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 video promo — crafted by the team working for Long Wharf Theatre — to celebrate and welcome everyone “back”…
To begin, three clicks that are — to my mind at least — this week’s “must reads”…
TheatreMania’s David Gordon engages artistic director Stephanie Ybarra in a far-reaching and bracingly frank conversation about the challenges being confronted as theatres figure out how to reopen;
at TheGuardian, writer/advocate Lucy Webster details the many ways that theatre’s “reopening” (and, often, turn away from remote performance options) underscores the many ways theatre remains inaccessible to disabled audiences and artists;
and, in the LATimes, the incomparable writer/advocate Sarah Schulman underscores deep historical consequences of American theatre’s long history of relegating women playwrights to “second-tier status”…
And now to some of the other very worthwhile pieces I clicked on since my last newsletter…
BroadwayNews’ Caitlin Huston reports on how “theatergoers are waiting longer to buy tickets” than they did pre-pandemic • AmericanTheatre’s Rob Weinert-Kendt offers an overview of “the week that shook Center Theatre Group” • Backstage’s Diep Tran considers the uncertain precedent set by the unprecedented number of Black playwrights on Broadway this season • TheGuardian’s Vanessa Thorpe surveys the tension between tradition and inclusion within Britain’s revered actor training programs • NYTimes’s Michael Paulson surveys the ways “some of the biggest plays and musicals are making script and staging changes” in response to shifting cultural sensibilities about race, gender and policing • and SFChronicle’s Lily Janiak finds cause for “cautious optimism” in a survey of how Bay Area theatres are responding to recent calls for racial justice and equity in the arts…
LATimes’ Ashley Lee and Wendy Lee explore how a fatal failure of on-set gun safety might (all too easily) happen • TheVerge’s Zoe Schiffer reports on the actual demands made by the Netflix employees who “walked out” earlier this week • OnStageBlog’s Chris Peterson summarizes an overview of actor Rebecca Caine’s experience of abuse during the 1989 Canadian premiere of Phantom of the Opera (Caine provides additional receipts on twitter) • Deadline’s Greg Evans reports on the “mutual decision” made by the Public Theater and Ari’el Stachel that the actor will “step away” from The Visitor, now in previews • and the Parent Artist Advocacy League launches a new survey to document the “too common, too harmful to be ignored” experience of employment discrimination in the arts due to pregnancy or reproductive health…
at 3Views, Jacob Santos talks to acclaimed costume designer Dede Ayite • at TheObserver, Billy McEntee reminds us why David Byrne’s American Utopia (also) belongs in a theatre • PreludeNYC announces this year’s roster of talks, panels and performances (running 10/25-31) • for the Folger Library’s Shakespeare and Beyond, scholar Carla Della Gatta traces “West Side Story’s six decades as a cultural barometer”• writer/director Daniel Krane (PU’18) reviews Chicken & Biscuits for ExeuntNYC • and — lest I forget…
this week in Fornésiana: brings word that Columbia University School of the Arts will offer streaming access to Colm Summers's MFA thesis production, an intriguing pairing of two Fornés plays: MUD & SPRINGTIME. For free access to the performance (which will be available 10/28-11/1), simply create a user account at Columbia University MFA Theatre Program’s Virtual Stage on FiveOHM.
Adventures in Theatre-going:
Wherein I highlight some of my personal priority destinations for the upcoming week.
Someone Else’s House — live remote performance via Zoom, 8pET 10/21-31 (+ midnight performances on Saturdays) — Obie Award-winning multimedia artist Jared Mezzocchi tells the story of a true-life haunting inside his family’s 200-year-old New England house — “a LIVE virtual haunting… complete with audience interaction” — presented by Hartford TheatreWorks • $45+
On This TheatreCliquer's Dance Card:
Wherein I shamelessly promote my own upcoming public events.
I’ll be joining a handful of intrepid ASTRoids for my first in-person academic conference in just about two years; I continue to wonder about the future of such convenings and will be interested to see what hints or cues might be discerned from whatever happens in San Diego next weekend…
Even though I’m a bit behind in getting books bundled and shipped, I am indeed still sending out free books. Have you claimed YOUR FREE BOOK yet?
For more on why I want to give YOU a free book — click HERE (or on the image above) to be routed to the bookmobile-page…
PROGRAMMING NOTE: apologies for posting a little bit late this week and — fair warning — I have no idea whether/when/if there will be a #TheatreClique installment on Halloween morn next week… It’s shaping up to be an unusually demanding few weeks, so please know that your patience (and your attentive reading if you’ve gotten this far) is always much appreciated.
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!