WELCOME to the #TheatreClique Round Up — my (mostly) weekly newsletter dedicated to clicking on some of the most interesting, intriguing & noteworthy writing about drama, theatre & performance (at least, so says me)…
NOTE: be sure to scroll through to the end for a perhaps intriguing announcement…
This Week's #TheatreClique-ing:
For this week’s opener, I lift this video from Company’s Comin’ — the latest offering of everybody’s favorite “hunkerdowner” Leslie Jordan. This album gathers a starry list of contemporary country stars for often surprising (and sometimes surprisingly moving) covers of classic Americana hymns….
And here is some what’s been clicking since my last newsletter…
Variety’s Gordon Cox reports on a new study from the Sundance Institute assessing the current state and foreseable future for the theatre industry (see the full study HERE) • Bloomberg’s James Tarmy warily reports on Broadway’s reopening by asking “but can it stay open?” • WashingtonPost’s Peter Marks reports on the protocols being developed to “ensure Covid doesn’t bring the curtain down again” • Philly-based arts writer Cameron Kelsall reports on the mounting (and contentious) calls for change at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre in AmericanTheatre • Vulture’s Benjamin Wallace ponders the deep theatrical past (and uncertain theatrical future) of Scott Rudin • and the (satiric) Broadway Beat’s Zach Raffio profiles “Unvaccinated Man with No Plans to Visit New York & No Interest in Theatre Announces Broadway Boycott”…
LATimes’ Charles McNulty reflects on his exchange with a playwright’s father, after McNulty “panned” the playwright’s play • director/deviser Oliver Butler stirs calls for artist-engaged criticism • Nicole Serratore underscores the American theatre’s failure to fortify the necessary structural support (editorial, professional, financial) for a sustainably robust critical ecosystem • director/critic/advocate Regina Victor reminds of a previous round of this conversation • AVClub’s Film Club podcast weighs in on the art (and ethics) of writing negative reviews • and the (former) Book Editor at BuzzFeed Arianna Rebolini offers some parting thoughts about the crisis in the journalistic ecosystem for book coverage/criticism…
NYTimes’ Maya Phillips offers a vividly multi-faceted glimpse into (the in/accessibility of) her experience of the Williamstown Theatre Festival • at the NYTimes, Elizabeth Vincentelli profiles the iconoclastic but enduring success of Creede Repertory Theatre • TikTok theatre-influencer NotKristenBell (aka Grace Walker) compiles her working list of play recommendations • in Rolling Stone, producer Bonnie Comley argues for Broadway musicals getting digital captures in addition to big screen adaptations • Ms. Magazine’s Sarah Rosenberg details Hollywood’s long “history of excluding autistic people from their own stories” • in Variety, pop culture journalist Jill Pantozzi reflects on how the post-pandemic refusal by film studios to offer digital screeners to critics amplifies entrenched exclusions of disabled critics and creatives • at TeenVogue, Lauren Rearick details #Creators4BIPOC’s efforts to use labanotation to codify copyright protections for TikTok choreographers • and Vice’s Ashwin Rodrigues talks to Walter Masterson about his satiric “invisible theatre” performances infiltrating school board meeting discussions of Critical Race Theory…
Variety’s Brent Lang reports on the launch of Arraygency — a Talent Agency for BIPOC, Queer and Trans Creatives • BELatina’s Yamily Habib reports on Pregones/Puerto Rican Travelling Theatre’s receipt of a major multimillion dollar grant from the city of New York • NBC News, People, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety mark the passing of pioneering Asian American actor Alvin Ing (1932-2021) • and VTDigger, CounterPunch & DemocracyNow! note the passing of Bread & Puppet Theater co-founder Elka Schumann (1935-2021)…
CornellChronicle’s David Nutt profiles scholar Karen Jaime’s examination of the “historical queerness of the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe” • filmmaker/comedian CJ Hunt assess the global struggle over colonial monuments at Chatham House • conceptual artist (and my high school pal) Jami Porter Lara launches Terms and Conditions — a new show in which she recasts “quotidian objects…as articles of transmission of white dominance” — at Santa Fe’s Gerald Peters Contemporary • another high school pal, writer Tanya Ward Goodman launches Mighty Fond of You • VanityFair’s Chris Murphy talks to my college pal Lisa Loeb about turning a “zoomunion into a zoomusical” [bonus: check out whose name got boldfaced in VanityFair]…
Adventures in Remote Theatre-going:
Wherein I highlight some of my personal priority destinations for the upcoming week.
Memories of Overdevelopment — streams on-demand 8/11-8/17 • reprise presentation staged reading presentation of new documentary play/film “about what people remember about dictatorships where they grew up”• written by Caridad Svich, directed by Lavina Jadhwani, presented by The Goodman Theatre • FREE (reservation/registration required)
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano — streams on-demand starting 8/16 • “Tlaloc Rivas’s adaptation of the award-winning young adult novel by Sonia Manzano, with original music and songs by Sartje Pickett” • presented by the Edinburgh Fringe • PayWhatYouCan + registration required
Together Apart: 10 Mini-Musicals about One Life Changing Year — streams on demand through 8/20 • “written, composed, produced, directed and performed by Brown University alumni from different eras - who reconnected virtually during the pandemic and decided to create something together” • FREE - donations benefit the Actors Fund
Encourage Your Institutional Library to BUY THESE BOOKS (and buy one yourself while you’re at it):
Book recommendations from students, staff, faculty and alumni can have a major impact on institutional purchasing priorities, especially at college/university libraries, especially in times of financial uncertainty. Visit the library page at your school/s and click around to figure out how to recommend a title for purchase.
The University of Michigan Press has a raft of thrilling new Theater & Performance Studies releases worth alerting your library to and — what’s more — they’re running a sale (through September 30, 2021) for their full catalog, including forthcoming releases AND dusty backlist titles like this one. Just use code UMATHE21.
And while we’re on the subject of grabbing great books…
Wherein I release books from my bookshelf to yours…. a little free virtual bookmobile if you will. You pick a title; I send it to you via USPS; it’s yours to keep. That’s it. (Your contribution to shipping/handling costs will be welcomed but not expected.) Just click on the banner above: if it takes you to a new landing page, Profe Herrera’s Semi-Scholastic Bookmobile is OPEN; if it doesn’t do anything but show you the image again, just click back again in a few hours or a few days…
DEFINITION CHECK: what’s a scholastic book fair? what’s a bookmobile? (More context/information will be available on the bookmobile-page when it goes live…)
Until next time, dear #TheatreClique, 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 edition. 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!