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 compilation by Shaheel Sanil Prasad (aka Shaheel Shermont Flair or Shermont22), a 24-year-old Fijian entertainer/comedian whose Fashion Shows Be Like reels have recently gone viral. For context, see this brief profile by journalist Jayanthi Madhukar for MoneyControl…
And here is some what’s been clicking since my last newsletter…
NYTimes’s Amanda Hess assesses how three recent pieces (a narrative film, a documentary, a one-person show) maneuver “the taboos and clichés of abortion storytelling” • Huffington Post’s labor reporter Dave Jamieson reports on union organizing efforts among the workers at New Jersey’s Medieval Times “aimed at improving pay and safety at a surprisingly dangerous job” • and Playbill’s Talaura Harms convenes a “Black, Queer Playwright's Roundtable” featuring Michael R. Jackson, James Ijames, Mansa Ra, and Donja R. Love…
in anticipation of the upcoming “Casting for Liberation” plenary conversation at ATHE2022, the Casting for Liberation instagram highlights noteworthy critical voices and perspectives — including my own — to stir reflection on how theatremakers in higher eduction might “imagine a process of casting that is liberatory for all people involved in the acts of creating and engaging with theater” • American Theater coaxes legendary NYC theatre chronicler Don Shewey out of semi-retirement to report on a recent festival celebrating the experimental ensemble Mabou Mines and revisiting the entire span of its fifty year history (side note: I highly recommend subscribing to Shewey’s blog another eye opens for a reliably interesting glimpse into some of what’s happening in and on NYC stages, screens, galleries and street scenes) • and Marks & Vincentelli — albeit sans Marks — engages a fascinating and far-reaching conversation with Lauren Halvorsen (of Nothing for the Group fame)…
NBC News’s Raul A. Reyes talks to actor/advocate Tomás Matos about being “unapologetically authentic” as a non-binary Afro-Latiné performer working on Broadway and beyond • at Broadway Beat, writer Caitlin Berg — with satiric precision — reports on why “stagedooring is not over because of the pandemic” • and actor/writer/TikToker Dan Kuhlman goes all in as he reviews an “immersive production of Damn Yankees in the Bronx” with hilarious results…
...and — lest I forget — this week in Fornésiana: brings news that Michelle Memran’s film The Rest I Make Up is now available to stream via AmazonPrime…
Adventures in Remote Theatregoing:
Wherein I highlight some especially noteworthy or timely remote theatre-going options.
Chicago’s 16th Street Theater’s production of Natalie Y. Moore’s bracing play, The Billboard — the story of what happens when Black Women’s Health Initiative (BWHI), a medical and reproductive rights center operating in Chicago’s Englewood community, becomes the target of a headline-seeking local politician — performs in-person and via livestream through July 17. The published script is available (at 40% discount) through Haymarket Books.
NYC’s The Workshop Theater’s production of Caridad Svich’s acclaimed, award-winning and genre-defying theatrework, Memories of Over Development — evincing from actual testimonies “what people remember about dictatorships where they grew up and how they left and how they survived” — streams through August 3.
And in closing…
On this day — one that I choose to mark as a day of interdependence — I am reminded of this video capture of a particular moment during the June 24th performance of Selina Fillinger’s POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive on Broadway…
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!