Equity is considering a limited strike, barring its members from developmental labs – “generally four-week sessions in which actors and writers test out material for shows in progress” – The New York Times
Category: theatre
Keeping Track Of What You See Can Lead To Eye-Opening Statistics
Howard Sherman kept track of statistics about his theatregoing in 2017, and didn’t like the numbers he came up with. Did he see more plays by women and nonbinary folks and more plays by people of color in 2018 – and what will change in 2019? – The Stage (UK)
This Weekend, A Play Challenging ‘Hamilton’ Is Having Its Day
Ishmael Reed’s The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of several strands of recent work critiquing the narrative of one of the defining musicals of our age. For one thing, Hamilton wasn’t an abolitionist – and the musical utterly fails Native Americans, Reed and many academics have said. The play is about “‘a playwright who is misled by a historian of white history into believing that Alexander Hamilton was an abolitionist,’ and his path to learning Hamilton’s true story.” – The New York Times
Reality Winner’s Interrogation By The FBI Becomes A Play — With Not One Word Changed
A 25-year-old Air Force vet and translator for a U.S. intelligence contractor, Winner was convicted of leaking a classified NSA report on Russian hacking of US voter databases. For The Intercept, the web site to which Winner gave the report, Alisa Solomon writes about how director Tina Satter found the transcript of the FBI’s questioning of Winner and knew she had to stage it verbatim. — The Intercept
Creating Ability-Positive Theatre for Children
“Stories that are ability-positive center around real or fictional characters with different ability statuses, not for dramatic reasons, like an abled character experiencing a new struggle, but simply to show humans, in all their complexities, who make up the fabric of our world.” Tim Collingwood, an actor-playwright-activist who identifies as having Asperger’s syndrome, writes about how he was inspired to meet the ability-positive ideal with an adaptation of The Ugly Duckling. — HowlRound
Beset By Orbán’s Right-Wing Government, Budapest’s Theatres Hang On
Howard Shalwitz, longtime artistic director of the DC company Woolly Mammoth, writes about his recent visit to the Hungarian capital, reporting that, despite constant political pressure on funding and programming, “there’s still plenty of social and political kick on Budapest’s stages.” — HowlRound
In A Record-Breaking Week, ‘Hamilton’ Smashes Another Broadway Record
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s juggernaut grossed more than $4 million last week alone, a first for any musical. “The period between Christmas and New Year’s always brings boffo business to Broadway, but even so, the week ending Dec. 30 was the best-attended (378,910 seats filled) and highest-grossing ($57.8 million) in Broadway history. An astonishing 28 shows grossed over $1 million” — including, most unusually, five straight plays. — The New York Times
The Most Influential Person In British Theatre Is Now An Architect: The Stage 100 For 2019
“Steve Tompkins, the Stirling Prize-winning architect behind the recently completed redevelopments of Battersea Arts Centre and Bristol Old Vic, … has claimed the number one spot in The Stage 100, … for ‘literally and physically transforming British theatre’ through his buildings. (For the complete list and further coverage, click here.) — The Stage
Does The Injustice In America Make You Want To Scream? Head To Off-Off-Broadway
One piece that Peter Marks saw there let the audience do exactly that. “But the activity struck me as a vocalization of what I’ve been sensing in theaters all year: a potential for imminent explosion, wrought by the grappling with injustices that make many onlookers want to, well, scream.” — The Washington Post
The Stage Does A Full Survey Of West End Theatres’ Bathrooms: There Just Aren’t Enough
There especially aren’t enough stalls for women. For the average West End venue, a full house would mean the intermission would need to be an hour long to give every woman the chance to relieve herself (and that’s assuming each one needs only 90 seconds). — The Stage