Category: theatre

One Theatre, Three Actors, Overcoming Trump’s Travel Ban

Celebrities including Sting and Benedict Cumberbatch, the mayors of New York and London, and the former archbishop of Canterbury intervened with the Trump administration The Jungle was a hit in London, and “the creative team and producers were reluctant to move the play without all the cast members, saying their life experiences — several had lived in the Calais refugee camp being depicted — gave the show its authenticity. But trying to get two Iranians and a Syrian into Trump-era America to perform a drama that is inherently sympathetic to refugees was, to put it mildly, daunting.”

After More Than 60 Years, Detroit Rep Will Get A New Artistic Director

“While no date has been set, [the Detroit Repertory Theatre’s] longtime artistic director and co-founder, Bruce Millan — who helped launch the company in 1957 — has announced he’s begun planning for his retirement. When that happens, Leah Smith, the Rep’s marketing and development director, will step into his considerable shoes. The Detroit News spoke with Millan and Smith at the theater last week.”

‘Growing The Southern Theater Canon’: Alabama Shakespeare Festival Launches Major Commissioning Project

“The Alabama Shakespeare Festival will commission 22 plays in the next five years, with more than half of the commissions set to go to female playwrights and playwrights of color. Rick Dildine, the artistic director of the [festival], … emphasized that the plays will focus on ‘transformative moments in the South that caused important and lasting changes to its people, culture and land.'”

West End’s Top Ticket Prices Up By A Fifth, Though Lowest Prices Are Down 10%

“The average top-price ticket across all West End shows is £117.52, up 19% compared with 2017. This is the first time the average top-price ticket has exceeded £100, since The Stage started surveying in 2012. … For the first time in six years, The Book of Mormon has been overtaken as the most expensive seat across the entire West End by Hamilton, which has top-end tickets costing £250.”

Take A One-Woman Drag Show About Machismo And Consent. Now Have A Man Perform It. What Happens?

At the Edinburgh Fringe this past summer and currently in London, Los Angeles actor Natalie Palamides performs her solo show titled Nate, in whch she plays an unrepentantly dopey douchebag. For two nights this week, Palamides had the show’s director, Phil Burgers (who performs as a clown under the stage name Dr. Brown), stepped in for her while she called out directions from just offstage. Did the gender swap change everything about the show? Brian Logan went to find out.

‘Relative Stability’ Gave U.S. Theatres Space To Catch Their Breath, Says TCG 2017 Report

“Theatre Communications Group’s Theatre Facts 2017 observes that, with the recession largely behind them, U.S. theatres in 2017 were in a position of relative stability. … Naturally, not every company in the country was in this position, but that relative stability meant some theatre organizations could carve out time to address debt reduction, engage in strategic planning, and prepare for upcoming changes.”

What One Theatre Learned About Engaging Audiences

Our big takeaway from the project was finding a common point of interest and building engagement with groups around that. If we started with people who were too far removed from the work, we failed. We had to be realistic about the learning journey audiences were on, given that we were only performing in venues for one or two nights, with an eight to ten week lead-in. We thought creatively about the elements of the production that the groups we hoped to engage might connect with. That could be anything from the politics, to the music or props, to the feel of the show (more like a gig or cabaret).