Inside the Luddite festival harnessing Gen Z’s rage against Big Tech

On a Sunday evening in the middle of Tompkins Square Park in New York City ’s East Village, hundreds of people gather in front of a giant papier-mâché face of a woman wearing a crown. She’s the backdrop of a play, her body made up of curtains that look like a dress but serve a dual purpose, allowing actors to scurry on and offstage. I’m here to watch a performance called “ Luddite Recreations,” which is a history of the Luddite movement—a group of artisans and textile workers who resisted the ad