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Interview with Lisa Steindler by Jamie Gahlon

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:08:00 +0000

Jamie: What are the technical residencies at Z Space? And what made you start offering them? Lisa: Our technical residencies subsidize artists’ use of our theater, lights, sound system, tech and artistic staff, and our entire facility to develop their concepts and work at a crucial stage in the creative READ MORE

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Why Every Working Mother (Parent) Needs a Stage Manager by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:44 +0000

Playwright Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder returns to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Southern Writers’ Project with a new play and a new kid. Follow Elyzabeth in part two of this three part series (find part one here) as she tries to balance rewrites and rehearsals with the challenges of being a working mom on READ MORE

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Tlaloc Rivas: In Search of the Artistic Home

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:28:26 +0000

Jamie Gahlon has asked theater artists from around the country to talk about their personal search for an artistic home. Tlaloc Rivas continues this series. What makes an artistic home? An artistic home is a place where there are opportunities for community-building and for cross-cultural dialogue. There is also the READ MORE

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Keep the Drama on the Stage by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:54:27 +0000

Playwright Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder returns to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Southern Writers’ Project with a new play and a new kid. Follow Elyzabeth in this three part series as she tries to balance rewrites and rehearsals with the challenges of being a working mom on the road. I always try READ MORE

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The Weekly Howl on Tuesday, May 15: Vote for what you want to talk about!

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:53:50 +0000

Riffing off the “demand-side” concept that Cheryl Ikemiya talks about in the recent David Dower Friday Phone Call, we at HowlRound want to know what you—the #newplay community on Twitter—want to discuss in this week’s Weekly Howl. Submit and vote on your favorite topics here! And while you’re at it, click on these READ MORE

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City Council Meeting: Theater of Tiny Disjuncture by Aaron Landsman

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:00:04 +0000

This is local government filtered through the lens of art. Why is that a good thing? We hope seeing governance as a performance of power, rather than an application of it, can be liberating. No one is pretending to be someone else. You can volunteer to read the words of READ MORE

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A Risky Experiment Live on #NEWPLAY TV Tues, May 15: Hidden Room’s Transatlantic #RoseRage Rehearsal

Sun, 13 May 2012 17:00:09 +0000

Austin’s Hidden Room Theatre, Brisbane, Australia’s Anywhere Festival in partnership with #NEWPLAY TV invite you to enjoy a backstage sneak peek of the very first transatlantic rehearsal of Rose Rage. Simply click here to be whisked to a split screen of rehearsal originating from London and from Austin. Watch the Shakespeare READ MORE

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To Read or Not To Read: The Gamble of Being Reviewed

Sat, 12 May 2012 15:00:13 +0000

Do you read reviews? Sure you read the one that everyone posts on your Facebook wall with “congratulations!” next to it. And you know you’re not supposed to read any reviews because “if you believe the good ones you have to believe the bad ones.” (Polly Carl says to never read reviews ever READ MORE

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In Defense of Supporting Work by Women: Thoughts from a Loud Mouthed Feminist Theater Girl by Meghan Arnette

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:54:54 +0000

I am the founder and producing artistic director of Live Girls! Theater, a company that produces and develops new work by women in Seattle. Since most of my adult life has centered around building this company, I often find myself in the middle of debates about the state of women READ MORE

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The David Dower Friday Phone Call # 26: Cheryl Ikemiya

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:30:51 +0000

I somehow had the good fortune to spend time on the phone with Cheryl Ikemiya, Senior Program Officer for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in the middle of a very busy season for the Foundation. They’ve just announced this roster of artists as the inaugural class of READ MORE

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The David Dower Friday Phone Call # 25: Braden Abraham

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:08:31 +0000

Braden Abraham, Associate Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory talks to me as part of the Seattle City Series this week. Contributors have been talking about the Writers’ Group there and here Braden breaks it down a bit for us—why they are doing it, how it works, what they are learning, READ MORE

