For instance: “I’m looking for inspiration in three ways: quality, intimacy and creativity.” “New Work, New Work, New Work.” “I want ideas. I want debates, opinions. I want words that move us forward, using phenomenal storytelling, and engaged, committed professionals with a variety of voices. I want it all, and I intend to have it.” – The New York Times
Category: theatre
Oppress This, Jair! Brazilian Theatermakers Resist Bolsonaro By Getting Naked
At least that’s what they’ve been doing at the International Theater Exposition of São Paulo, which is “squaring up to an era of right-wing populism with a celebration of otherness, difference and resistance. More often than not, this resistance manifests itself in the naked body. In show after show, nudity takes on a political role.” – The Guardian
Sing-A-Long Musicals Are Becoming A Thing
Of course, in your traditional theatre experience, you go to listen to the performers. But just as audiences have been joining in for showings of Rocky Picture Horror and Sound of Music, they’re now coming to musicals to join in with the cast singing. So what’s the appeal? – The Guardian
Canada’s Stratford Festival On A Roll, Extends Its Star Director’s Contract
Under Antoni Cimolino’s tenure as artistic director, the Ontario institution has seen six consecutive surpluses and attendance surpass the 500,000 mark. – Toronto Star
Britain’s National Theatre Changes Structure At The Top
Rufus Norris, who was the National Theatre’s director, and Lisa Burger, who was the theatre’s executive director, will now be sharing power as co-directors. OK, but what does that actually mean? “We have a clear and shared vision for the theatre, which will see it being more national, more representative and more resonant than ever.” (Ahem, so, only male playwrights?) – The Stage (UK)
Paris Sees Blackface Controversy As Students Protest Aeschylus Staging At Sorbonne
Denouncing the staging (which no one had yet seen) as “Afrophobic, colonialist and racist,” protesters forced the Sorbonne to cancel a performance of The Suppliants at the university’s annual festival of ancient Greek theatre. Top Sorbonne officials and government officials called the protests “absurd,” while the director insisted that the production used no blackface at all. – The Guardian
Theatre Company Goes Into Welsh Schools To Teach Students About Drug-Dealer Dangers
Long-distance drug-dealing gangs known as “county lines” have hit North Wales hard, with all the attendant violence and human misery. Theatr Clwyd, a professional company in the region, is touring to area schools with a new play depicting the dangers and consequences of getting involved with a county lines gang. – BBC
Staging The Stories Of The Women Who Faithfully Visit Their Loved Ones In Prison
Liza Jessie Peterson, playwright and star of The Peculiar Patriot: “I came to Columbus Circle [in Manhattan] at midnight and found a whole fleet of buses. All these women, children and even some men were boarding these buses to go to the upstate correctional facilities. They would ride all night, go through a long, degrading security process, just to spend a few hours with their loved ones, before taking the bus home. As I talked to those women, I knew I was witnessing one of the great love stories of our time. A writer friend said, ‘You know, you have a profound story to tell, so tell it.”” – The Washington Post
Downtown Theater Finds Itself On Broadway (And Finds That It’s Not All That Different)
Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, Taylor Mac’s Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me, Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown, Daniel Fish’s very revisionist Oklahoma! — all are in the Off-Off-Broadway mode of messing with both the form and content of conventional theater, and all are or have been on Broadway (the ultimate conventional theater ecosystem) this season. And such recent Broadway successes as A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 have a similar pedigree. Diep Tran talks to the creators of these works about crossing the downtown-uptown (non-)divide. – American Theatre
Two Very Different Australian Productions Of “West Side Story” Spark Debate About Clashing Cultures
The two productions are emblematic of a broader shift in the industry as a whole: one that is trying to be more thoughtful and inclusive, but is still dominated by old habits and modes of thought under a predominantly white, male leadership. – The Guardian