Category: theatre

Keenan Scott II explains: “We tend to be rewarded for depicting the harshest realities of the Black experience while ignoring its beauty. In art, our trauma is fetishized and romanticized while our joy is dismissed. The end result is a society that views the Black experience as a dreary monotone.” – American Theatre

Plush toymaking, giving dancing lessons (via Zoom, of course), selling skincare products … stagehands, costume designers, actors, and everyone associated with Broadway are trying to figure it out, piece it together. But many are considering leaving the city, and the arts, forever. – Time

Even before the pandemic, Greece’s theaters were in trouble. Years of austerity saw government spending on the arts slashed, with subsidies for the largest theaters cut in half, or withdrawn altogether for some smaller venues. As a deep recession hammered the economy, tens of thousands of businesses closed down, leaving little prospect of support from the private sector. Dozens of theaters closed; others survived only by cast members covering the costs of performances themselves. – The New York Times

Alexis Soloski: “As an undergraduate 20 years ago, I had majored in theater and back then, our training was exclusively and incontrovertibly face to face. Good acting happened in the moment, in the room, in the space between bodies and breath, action and intention. You couldn’t teach that online! … Or could you? For two humbling and sometimes humiliating weeks, I tried.” – The New York Times

Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires was all set to go with a production of playwright David Cale’s one-man play Harry Clarke — the union had given the go-ahead, and the theater had had seats removed and the bathrooms and air conditioning system redesigned to meet COVID safety guidelines. But the state of Massachusetts has refused to waive its ongoing ban on indoor performance. The show will go on, however — in a tent. – The New York Times

“William Carden, who has been the artistic director of Off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre since 2007, will step down from his position. A member of EST since 1978, Carden will continue with the company until a restructuring process is complete. EST intends to implement change throughout the organization and reconfigure the current leadership structure through the inclusion of Black, Indigenous, and people of color at the senior leadership and decision-making level.” – Playbill

“Inside a cavernous steel hut in the middle of Glasgow’s Springburn Park, the sweeping arc of keyboards, lids and carved panels has been taking shape … Using mainly upright instruments, with a baby grand artfully sliced in half to make a corner balcony, about 40 pianos have been expertly disarticulated to create the tiered seating.” – The Guardian

“There is real concern that at a time when the need to insure for [COVID risks] is even greater, venues and organisations will not be able to obtain or afford appropriate coverage. This is not just limited to cancellations, but a host of insurance products normally taken out by organisations, for which there are currently limited or no offers available from providers.” – The Stage

PlayPenn doesn’t have new leadership yet, but its old leadership is gone. Earlier this week the organization’s board accepted the resignation of its founding artistic director, Paul Meshejian, and dismissed associate artistic director Michele Volansky, after a firestorm on social media, amplified in the Philadelphia press, brought to light longstanding practices many artists and former staff identified as racist and exclusionary. – American Theatre