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Asian American Theater in Seattle by Kathy Hsieh

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:03:54 +0000

The recent census data reveals that Seattle is one of the “whitest big cities” in the country. Sixty-six percent of the people who completed the census here specified they were White. Interestingly enough, Seattle also has the most diverse zip code in the country. Fifty-nine different languages are spoken in READ MORE

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Interview with Yussef el Guindi by Vincent Delaney

Wed, 09 May 2012 22:21:50 +0000

Vince: When did you start writing plays in Seattle? Yussef: I began focusing on playwriting when I stopped all thoughts of becoming an actor—and later, a filmmaker (I made a short film in Seattle under a pseudonym). I had been writing continuously for awhile, but really applied myself when all these READ MORE

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The Evolution of the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival by Allen Fitzpatrick

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:00:50 +0000

I came to Seattle in September 2005. Invited to ski in Leavenworth, WA, a lovely town in the foothills of the Cascades two hours from Seattle, I was struck by how perfect the venue was for the kind of innovative, cutting-edge theater work I wanted to do. The following fall I founded READ MORE

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# NEWPLAY TV Video: NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman in Atlanta, Georgia

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:58:50 +0000

If you missed today’s live broadcast of National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman speaking from Atlanta, Georgia, you can view it here as well as in the #NEWPLAY TV video archive at newplaytv.info. Feel free to share and embed the video on your own sites, Facebook, and Twitter. READ MORE

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Liz Engelman: In Search of the Artistic Home

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:49:19 +0000

Jamie Gahlon has asked theater artists from around the country to talk about their personal search for an artistic home. Liz Engelman continues this series. What makes an artistic home? An artistic home is where your voice is heard. It’s where you have a seat at the table. It’s where READ MORE

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Love Letter to Seattle by Stephanie Timm

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:00:30 +0000

Dear Seattle, I confess. I love you. Okay? I do, I love you. My love is bald-faced and blatant. Unabashed, unashamed. You might think it’s reckless of me to admit this, but when it comes to this city, its theater scene and theater artists, I’m a fan, a fanatic, a READ MORE

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The Weekly Howl on Tuesday, May 8: Post-Show Discussions

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:10:35 +0000

Join us every Tuesday for our weekly discussion on Twitter using the #newplay hashtag. We’ll kick off the discussion on Tuesday, May 8 from 12pm-1pm PDT /1pm-2pm MDT / 2pm-3pm CDT / 3pm-4pm EDT / 19:00-20:00 (GMT) / 8pm-9pm (London – BST) / 9pm-10pm (Berlin – CEST). One hour prior to READ MORE

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Live on #NEWPLAY TV Tuesday, May 8: Dramatists Guild Panel on E-Publishing with Playwrights Jeffrey Sweet & Arthur Kopit

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:08:03 +0000

Live on #NEWPLAY TV at newplaytv.info, the Dramatists Guild of America will host a panel discussion entitled: “Contracts 101: E-Publishing” on Tuesday, May 8 at 2:30pm PDT / 3:30pm MDT / 4:30pm CDT / 5:30pm EDT / 21:30 GMT / 10:30pm BST. Moderated by David H. Faux, the Guild’s Director READ MORE

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Getting Here by Vincent Delaney

Sun, 06 May 2012 23:24:18 +0000

It was with a healthy dose of trepidation that my wife, young daughter and I moved to Seattle in 2005. Actually it wasn’t a move, but a return: Northwest natives, we’d spent the previous four years breathing the heady air of the Playwrights’ Center, where energized, gracious, and determined writers READ MORE

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Live on #NEWPLAY TV Wed, May 9: Community Conversation with NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, hosted by Alternate ROOTS

Sun, 06 May 2012 15:47:48 +0000

Atlanta-based Alternate ROOTS will host a community conversation with Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, during his first visit to the state. The event is presented in partnership with Georgia Council for the Arts. Watch this one-hour conversation live on #NEWPLAY TV at newplaytv.info on Wednesday, May 9 at READ MORE

