Tom Morello is OUTRAGED Google have removed Black History Month, Pride Month, and Women’s History Month.
The Rage Against The Machine guitarist posted a graphic that pointed out Columbus Day and Black Friday are still recognized.
Before Tom Morello became the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, he acted in school plays at Libertyville High School. He played Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and says his time in the drama club helped shape his activism.
“Some of my initial civil disobedience training was in the drama club at Libertyville High School,” Morello said.
Now, he is returning to his hometown with a new project at the Goodman Theatre. He is working with Chicago writer Zayd Ayers Dohrn on a musical called Revolution(s) that will premiere as part of the Goodman’s 100th-anniversary season in 2025–2026.
Earlier this week, Morello introduced the project at the Goodman Theatre. He also spoke with WBEZ’s Clare Lane about working in theater and his role as the musical director for Back to the Beginning, a heavy metal festival in July that will be Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell show.
Morello has known Dohrn since childhood. “Zayd Dohrn, who wrote the book for the show — I am friends with his parents, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, the leaders of the Weather Underground in the ‘60s and ‘70s. And I’ve known him since he was a kid. He’s just a brilliant writer, a brilliant person.”
About six years ago, Dohrn reached out with the idea of using Morello’s music in a theater production. “You know, I’ve made 22 albums in my three-decade career. And so, we began mining those songs and my writing some more songs, while he conjured this multigenerational story of love and rebellion.”
This isn’t a typical jukebox musical. Morello and Dohrn want Revolution(s) to feel like an underground rave mixed with a theater show. “We want it to be as much like an underground illegal rave as a theatrical performance — it’s really exciting to be doing it at the Goodman in my favorite city in the world.”
One of Morello’s biggest concerns was making sure the show kept the energy and meaning of his music. “One of my principal concerns going in was that the North Star of my writing, from Rage Against the Machine to the present, was to have something that was very uncompromising and unapologetic. I’m like, ‘Can we do that same thing in the theater?’ I didn’t want a musical theater version of my song catalog.”
