WELCOME to this week’s #TheatreClique Round Up... my emphatically irregular newsletter dedicated to clicking on some of this week’s most interesting, intriguing & noteworthy writing about drama, theatre & performance (at least, so says me)…
This Week's #TheatreClique-ing:
For this week’s opener, I note that we could all use a bit of relaxation and restoration, and a little bit of light stretching can really help in such times of stress — so I lift this tutorial, “Yoga to the Oldies with Casper”… #NamaEse
now turning to this week’s theatre clicks…
SAG/AFTRA and Actors Equity resolve (?) their contractual dispute over actors’ work in streaming theatrical presentations (full agreement here) • a Broadway star “respectfully disobeys” mask-wearing mandate & stirs a debate about privilege and complacency within the Broadway community • Lily Janiak surveys the new face/s of theatrical leadership in the Bay Area • Rob Weinert-Kendt details the new kinds of readiness necessary — quarantine, ventilate, be ready to quit — for in-person performance in the time of COVID • a glimpse into the many ways working actor must “pivot” when there is no work…
Noe Montez offers a sobering preliminary overview of the pandemic’s impact on higher ed hiring for Theatre & Performance Studies PhDs • an as yet unexplained fire destroys beloved indoor theatre at Jacob’s Pillow • a notable artistic director resigns from theatre he founded (& questions the “rapidly evolving” anti-racist ethos compelling his departure) • Jonathan Mandell (aka NewYorkTheater) shares a transcript of the recent far-reaching conversation about the “state of the art” between critic Soraya Macdonald and arts leader Oskar Eustis…
in response to a recent casting controversy, show’s creators insist “anyone should be able to play Hedwig” • Gregory King contemplates the long history of appropriation and erasure of Black artistry in dance • Alaina Leary details the history and relevance of the rallying cry “nothing about us without us” in response to the controversy roiling around an upcoming film • Angel Desai reclaims her birth name in a new musical by Naveen Bahar Choudhury • Black Acting Methods introduces their “Acting Theorists: Theatre Education for the 21st Century” poster • Roy Pérez considers the posthumously published Sense of Brown from legendary performance scholar José Esteban Muñoz (1967-2013)…
have you heard about the (unofficial) Ratatouille musical collaboratively crafted on TikTok? here’s the oral history of how it happened • here’s how The Crown crafted Gillian Anderson’s wig • and here’s how The Drew Barrymore Show crafts the illusion of proximity…
...and this week in Fornésiana: Juliana Kleist-Méndez's remote production of Letters from Cuba continues through Wednesday, with archival recordings of last week’s Imagining with Irene symposium conversations now available: Aesthetics and Inquiry engages leading Fornés scholars, while In the Writer's Room features three acclaimed playwrights who studied with Fornés and The Later Years reflects on the final cycle of Fornés’ creative life.
A Programming Note:
As this remarkable semester arrives to its resolution, I’ve invited the contributors to my Fall 2020 Seminar “Theater & Society Now” to help shape this week’s newsletter and podcast. Some regular features of the newsletter will not appear this week, so as to make room for the following contributions.
What StinkyLulu Says This Week:
Wherein I offer a brief overview of this week’s podcast episode.
