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)…
This Week's #TheatreClique-ing:
For this week’s opener, I lift this recent appearance by the incomparable Tita (aka Victor Cruz) chatting with the NYC PIX 11 crew in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month …
EDITOR’s NOTE: as I compiled this week’s newsletter, it seemed the thematic continuities were more conspicuous than usual, hence the topic headings before each bundle of links…
On Returning to the Theatre (and to the Tonys)…
at AmericanTheatre, critic/scholar/podcaster Christian Lewis asks whether alternative modes of theatre criticism — like live-tweeting — might rise to meet the innovations of post-pandemic theatremaking • in the NYTimes, actor Danny Burstein shares his hopes for healing as Broadway returns • Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson and Chris Murphy (PU’15) reflect on the experience of being at a Broadway show again • NBCLatino’s Raul Reyes surveys the impact of Broadway’s shutdown (and return) on latinx performers • the as she readies to open Dana H. on Broadway, NY stage legend Deirdre O’Connell talks to TimeOut about “lip-synching, demolition and what good theater can do” • at Mobius Industries, noted British theatre critic Natasha Tripney considers the interplay of art and activism and argues for “theatre’s responsibility to make a nuisance of itself” • TimeOut’s Adam Feldman continues his longstanding Tony weekend tradition of posting his updated/expanded list of “all-time greatest” Tony Awards performances • and at Theatrely, Kobi Kassal, Juan A. Ramirez and Meg Masseron gather their thoughts (and predictions) in anticipation of the very strange 74th Annual Tony Awards…
On Urgent Questions of Workplace Safety…
actor/advocate Nora Schell details the horrifying failures of the Jagged Little Pill production team to provide essential medical accommodations in the run up to opening the show in 2019 • Deadline’s Greg Evans offers a summary overview of recent cast departures from JLP in response to “harms done” by the production and in the context of other recent news from the show • Actors’ Equity reponds to Schell’s testimony • LATimes’s Ashley Lee talks with Karen Olivo about how the physical and emotional toll of working in commercial theatre motivated their decision to divest from the industry • reflecting on the stories shared by Schell and Olivo, scholar Samuel Yates threads an analysis of how industry expectations “produce disability and debility even as they gatekeep disabled performers” • in a deeply reported piece, LATimes’s Ashley Lee investigates allegations that the Williamstown Theatre Festival “exposes artists-in-training to repeated safety hazards and a toxic work culture under the guise of prestige” • producer Stephanie Ybarra posts a reminder that audiences are “very much complicit in ‘the show must go on’ culture” in professional theatre • at Jacobin, tv writer/director Brenden Gallagher goes deep into the history and contemporary context of the impending October 1 strike vote by the members of IATSE • for additional perspectives on IATSE strike rumblings, see illuminating reports from LATimes’s Ryan Faughnder & Anousha Sakoui and from Variety’s Jazz Tangcay, who highlights the many health and safety concerns at issue in the negotiations • and — in a reprise — the links in this section put me in mind of pieces linked in previous newsletters: 1/ Daniel James Belnavis’s searing reflection on his “life in the cast of Hamilton” and 2/ Sarah Mantell’s compelling account of the transformative impact of “Artist Resilience Services” when offered by producing organizations…
On the Always Surprising Relevance of Theatre History…
this week served a surprising collection of deep dives into the riches of theatrical history, notably led by NYTimes’ Maya B. Phillips talking to performance scholars Harvey Young, Heather Nathans and Douglas Jones about the story of William Brown’s African Theater for an account of how “Black theater flourished in New York — 200 years ago” • at The Village Voice, Susan L. Hornik captures a potent oral history of the artistic life and creative legacy of Miguel Algarín, one of the co-founders of the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe • W42St’s Phil O’Brien talks to writer, speaker, pastor and my one-time housemate Paul Brandeis Raushenbush about his connections to the “religion, disco, death and drama” that chart the history of NYC’s Westside Theatre • at the NYTimes, linguist John McWhorter recounts his ongoing mission to reconstruct the lost score of a nearly forgotten hit Broadway musical by Fats Waller • at Public Domain Review, “scholar of the unusual” Betsy Golden Kellem evinces the complex and fascinating history of “Circassian beauty in the American sideshow” • the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts launches a crowd-sourcing experiment that invites the theatrically-inclined public to help caption some of NYPL’s hundreds of thousands of digitized historical theatrical images • and in recognitions of the Tonys, it seems only right that I share this sequence from the 1981 Tony Awards broadcast that did its own little bit of theatre history and, along the way, did a LOT to make me the way/gay I am today…
Definition Checks:
In which I offer resources in response to informational questions raised in last (or in anticipation of this) week's meeting of my Fall 2021 course “Movements for Diversity in American Theater”...
Q1: what is IATSE?
Q2: what’s the difference between a Stage Manager and a Production Stage Manager?
Q3: (reprise) what are the Tony Awards? what’s different about the 2020 Tony Awards?
Adventures in (Remote) Theatre-going:
Wherein I highlight some of my personal priority destinations for the upcoming week.
The Displaced — performs live in San Francisco through 10/2 and streams On-Demand through 10/16 • Crowded Fire Theatre presents the West Coast Premiere of Isaac Gómez’s “visceral, gleeful, terror-filled feast exploring gentrification and displacement” • Pay/Donate-What-You-Can
The Sitayana, or How To Make An Exit — livestream or video-on-demand through 10/17 • East West Players presents three unique virtual world premieres of a transposition of the Hindu epic The Ramayana told from Sita’s point of view through one of three unique incarnations of Sita telling her story (Amar Chitra Sita, Sita’s Mehndi Party, and Sita’s Slumber Party) • $10
Encourage Your Institutional Library to BUY THESE BOOKS (and buy some 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 discounting their Performing Arts titles by 40% through October 11, including forthcoming releases AND dusty backlisters like this one. Just use code UMFALL21.
I love books. You love books. We all love books. Can I please send YOU an actual FREE book in the mail…
For more on why I want to send YOU a free book — click HERE (or on the image above) to be routed to the bookmobile-page…
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!