When playwrights get company residencies, they learn a lot – how seasons are put together, what kinds of casts theatres are looking for, and how not to take it personally when their plays don’t get selected. But they have to choose carefully. Luis Alfaro: “You know how to see a play, how to read a play, how to understand a play. And that’s more beautiful than trying to help figure out the architecture of a new building.” – HowlRound
Category: theatre
How’s That Guardian List Of The Best Plays Of The 21st Century?
It’s “a deranged hodge-podge,” according to Andrzej Lukowski. The list of 50 shows “veers from resolutely mainstream to borderline obscure without a tremendous amount of sense or coherency. All the while, it, notionally, professes to be an authoritative overview of literally all the theatre in the world over the last almost 20 years.” Ouch. – The Stage (UK)
Why Can’t Most Theatre Performances Be ‘Relaxed’ Performances?
Events labeled “relaxed performances” are ones where it’s okay for the audience to move around, make noise, leave and return to the auditorium if you need to, etc.; there’s usually one per run of a show (if that) and they’re aimed at neuro-atypical people, children, and so on. Maddy Costa argues for “the possibility of all theatre performances being relaxed, with occasional ‘uptight’ performances being programmed to accommodate those who prefer to experience live theatre in a strictly controlled and rarefied atmosphere.” – Exeunt
The Man Who Would Be Beckett
Bill Irwin finds Beckett’s remarkable use of language something of a balm at a time when the use of words has grown so imprecise. “Our culture runs away from words,” he bemoaned. “It seems to me one of the things this language can do is help us reconnect with human intelligence, as distinct from artificial intelligence. A lot of Beckett’s language is a portrait of consciousness — of how the mind works.” – Los Angeles Times
At 94, Director Peter Brook Still Keeps A Schedule That’s ‘Terrifying’
His career goes all the way back to 1946 at Stratford, through a 1970 Midsummer Night’s Dream and a nine-hour Mahabharata from the ’80s that arguably changed theatre history, to a new book this fall and a new stage piece, titled Why?, that he’s taking to three continents. Ben Brantley talks with the stage legend about his extraordinary career. – The New York Times
The Ten (Actually 14) Most-Produced Plays In The U.S. For 2019-20
It’s a list packed with ties this season: A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time lead with a dozen productions each, there’s a two-way tie for third place, and nine plays with eight productions each complete the roster. – American Theatre
America’s 20 Most-Produced Playwrights In 2019-20
Lauren Gunderson leads the list for the second time, this year with 33 productions. Lauren Yee is runner-up with 18, while Lucas Hnath is tied with Tennessee Williams for the third slot (17 each). In a sign of progress, women outnumber men on the list 11 to 9. – American Theatre
Why Ruben Santiago-Hudson Is Taking August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ On A Coast-To-Coast Tour
“Many audiences haven’t seen August Wilson’s plays done well, so my mission is to go out and do the plays well the way the author intended. The celebration of African American life and the way we navigate this landscape.” – American Theatre
Street Theatre With Giant Moles
“These tufty mammals are the stars of Philippe Quesne’s The Moles, which ran at N.Y.U. Skirball over the weekend and kicked off with a Friday afternoon parade through the West Village. A rock concert, a nature mockumentary, a collective hallucination and a goof on the idea of underground theater, The Moles welcomes audiences, wordlessly, to Caveland, a stalactite-studded subterranean lair that the moles invade and then enjoy, sometimes in the company of a neighborly purple teddy bear.” – The New York Times
Historic Find: Milton’s Notes On Shakespeare’s Plays
The astonishing find, which academics say could be one of the most important literary discoveries of modern times, was made by Cambridge University fellow Jason Scott-Warren when he was reading an article about the anonymous annotator by Pennsylvania State University English professor Claire Bourne. – The Guardian