In a new Canadian play by 10 different playwrights, “the result is something altogether its own: A 2 1/2-hour history play that pleases, puzzles and provokes, in a form that keeps shifting wildly from one moment to the next like a bucking bronco. One moment it’s a poetic drama, the next a comedy – then cabaret, RCMP musical ride or game show.”
Category: theatre
The Playwright Tried To Claim Their Play Was ‘Too Personal’ To Be Reviewed
Is that possible? Especially when the playwright has a PR person? Er, no: “Playwrights should consider these issues before deciding to put their work onstage. There are ways around it: hold private readings; don’t produce the piece; write a different piece; check with those around you first to be sure they don’t mind being included, or make your peace with the idea that they may be unhappy with you; use a pen name; decide whether or not this is the right career for you.”
The Unsung Heroes Of British (And Other Countries’) Theatre
Lyn Gardner: “The best teachers teach, do and more importantly they enable the future and support and inspire the young. Many have just as much artistic talent as those who appear on our stages and in movies, although they spend more time covered in paint in the school hall than on the red carpet. Their role and dedication is more important than ever at a time when opportunities for the rising generations are drying up, social mobility is stagnant and arts education is under siege in schools because of the EBacc.”
What It’s Like To Spend Two Years In ‘Hamilton’
“Thayne Jasperson, who plays the British loyalist Samuel Seabury, is the only cast member still in his original role. Emmy Raver-Lampman, by contrast, started as part of the ensemble on Broadway, left the show in April 2016 for SpongeBob SquarePants, returned as an ensemble member in the Chicago production of Hamilton, and is now playing Angelica Schuyler in the first national tour. She and Jasperson talked to TheaterMania about their experiences with the musical and how it’s changed since the summer of 2015.”
Upright Citizens Brigade, Famed Improv Troupe, Is Leaving Its Home
The company, founded by Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh and Matt Besser and the training ground for many comedians, sketch actors and Saturday Night Live cast members, is moving from its longtime base in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood to the group of Off-Broadway theaters on the far west end of 42nd Street.
Enough With The Star Actors Playing Hamlet Already!
“If, in any given year, somewhere up and down the UK, you can see a starry production of Hamlet being staged with Big-Name Acclaimed Actors showing off their Big-Name Acclaimed Acting Chops, then the cachet of that role is reduced. No question. It’s the basic economics of scarcity: when every Tom (Hiddleston), Dick (Burton) and Jude Law has had a crack at moodily wafting on stage, like a Smiths fan in search of legitimate melancholy, then theatre’s great and good might consider that it is time to call a moratorium on more Hamlets.
Lauren Gunderson Is America’s Most-Produced Playwright This Season. So Why Don’t You Know About Her?
“Her plays are staged almost twice as often as anyone else’s on the list, far ahead of venerated figures like Eugene O’Neill and August Wilson, who edged her for the top spot last year. (The survey excludes Shakespeare, America’s perennial favorite.) Although men still write three-quarters of the plays that get produced, Gunderson has built a national reputation with works that center on women’s stories. And, though most playwrights also teach or work in television, she has managed to make a living, in San Francisco, by writing for the stage.”
Bill Nighy Says It’s Become Fashionable For Actors Not To Learn Their Lines In Advance (For “Artistic” Reasons)
They mistakenly believe it improves their performance, he says. Saying actors must refocus their attention on preparing properly, Nighy argues the trend has been propagated by those who simply “don’t want to do their homework”.
The Top-Tier Medical School With Its Own Theater Company
A reporter visits Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons to watch the Bard Hall Players rehearse Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Every member of the cast and crew is a medical student; several have degrees and/or previous professional experience in music or theater.
After Four Years Off, Mabou Mines Revives Itself And Gets A New (Old) Theater Of Its Own
The 50-year-old company, a legend of the late 20th-century downtown avant-garde theater scene, is back at the old P.S. 122 building, just renovated, in Manhattan’s East Village. Reporter Zachary Small visits the new Mabou Mines HQ and talks with co-artistic director Sharon Fogarty and company co-founder Lee Breuer, who – at age 80 – is premiering a new play there.