In this week’s episode of StinkyLulu Says, I think back through the last twelve weeks and offer my personal preliminary summary overview of Fall 2020. As I do, I am joined by several contributors to my Fall 2020 course — Angelica Qin ‘23, Aria Buchanan ‘22, Dezytnee Rivera ‘21, Molly Bremer ‘22 & Norman Champ ‘22 — who each share how their own thoughts have been stirred by Theater & Society Now …
Voices from Theater & Society Now (Fall 2020):
In which contributors to my Fall seminar highlight those voices, perspectives and experiences from our shared conversations that they expect will reverberate for them even beyond the semester’s end…
Some memorable experiences…
“Zoo Motel, a one-man, one-room production by Thaddeus Phillips, is pure magic. Each night, twenty one audience members check into virtual “motel rooms,” following a trail of mysterious objects which reveal truths about love, isolation, death, and fate. A wild, interactive blend of theater and cinema, Zoo Motel is truly a must-see.” — Cassy James ‘23
“I would like to highlight the EgoPo Classic Theater production of Emily, a piece of correspondence theater (?) that invites audience members to co-create a deeply moving narrative experience in ways that activate a sense of liveness, in spite of the production's extremely asynchronous nature.” — Natalia Orlovsky ‘23
“Code of the Freaks (d. Salome Chasnoff) is an absolutely fantastic documentary highlighting the struggle of disabled representation in film and media. Several representatives of the disabled community give first hand accounts of how they feel seen, and how they don’t, in movies, tv, and the world.” — Michael Phillippy ‘22
“‘Sari’ by South Asian Drag Artist La Whore Vagistan (aka Dr Kareem Khubchandani) beautifully captures what it means to defy gender norms and Western drag expectations through this ‘Sorry’ remix—here’s to the one time that the sorry/sari pun isn’t a drag” — Nafisa Ahmed ‘22
“In“Had Video-Art Prepared us Enough for Zoom Meetings” Vivian Castro talks about what contributes to stressful communicative interaction as a result of the zoom format, all of which have been addressed by you in your class. You have made your classroom feel significantly more tolerable, more enjoyable, and more human by providing us with the tools we need to properly navigate zoom courses every day of the week.” — Miles Wilson ‘22
“Theatre for One's Here We Are was the first pandemic show I saw that felt like ‘real’ theater; at once inventive and familiar. I was inspired to interview the T41 Co- Artistic Directors for Princeton's Innovations in Socially Distant Performance project: the article is forthcoming here!” — Anna Allport ‘23
Some notable voices…
“In early October, I had the pleasure of talking with Princeton Professor Stacy Wolf about her work as a musical theater scholar, her time as a Princeton faculty member, and the continued importance of the musical theatre genre. An edited version of the conversation can be found here.” — Kate Semmens ‘22
“Through conversations with two Princeton first-years, I explored the effects of practice and platform on the remote theater experience. What makes theater, theater? Is it the same thing that makes it worthwhile? For these young performers, it's not about the spotlight or the stagecraft. It's about what we long for today.” — Jacquelyn Davila ‘22
Some crucial perspectives…
“Ellis Neyra artfully unpacks the ways the Kardashians exploit their racial ambiguity and proximity to Blackness for success. (I'd love to highlight the analysis of Kim's ‘ass jiggles’). For me, it was a provocation to unpack my ‘problematic faves’ and understand the harm of supposedly harmless cultural figures.” — Tiffany Huang ‘23
“Sia has faced criticism on Twitter after casting an autistic character to be portrayed by a non-autistic actor in her upcoming movie Music. She asserted that casting a disabled actor would be ‘cruel,’ but many pointed out that autism lies on a spectrum that is different for each individual.” — Joshua Haile ‘22
“We must continue the current pandemic-inspired evolution of theatre past Broadway's inevitable reopening in order to make theatre a representative and accessible community for ALL people. Shona Louise’s “Don’t Forget Us — Disabled People’s Thoughts on Returning to Theatre” does a great job of serving as a voice of advocacy for the disabled community, while uplifting the many diverse voices within the community's large umbrella, in a time when the disabled community is in danger the most.” — Julia Elman ‘23
“The Asian American Performers Action Coalition Visibility Report (2017-18) showcases the demand for diversity and representation on Broadway and beyond in all aspects of the production. ‘In the 2017-18 season, "100% of Broadway musicals were directed by White directors.’ (36) It is a must read for all.” — Maddie Wu ‘21
“Kirsten Greenidge explains why the 2020 Democratic Convention’s diversity, eccentricities, and message made the event seem more representative of the American people. She uses performance theory, an area of study we've examined in class, to emphasize how the convention mirrored society, explaining why this was one of my favorite political events of my lifetime.” — Jane Burdick ‘23
“The ‘Racialized Economies’ chapter from Dorinne Kondo’s World Making: Race, Performance, and the Work of Creativitywas one of my favorite reads from the semester because it lays out so clearly how economic/hierarchical structures have continued to reinforce racial/gendered disparities and the sheer scale on which they operate.” — Joye Chen ‘23
Until next week, dear #TheatreClique… The newsletter will return in its usual format. In the meantime, please share this newsletter with those friends, colleagues and students who might appreciate the opportunity to encounter the many voices gathered in each week’s issue. Errors and oversights published in the newsletter will be corrected in the archival versions. And, in the meantime, keep clicking those links — good writing needs good readers and our theatre clicks count!