“Imagine Macbeth, but with a five-person cast that includes an inebriated actor in the title role. Add a prop dildo, an interpretive dance break and the president’s rousing speech from Independence Day. For the witches’ brew, stir together samples from the plentiful cocktails poured for audience members.” – The New York Times
Category: theatre
How Theatre In Zimbabwe Has Been Dealing With Two Decades Of Upheaval And Poverty
Journalist and playwright Farai Mabeza gives a survey of the sector and the ways its artists have been opening windows on the society’s social and political problems despite a severe lack of financial resources. – HowlRound
‘The Most Holistic Approach To Creating Belonging That I Have Witnessed In A Theatre’
Critic Alex Rosenfeld writes about A Fierce Kind of Love, a devised play about the intellectual disability rights movement, and how everything about the production, from the integration of performers with disabilities into the development of the script and the cast to the provisions made by the presenter (FringeArts in Philadelphia) for audience members of varying (dis)abilities, demonstrated the difference between inclusion and belonging. – HowlRound
A Vietnamese-American Theatre Critic Finally Sees Her Stories Onstage — And Feels What She Had Barely Known Was Missing
“There is a line in The Scarlet Letter: ‘She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom.’ I hadn’t known the weight of transposing myself into other people’s bodies until I no longer had to do it.” Diep Tran writes about Vietgone and Poor Yella Rednecks, the first two parts of a planned five-play cycle by Qui Nguyen about his family’s journey from Vietnam and settlement in the U.S. – American Theatre
33 Things You’d Benefit By Knowing As An Artistic Director
Sean Daniels passes on a Joe Haj list constituting a recipe for being a successful artistic director of a theatre. Some are common sense (don’t be an asshole). Others reflect a bit more psychology: “Everyone who works with you is firmly placed in the center of their own lives. You must collect their dreams and include them in a shared idea of the future, or pay the penalty of a disconnected and disaffected staff.” – The Awkward Stage
‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Is Now Top-Grossing American Play In Broadway History
Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel has passed the $40 million mark at the box office, with advance sales lifting the total to $55 million. There are still three British imports ahead of it: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ($68.3 million) and War Horse ($75 million), which Mockingbird will probably surpass, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($118.7 million). – The Hollywood Reporter
Shakespeare’s Globe Postpones Its Project Prospero Expansion
The major capital project, which was to begin in October of this year, includes new production and rehearsal facilities and a library/archive; when it was announced in 2016, it was expected to cost £30 million. But projected construction costs have risen significantly since then, and Globe administrators decided to delay work for two years. – The Stage
How To Become An Admired Playwright: First, Leave School Without Ever Having Been To The Theatre
That’s what worked for Katherine Chandler, “one of the most vital voices in Welsh theatre,” who took advantage of a Thatcher-era work for welfare opportunity, got placed at a theatre, fell for it, and eventually started writing plays. The award-winning playwright says Welsh theatre is “working class, strong, and in-yer-face. A lot of our work can be brutal and that’s because it reflects what’s happening in our country.” – The Stage (UK)
What’s It Like To Play The Clintons On Broadway? Let Laurie Metcalf And John Lithgow Tell You
Lithgow: “Look, I read the script and I wanted to be in it, but my immediate anxiety was, ‘What were these two people going to think?’ Because I admire them, I know them, I care about them.” – The Washington Post
‘Magic Mike’ Musical Hits Trouble As Almost Entire Creative Team Quits
Composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal) and book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (the chief creative officer for all Archie Comics properties) “have departed the production due to ‘creative differences’ … Director Trip Cullman and choreographer Camille A. Brown, who collaborated this season on the Tony-nominated Broadway production of Choir Boy, remain attached.” – The Hollywood Reporter