Her village doesn’t have a stage, so she gathers her performers under a walnut tree in her garden for rehearsals while they do their domestic chores. Her love of theatre is apparently contagious. “When I see Ummiye calling me on my mobile, I come running,” one of her actresses says. And people in other parts of the country want a piece of the action, issuing invitations on social media for the group to perform locally. – BBC
Category: theatre
How Stage Actors Make Their (Now-Mandatory) Audition Videos
The days of the in-person first audition (and maybe even second) are over, writes Melissa Errico: even well-established performers like herself and Raúl Esparza have to send in videos of themselves reading any part they’re trying out for. “How does an actor knock on the door when there is no door anymore?” – The New York Times
Memory As A Product Of Theatre
“Theatre is ephemeral, we explain endlessly. Every time we raise five thousand dollars to put up a show in some under-lit black box, we find ourselves trying to justify the existence of a work of art that will vanish after one or sixteen performances. So we say that the product is the memory, not the show.” Howlround
Want To Reignite Your Passion For Theatre? Read This Young Intern’s Account Of Her Summer In New York
“Going to so many shows in such a short period of time underscored the reality that while the majority of Broadway productions are good and worth seeing, the truly great shows are rare, and the atrocious ones even rarer.” – The New York Times
The Atlantic’s Takedown Of ‘What The Constitution Means To Me’
Staff writer Andrew Ferguson: “By play’s end, it’s become clear that if the young [Heidi] Schreck did indeed love the Constitution, it’s because she misunderstood it; and if her passion for the document has cooled as she’s gotten older, it’s because she’s transcended her earlier misunderstanding to misunderstand it even more.” – The Atlantic
Productions Of New Plays In London’s West End Have Tripled In Ten Years
“A snapshot survey of the West End in 2019, 2014, 2009 and 1999 has revealed the proportion of original plays is at its highest now, accounting for more than a fifth (21%) of all productions. Ten years ago, only three plays in the West End were not based on existing source material, such as a book or film, or were not revivals.” – The Stage
New York’s Public Theater Tries Doing Without That Long, Long Ticket Line In Central Park
For years, standing and sitting in that hours-long queue for free Shakespeare in the Park tickets has been almost as much a part of the experience as the performance itself. But not everyone is able to take a day off work and sit out in the elements. So, for its last Central Park production of the season, the Public is making its tickets available only by lottery. – The New York Times
A First: Edinburgh Fringe Ticket Sales Pass Three Million Mark
“A record overall tally of 3,012,490 for Fringe events was announced as the international and book festivals also reported a surge in business at the box office. The combined audience for cultural events in the city has topped four million when the 217,000 attendees at the Tattoo and the 290,000 estimated attendees at visual art festival shows and exhibitions are taken into account.” – The Scotsman
Watching The Chief Lighting Technician Of ‘Hamilton’ At Work
“Brian (Rizzo) Frankel, … a veteran of both the Air Force and Broadway — he’s been in the business since 1980 — is long-haired and goateed, with necklaces, bracelets, a wildly patterned shirt, and a genial, easygoing manner. Since 1994, hes worked at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, on West Forty-sixth Street, Hamilton’s home for the past four years. He’s in charge of the show’s spotlight, and also all of its electricity.” (video) – The New Yorker
An Exit Interview With The Two Teens Who Debated Heidi Schreck In ‘What The Constitution Means To Me’
With the Broadway run of the show having ended, 14-year-old Rosdely Ciprian will travel with the production to the Kennedy Center whole 17-year-old Thursday Williams heads off to college. The pair talk to a reporter about juggling a Broadway schedule with high school and the thrill of having two Supreme Court justices (Sotomayor and RBG) visit them backstage. – The New York Times