attack. Something like this happened in the first Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960, when Kennedy’s commanding performance confounded the Nixon argument that he was the more experienced candidate and that experience was what counted.”
“Debates have made a huge difference in many presidential contests. Many in the press didn’t take Trump seriously when he debated Hillary Clinton in 2016, but that’s not going to happen this time around. I think these meetings will be more important than ever. Moderators will bring their A game to directly question the president about his record and Biden about what he would do for America.
