WELCOME to the #TheatreClique Round Up — my (kinda) 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 featuring noted casting director (and my high school pal) Carmen Cuba, looking back on the casting process for Stranger Things…
And here is some what’s been clicking since my last newsletter…
NOTE ON PAYWALLS: whenever possible, whenever I link to pieces posted behind a paywall, I do so using the “gift” function that select publications occasionally afford subscribers. Be assured that clicking out to articles in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal should neither present hassle nor burn through your monthly allotment of free views. Here’s hoping more outlets — hello LATimes! hi ChicagoTribune! — adopt similar technologies soon...
theatre leader/advocate Jacob Padrón pens an open letter to the American theatre on the occasion of Sol Project’s SolFest2022 • at Andscape, dance writer/critic Candice Thompson talks to Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar about how artists can serve as “frontline social justice workers” • at Howlround, dramaturg/podcaster Katy Zapanta considers how TikTok is “the future of theatre” • TheDailyBeast’s Adam Manno talks to Yehuda Duenyas and Alexandra Tydings about the impact, implications and craft of intimacy coordination in film/tv • San Diego Union-Tribune’s David Garrick distills the findings of a recent report assessing “how the pandemic has hurt San Diego arts organizations” • Pittsburgh Magazine’s Ollie Gratzinger reports on the ceremonies attending the grand opening of the August Wilson House • Los Angeles Times’ Ashley Lee reports on the recent unionization efforts by staff at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater • and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (aka IATSE) tweets out a handy reminder/tool…
actor/singer L. Morgan Lee shares her daily grind — or her “grub street diet” — with writer/comedian Zach Schiffman at GrubStreet • at The Washington Post, theatremaker Aaron Landsman argues for the transformative possibility of approaching local government as a form of civic theatre • People’s Lanae Brody offers a brief profile of actor/advocate Jamie Brewer after her recent Off-Broadway run in Will Arbery’s Corsicana at Playwrights Horizons • Deadline’s Rosy Cordero talks to Deaf actors/advocates Lauren Ridloff & Joshua Feldman about “making Hollywood more accessible for disabled creatives” • at the San Francisco Chronicle, theatre writer/critic David John Chávez profiles the creative team guiding Goddess — a musical/theatrical retelling of a Kenyan origin story — to the stage • and at The New Yorker, writer/performer Graham Techler shouts and murmurs about the peculiar genre of announcing “Our Upcoming Theatrical Season”…
at the Los Angeles Times, columnist Carolina A. Miranda and arts editor Paula Mejía join forces to talk through the reverberations of Sonic Terrains — a recent sound art show where “mariachi space opera meets gender-bending Chicano punk” • at his newsletter SES/SUMS, veteran arts writer Kevin Sessums reviews — as only he can — “the dark fairytales” of Into the Woods and MJ • writer/critic Kyle Turner offers a profoundly personal — and generously illuminating — rumination on the particular power of Sondheim’s Company • and NYU Press offers a sneak peek into the introduction and first chapter of the hotly anticipated book by Shanté Paradigm Smalls — Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City…
The Observer’s Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly digs into the Broadway mystery of whatever happened to that enormous inflatable Into the Woods boot that used to hang outside the theatre? • twitterer Adventures in Theatre History (aka actor/podcaster Peter Schmitz) threads the fascinating Philly response to the 1945 stage adaptation of Lillian Smith’s notorious “miscegenation novel” Strange Fruit (see also their recent thread about Rita Moreno’s Philly turn in The Miracle Worker) • Vanity Fair’s Chris Murphy (PU’14) assembles the stories of eleven A-listers who didn’t get the part they fought for • in tandem with the (sold-out) release of Mary Rodgers’ memoir Shy The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers (co-authored/edited by critic Jesse Green), extended excerpts telling of her trial marriage to Stephen Sondheim and the out-of-town tryout of Once upon a Mattress appear at Vulture and the NYTimes, respectively • at TransportGroup, legendary actor/artist John Epperson — aka Lypsinka — offers a remarkable remembrance of Mary Rodgers and her influence (both direct and indirect) on his own artistic journey • and at BlackFilmArchive, writer/archivist Maya S. Cade offers an inspired (and instructive) remembrance of Mary Alice (1936-2022)…
BroadwayWorld reports on the launch of the Latiné Musical Theater Writers database, which indexes a hundred or so Latiné musical theatre librettists, lyricists, and composers • the American Theatre Critics Association invites nominations for the Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism • #Ham4Choice launches to “help fund organizations that are providing support to those seeking abortions” • and the Albuquerque Journal reports that Eva Encinias — founder of National Institute of Flamenco and my former colleague at the University of New Mexico — named as recipient of one of ten 2022 National Heritage Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts…
playwright Matthew Barbot invites fellow writers to answer the question “which play of yours has the most (or most impressive) awards and/or plaudits despite being unproduced?” (evincing some fascinating replies) • at TheDramatist, artist/scholar (and Tony-nominated lyricist) Masi Asare reflects on the experience of her Broadway debut with Paradise Square • at The Fayetteville Flyer, journalist Lara Jo Hightower profiles the 14-year success of TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival • at TDF, arts writer Carey Purcell talks to writer/performer Asher Muldoon (PU’24) about writing the book, lyrics and music for his new Off Broadway musical, The Butcher Boy • and Because of Them We Can tells the story of recent college graduate Timothy Brown — a 77-year-old South Carolina Vietnam Vet who aspires to be a successful playwright…
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!