The Republican National Convention seems to be the only thing anyone in New York is talking about these days.

It's a Big Deal. It's a barometer. Right-wing pundits seem to expect a replay of the violent anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, with a bunch of psychotic commie anarchists trying to destroy Middle America one delegate at a time. Left-wing activists and semi-pro protesters are hoping for a watershed of resistance that will give the flaccid anti-war and anti-Bush movements a new legitimacy, akin to the legendary protest movements of the 1950's and '60's.

Everyone else is just worried about how they're ever going to get to work.

A lot of people who object to the convention, the administration behind it, or the chosen venue, are making plans to either take to the streets in protest or disrupt the proceedings through civil disobedience. Others, faced with how recent street demonstrations have failed to capture America’s attention, are turning to art, satire, and other less traditional methods of getting their message out.

From August 27 to September 11, six New York theater companies are coming together for the UnConvention, a festival of political, polemical and subversive drama that will also feature discussion forums, voter registration and political awareness-building activities.

Located at the Abingdon Theatre Complex and the Barrow Group Theatre on 36th Street, the shows will likely be only seconds away from the security perimeter surrounding the convention itself - assuming they're not overrun by jackbooted fascisti or rock-lobbing dreadlocked hippie-spawn.

“Where oil meets water, that’s where we’re at,” said Randy Anderson, one of the UnConvention organizers and co-founder of the theater company Stages 5150.

The UnConventioneers hope being in the thick of the fray will allow them to attract audiences from among the protesters and counter protesters expected to flock to the convention.

“We hope it will inspire people to take action in a way that’s actually meaningful,” explained Zach Mannheimer, artistic director of the Subjective Theatre Company and another of the driving forces behind the UnConvention.

Mannheimer is twenty-six; bearded, intense, with piercing eyes and an almost painful earnestness as he describes his dreams for the future of political theater in America. Anderson, is clean-shaven and cherubic, with a quick smile and an easy laugh that’s only slightly tinted with bitterness.

It was Anderson, along with his collaborator at Stages 5150, Benjamin Brantlee, who hatched the idea of the UnConvention at a meeting of The Community Dish, a sort of Off-Off-Broadway trade association (started by Mannheimer) to provide a forum for impoverished theater artists to share ideas and resources.

One of the things that makes the UnConvention stand out is that it was born out of an artistic, rather than a political organization.

“We are theater-makers first,” Anderson said. “We get lost in all this political stuff, but what are we going to do, above and beyond [putting up shows]?”

“First we’re there to entertain,” agreed Nadine Freeman, acting Managing Artistic Director of the company Stone Soup Theatre Arts, which will be presenting Elie Wiesel's play "The Trial of God" at the UnConvention. "Then we’re there to be practical and promote [political] action."

The question is, do they have a chance to succeed at both?

Mannheimer, Anderson and Freeman are representative of both the UnConvention participants and it’s intended audience: educated 20- and 30-somethings, looking for options in a political system they feel is deaf to dissenting voices.

“Standing out in the street with banners doesn’t work anymore,” Mannheimer said. “It’s clear the media is not picking up on protests.”

“From the second [George W. Bush] was elected, I’ve been protesting,” said Anderson, recalling trips he made overseas to take part in the antiwar protests of January and February of 2003, which drew out hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. “I’m worn out already,” he concluded.

Taking to the streets may not be working because the streets, as Critical Art Ensemble pointed out in the mid-90s, are no longer valuable enough real estate. Anderson blames the media for not covering the protest movement. Others, like Freeman, think the entire ethos of protest and counter-protest is unproductive.

“There’s so much reason that gets ignored because everyone wants to be hysterical,” she said.

If the UnConvention does succeed in winning any hearts and minds, the key may well be that sense of reasonableness.

“The goal is to connect people who don’t understand each other,” Freeman said. “We’re not aiming to be nonoffensive, but we don’t point fingers.”

And though they admitted the chances were slim, most UnConventioneers said they hoped to see republican delegates or supporters in their audiences.

“Let them debate with us,” Mannheimer said. “If anyone is vocally [upset by what’s happening onstage], we’ll stop the show.”

Another key may be setting concrete goals, rather than hoping to spur sweeping political change overnight.

One such goal, Mannheimer said, was inspiring members of the audience to run for public office. In addition to theater, the UnConvention calendar includes panel discussions, workshops on how to run for office, and guest performances including an evening of stand-up, and a presentation by Vermont-based Bread and Puppet Theater. The point is to encourage thought and debate.

“If everybody takes an active role in the thing they do best,” Mannheimer said, “If everybody believes they can create, and then they do, we’ll see a change in the world.”

While the six participating companies can all be described as "liberal," they form a broad cross section of views on how politics should influence art.

Stages 5150 creates explicitly satirical works through a combination of original writing and improvisation. Generally, Anderson said, their pieces are direct comments on current political situations, and often focus on providing factual information as well as provoking laughter.

The Kiva Company is also performing an original piece, based on interviews with members of the armed forces.

Other groups are trying to use classic works of theater to contextualize current events.

Mannheimer’s Subjective Theatre Company is dedicated to increasing political activism; for the UnConvention they are developing an in-your-face, audience-interactive version of Karel Capek’s 1937 tract on fascism and militarism, The White Plague.

Stone Soup's focus is on inclusiveness and communication. The company regularly works street performance and guerilla theater into their season. For the UnConvention they will be performing Elie Wiesel’s The Trial of God, a play about victims of tragedy searching for someone to blame. One Year Lease is doing an update of Jean Anouilh’s Antigone, and The Management Company will present an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s In The Jungle of Cities.

Trying to get a message across to anyone in New York's charged atmosphere won't be easy. Since the Republican convention has been designated a National Security Event, the Secret Service is actually the agency in charge of security; however the NYPD has been reported to be collaborating with them. A representative of the New York City police department refused to comment on any security procedures, adding that publicly necessary information like street closures would not be posted until days before the convention, to give planners flexibility. All accounts, however, indicate that the security apparatus will be massive.

Jaime Moran, of the RNCnotwelcome collective, said he expects security to be excessive, but also believes responses to the event will be diverse and exciting.

That could be good; it could also mean that the UnConventioneers will face disruptions from anti-convention protesters who are theoretically on the same side of the debate.

In May, rncnotwelcome.org had 54,000 unique visitors, or about 500,000 hits, according to Moran. “It’s really hard to tell what its going to be like,” he continued, but added he expects “a lot of high spirited street theater and wild stuff going on.”

Whatever happens, it's going to be big.