Category: theatre

The Broadway star – the only performer to win six Tonys, in all four available categories – says it’s her job to create more space for other African American actors, and call for institutional change as well. “This feels like real change now. There are going to be too many people watching and too many people demanding that things look different. … Theatre will be left in the dust, I think, if we don’t make substantive changes.” – The New Yorker

The Kilroys list this year goes beyond what should be in the future to commemorate what we lost this year. It’s “a heartbreaking timeline of lost art, necessary art, groundbreaking art, unconventional art, art created by voices aching to be heard.” – Los Angeles Times

A huge number of Britain’s theatres are in serious trouble:”Julian Bird, chief executive of UK Theatre and the Society of London Theatre, said 70 percent of theatres and production companies risked going bust before the end of the year” – Yahoo News (AFP)

The online dramas that so many theatres have made available, from the RSC to the National Theatre, have had a hugely democratising effect on an art form that is often accused of being elitist and expensive. Now, viewers don’t have to be sitting in a velvet seat, just on their own sofa. – The Guardian

“Career opportunity on Broadway doesn’t begin at the box office, but in the front office. And that’s where T. Oliver Reid, Warren Adams and their fellow advocates have set their sights in a campaign to massively increase black employment in the theater business. Their effort — under the banner of a new organization, the Black Theatre Coalition — is already making an impact.” – The Washington Post

“Interviews with artists and producers suggest that there are more than a dozen plays and musicals with Black writers circling Broadway — meaning, in most cases, that the shows have been written, have had promising productions elsewhere, and have support from commercial producers or nonprofit presenters. But bringing these shows to Broadway would mean making room for producers and artists who often have less experience in commercial theater than the powerful industry regulars who most often get theaters.” – The New York Times

Excerpts from a recent Zoom conversation among three artistic directors — Kwame Kwei-Armah of London’s Young Vic, Julia Wissert of Schauspiel Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley, and Eva Doumbia of Compagnie La Part du Pauvre near Rouen — about their challenges as well as “white universality, decolonizing theater institutions and their issues with the word ‘diversity.'” – The New York Times

“The repayment clauses could stipulate that the amount employers have paid towards furlough contributions is subtracted from workers’ wages when shows resume, and if workers do not return to the show they could be required to pay back the furlough contributions in full.” – The Stage