Category: theatre

And So It Begins: English-Language Theatre In Germany Won’t Audition British Actors Because Of Brexit

Due to uncertainty over what visa and employment regulations will be in place after March 29, “the English Theatre of Hamburg said it was only interested in seeing actors who held a passport for a European Union member state, and that UK performers must also have an EU passport to be seen for a part.” — The Stage

An Anti-Commercial Theatre Ad For Skittles That Mocks Super Bowl Ads

This year, the candy company Mars expanded their reach considerably with a (still pretty limited) one-night-only show in New York starring Michael C. Hall called Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical. While proceeds from Sunday’s performance are going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the production is a commentary on Super Bowl advertising and product placement that is, itself, a feature-length advertisement full of product placement. Even if you didn’t get a ticket, you can listen to the songs (and four minutes of Hall noisily eating candy, if that’s your thing). – Slate

Theatre, Bar, Underground Space, Warehouse – London’s Edgiest Theatre?

Everything The Yard does is underpinned by three values, Jay Miller said. The first is that “the stories we tell have to feel like they aren’t being told by mainstream culture. The second is we create a space where audiences and artists feel able to take risks together. The third is we really celebrate the idea of the live moment, and what that means in a society mediated by technology.” – The New York Times

A Trailblazing Director Continues Her Quest To Lead (And Pull Others Up With Her)

Leigh Silverman, one of few women (still!) directing on Broadway, assembled an all-woman creative team this year. At a panel, this happened: “Making history ‘was an accident,’ the moderator ventured. Said Silverman, with a hint of incredulity in her voice, ‘It wasn’t an accident, because I meant to do it. The accident is the patriarchy, not the design team.'” – American Theatre

Thinking About Trauma And Triggering Issues In Acting Classes

“[Many theater professors] shake their heads about the aspiring actors who have refused to work on material they find harmful or otherwise objectionable. My colleagues sadly wonder how these students could possibly succeed. How, the argument goes, can we train students to become actors if they wish to insulate themselves from upsetting material? How can we inculcate the emotional resilience necessary for a professional actor if students are so afraid of any negative experiences?” Scott Harman explains why those aren’t the right questions. — HowlRound

This Is *Not* The Vehicle You’d Expect For Garth Drabinsky’s Comeback

With his company, Livent, Drabinsky was one of Broadway’s powerhouse producers in the 1990s (Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Show Boat, Fosse, Parade). Then he got busted for financial fraud and did time in a Canadian prison. Now he’s back — at, of all places, Berkeley Rep, with Paradise Square, a sort-of Stephen Foster jukebox musical about Irish- and African-Americans in Civil War-era Manhattan. — The New York Times

Why Joel Grey Decided To Direct Yiddish ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ Without Speaking A Word Of Yiddish

“I was having lunch in a restaurant above the theatre at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and I saw the Statue of Liberty in the harbor, and I thought, O.K., there’s a Yiddish word I do know — beshert [destiny]. And I said yes, I’m going to do this. … I listened to a couple of the songs from the recording of the Yiddish version that was done more than 50 years ago in Israel, and I liked the sound of it. It seemed to me to be exactly right.” — Playbill