“The 2016 Prize for Outstanding New American Play will go to Jordan Harrison for Marjorie Prime. The 2016 Prize for Promising New American Play will go to Zayd Dohrn for The Profane. Each award comes with $20,000.”
Category: theatre
A Blind Theatre-Lover Explains How She Makes The Experience Work
Ria Andriani: “I lost my sight at the age of five as the result of glaucoma. As a musician and writer, I have a particular interest in theatre and have welcomed the increase in audio-described theatre … With descriptions, people like me can engage with and sometimes get lost in the work on stage. Sometimes we’re backstage before a show begins, touching the props and costumes.”
Are You Ready For Micro-Theatre?
“You see everyone’s faces, right there. If they’re enjoying it, you can feel that. And if they’re not, you can feel that too!”
What’s Next For Theatre After The Times Stops Covering Its Own Region?
“We are concerned about our family of artists and the ecosystem of the field.”
Are West End Productions Choosing Smaller Theatres To Raise Ticket Prices?
Andrew Lloyd Webber: “It’s really important that theatre is accessible and that is one of the reasons we went into a rather bigger theatre on Broadway than perhaps some people would have suggested. There is a school of thought that what you do is keep the show really, really tight and then force ticket prices up,” he said. He added: “Several producers have been doing that but I am not one of them.”
I’m A Deaf Actor, And I Don’t Want It To Define The Roles I Play
Genevieve Barr: “It’s an incredibly limiting way to live and to work. And because I have a disability that I cannot hide (or fully disguise), that means I stay firmly in the bracket of ‘deaf actor’, rather than ‘actor’. In the rigidity of the casting process, that can mean fewer than 10 auditions per year. … I can lip-read and hear with the use of hearing aids. Not as clearly as you, mind, but unlike you, I can crank up the volume. If my back is turned and you’re talking to me, I am probably not deliberately ignoring you. If you call out ‘house lights going dark’ and forget to tell me, I may fall off the stage. Working with me doesn’t sound so terrible, does it?”
If ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Premiered Today Instead Of 45 Years Ago, Would It Be Less Controversial Or More?
Producer Richard Jordan: “In 2016, we consider public opinions, attitudes and tolerance to be much broader. We even mock the once-absurd and prudish reactions and attitudes of past generations. … [But] I question whether the reaction towards it would actually be more extreme … today. Would it even make it to the stage at all?”
Okay, Okay, Critics, You Can Have Your +1 Tickets, Says Britain’s National Theatre
“In a letter to critics, the venue said that a policy it had been planning to introduce from August this year, giving reviewers just a single seat to its shows on press night and the option to buy another for £20, has been dropped.” (The critics were no happy to read this.)
Is FringeNYC’s Contract For Subsidiary Rights Fair?
Most fringe festivals, because they don’t actually produce the plays they present, don’t demand a cut of revenue from subsequent productions. But the New York International Fringe Festival requires a 2% cut of subsidiary rights revenue from any production anywhere on Earth for the next seven years. Howard Sherman gets both FringeNYC and the Dramatists Guild to explain their opposing positions on the issue, and then gives a verdict.
Cellphones As A Theatrical Device
If the contents of our phones are juicer than those of our relationships, can drama survive or even compete?