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Sometimes Mount Vesuvius Erupts: An Interview with Chuck Mee by Sarah Johnson

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:00:55 +0000

When Charles Mee writes plays, he draws heavily from existing literature, critical theory and other plays, particularly those of Ancient Greece. This interview was conducted related to the University of Iowa Theatre Department’s staging of his critically acclaimed play, Big Love. This telephone interview originally took place on February 29, READ MORE

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The David Dower Friday Phone Call # 24: Pam MacKinnon

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:59:36 +0000

This week I talk with director Pam MacKinnon. She’s just been nominated for a Tony for her work on Clybourne Park and I am really grateful she made the time to talk to me anyway. We spend some time on her journey with that play—from Playwrights Horizons in NYC to READ MORE

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Plays: How to lead post-show discussions for fun and profit by Brant Russell

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:30:57 +0000

I’ve been leading post-show discussions at Steppenwolf Theatre for five years. When I started, it was a great way to insinuate myself into the Steppenwolf environment, and to try to be a regular presence at the theater. When I was in graduate school, leading discussions was a nice opportunity to READ MORE

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Live on #NEWPLAY TV Fri & Sat, May 4-5: The Hybrid Art Summit in Austin, Texas

Wed, 02 May 2012 21:24:46 +0000

Live on #NEWPLAY TV, The Hybrid Art Summit 2012 is a two-day event during the Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas exploring cross-disciplinary creative practice and its relevance to contemporary culture. This series of spirited discussions, round-tables, presentations, and performances, focuses on three primary areas of investigation: community/collaboration, criticism, and art + technology. READ...

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The Weekly Howl on Tues, May 1: Diversity in the Theater—Serving Humanity or the Economy?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:54:45 +0000

Is it true that only particular kinds of plays can be popular enough to fill big houses like the Guthrie? Are we forced to focus on “what sells”? Are we serving humanity or are we serving the economy or something else? Join us every Tuesday for our weekly discussion on READ MORE

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Dialogue and The Age of Industrial Storytelling (or, A Defense of the Theater) by Ayad Akhtar

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:25:01 +0000

1 Content. The industry moniker for stories, which are now fed, like fodder shoveled into a voracious human pipeline, disappearing—almost as soon as they are created—into a global tract more esophageal than spiritual, consumed and digested with a ceaseless fury. To put it so is perhaps to appeal to the READ MORE

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Parenting & Playwriting: Having It All

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:00:16 +0000

This post is the third column of a regular series on Parenting & Playwriting. Find the previous columns here. Here’s what my advice column will offer you: a place to ask questions and share grievances about juggling life as theater artists and as parents. Here’s what my advice column will not offer READ MORE

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How Grad School Changed (and Didn’t Change) My Life by Jason King Jones

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:42:02 +0000

For the last three years I have participated in that sacrificial rite of passage that so many theater artists have undertaken (and so many more theater artists have questioned): an MFA program. In my twenties, I was cobbling together a living as an “NYC-based director” (which means I lived near READ MORE

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The David Dower Friday Phone Call # 23: Meiyin Wang

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:20:14 +0000

The discussion around the announced season at The Guthrie, and Polly’s powerful, and powerfully personal, response to it have put me in mind of the richness and vibrancy of the American Theater as I experience it. It is a far from homogeneous community, and one filled with gifted, experienced, and READ MORE

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Live on #NEWPLAY TV Fri & Sat, April 27-28: Fusebox Festival Artist Conversations

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:03:38 +0000

Streaming live on #NEWPLAY TV on newplaytv.info from the Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas is “Chewing the Fat: Delicious Conversations” on Friday and Saturday, April 27 and April 28. The conversation with Steve Moore of Physical Plant will stream on Friday, April 27 at 10am PDT / 12pm CDT / 1pm EDT / READ MORE

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The Art of the Breakup by Christian Parker

