Mann didn’t just lead Princeton’s $23 million theatre from a respected regional outpost to a Tony-winning incubator of new work and new talent. While there she also built on an already ground-breaking career as a documentary-play creator and feminist director to create signature American works as Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. Her stamp is on not only generations of theatre artists but creative administrators as well. – American Theatre
Category: theatre
Is It Problematic To Present All-Male Plays?
White, black, young and old: this is what an inclusive theatre looks like. That is absolutely what theatre should aspire to, but it does not mean that works of art should not tell stories that are rooted in specific communities. – The Stage
Developing Authentic Disability Theatre, And Bringing It To The Public
“Theatre has the power to help us recognize the social forces that we have created as a society and allows us to envision how we can change them. To incite positive social change and critically alter the way society views differences, voices from the disability community must be included in what we present onstage.” Seattle dramaturg Andrea Kovich, who identifies as disabled, writes about two projects focused on the work of Deaf and disabled playwrights that she recently did with Sound Theatre Company. — HowlRound
Lin-Manuel Miranda Sees Audience Member Shooting Video, Calls Her Out From Stage Literally Without Missing A Beat
The creator of Hamilton, playing the title role in the musical’s high-profile run in Puerto Rico, was in the middle of the song “My Shot” when he spotted someone recording the show on her phone — and ad-libbed, in rhythm, “Lady filming in the 4th row, please stop it.” (After the show he tweeted “Please don’t make me do that shit again.”) — CBS
English Villagers Lose Hundreds Of Thousands Of Pounds As Their Church’s Bible-Themed Musical Collapses In Debt
An evangelical parish called The International Church in the Midlands village of Mansfield Woodhouse encouraged its members to donate thousands (it would be “giving to God”) to develop a show about Adam and Eve, titled Heaven on Earth, that would tour to stadiums around the UK. The project has now gone bust, with debts of £2.6 million. — BBC
Why We Need Theatre That Hurts, That’s Unpleasant, That’s Uncomfortable
“I don’t fault my friend for fleeing the theatre. This is art that hurts, though, to me, the pain seems entirely appropriate, even welcome. It’s not art of the cloying variety; it doesn’t depict pain that is pity-seeking, or that aims to emotionally hijack an audience on a ride through some dreary personal catharsis.” – The New Yorker
Broadway’s Next Evan Hansen Is An Actual Teenager
“The role is wrenching, vocally and emotionally, and [Andrew Barth Feldman] will be the first teenager to tackle it on Broadway. The character is 17, but adolescent boys are often thought to be too immature to play adolescent boys, and all of his predecessors have been in their 20s.” — The New York Times
Why The National Theatres In The British Isles Are So Fraught (And Fought Over)
“In London, it is possible to stage a state-of-the-nation play while remaining vague about the nation you mean. Not so elsewhere.” Just ask the folks at the national theatres of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland — the latter two of which are currently caught up in arguments that go right to the heart of their “national” status. — The Guardian
How Do You Cast Kids Who Are Supposed To Be Musical Prodigies?
The “School of Rock” features very talented students who can really play their instruments and sing. So just where do you find the talent that can carry the show?
Stratford CT’s American Shakesepeare Theatre Burns To The Ground
The mayor called the structure an “iconic and historic theater that holds a special place in the hearts of Stratford residents.” The fire was just devastating, she said. – Hartford Courant