Civilities, Or How to Secede Without Really Trying

At PACNYC: Perelman Performing Arts Center, *Civilities, Or How to Secede Without Really Trying* frames secession as a civic practice rather than a distant historical event. Structured as a conference, it leans on talk, procedure, and public-facing argument to show how “polite” language can normalize rupture in a democracy. The piece lands in New York at a moment when institutions are rethinking what public discourse is for, and who it protects. Its sharpest insight is that civility can function less as a virtue than as a tool for avoiding accountability.