Mouths Wide Open is an ad hoc group of friends and acquaintances that came together in early 2002 to raise our voices and act on our convictions. While many of us are theatre artists, visual artists, musicians, singers, actors and writers, we're also bookkeepers, students, carpenters, researchers, teachers, fact-checkers, scientists, bike messengers and flea market mavens. We're committed to fostering dialogue about the current administration's policies, to creating and disseminating materials that help spread the message of alternative thought, to promoting discussion, and to encouraging others to join together in a similar spirit. We recognize the need for community, for organization and communication, for resistance and action, and for the pooling of resources, energy and time. There is strength in numbers.

Our commitment to working for change is ongoing. It’s even more crucial now, as we enter the 6th year of our country’s illegal war on Iraq and with our government escalating its threats against Iran, that people seeking global justice and peace renew their participation in social action and the civic dialogue of our time in whatever way possible. Our motto, the Gunter Grass statement: "The job of a citizen is to keep your mouth open." — refers to the job of a citizen, a concept at the core of why the work of our group, and groups like ours, is a social imperative. Being a citizen does take work, it's a responsibility, and democracy can't flourish without active citizens enriching and enlivening its fundamental principles.