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:25:53 +0000

One of the touchstone points of discussion to emerge in the wake of the publication of Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play was that of transparency between artists and institutions, and its perceived lack among many playwrights who feel that they are essentially being given READ MORE

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Building the New Play Map Version 3.0: Update # 3

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:36:22 +0000

Last week we wrapped up the third of four total sprints devoted to building version 3.0 of the New Play Map. Find the first two updates here and here. Our goals for the week were: To complete all of the core user stories (a user story is one or more sentences in READ MORE

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A Boy in a Man’s Theater by Polly Carl

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:15:05 +0000

I’ve always said that the American musical hasn’t meant much to me. I don’t really connect to most of those stories told through singing and dancing. Then I saw a workshop performance of the Lisa Kron/Jeanine Tesori musical Fun Home, adapted from Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel. There I was on READ MORE

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Faye Price: In Search of the Artistic Home

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:30:20 +0000

Jamie Gahlon has asked theater artists from around the country to talk about their personal search for an artistic home. Faye Price continues this series. What makes an artistic home? Ideally, an artistic home needs to be a place of safety, where an artist can get messy, be creative, take READ MORE

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Making Way for Queer Experiments: An Interview with Kolmel WithLove by Jess Young

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:25:43 +0000

Whether it’s a black box theater or the form-fillable fields of a grant application, queer performance doesn’t always fit neatly into a box. When performing artist and curator Kolmel WithLove, a veteran artist in SOMArts Cultural Center’s time-based performance marathon 100 Performances for The Hole, approached us with a request READ MORE

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The Weekly Howl on Tues, April 24: “Please, Don’t Start a Theater Company,” or Let’s Figure out the Future

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:47:14 +0000

Join us every Tuesday for our weekly discussion on Twitter using the “#newplay” tag. Tomorrow we’ll take Rebecca Novick’s article “Please, Don’t Start a Theater Company! Next-Generation Arts Institutions and Alternative Career Paths“ as a starting point to discuss alternative models for supporting theater work and a career in the theater and READ MORE

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First Loves: A March Night at the Paramount with Peter Brook’s Grand Inquisitor by Taline Voskeritchian

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:47:13 +0000

On a rainy Boston evening, I skipped with a dear, old friend of many decades and several crossings to the Paramount Theater in Boston, battling the puddles to see Peter Brook’s production of The Grand Inquisitor. We were full with food and wine and coffee and chatter, but most of READ MORE

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Trayvon Martin: Artists Call To Action by Erin Washington

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:24:03 +0000

On February 26, 2012 the life of a young son, friend, student, and football player was taken away in Sanford, Florida. We now know him as Trayvon Martin. On that same day a criminal justice student, son and community member’s life was also changed forever. We now know him as READ MORE

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How Can We Do It Better? by Polly Carl

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:23:31 +0000

As we’re beginning to shape the language and vision for the new Center for Theater Commons at Emerson College, we’re thinking a lot about what we do and how we deliver it. Every platform we’ve built in the last two years, you’ve built right along with us. HowlRound is a READ MORE

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My Experience at Emerson by Steven Sapp

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:00:32 +0000

I think one of the things an artist looks for is like-minded people who get them. Not necessarily agree on everything (now that can get kind of boring) but people who have an understanding of the spiritual, business, and artistic aspect of what it is we do. Over the years READ MORE

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Newplay.us: Video on Crowdsourcing by @swiftcommunity

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:01:41 +0000

Check out this short video about crowdsourcing from Swift Community. The long definition of crowdsourcing is ”when a company takes a job that was once performed by employees and outsources it in the form of an open call to a large undefined group of people generally using the internet.” The cocktail READ MORE

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The David Dower Friday Phone Call # 22: Anne Bogart

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:00:25 +0000

To continue the focus this week on ArtsEmerson, the Commons, and the College, I have the sheer pleasure of talking with Anne Bogart. There is so much here we could have talked for hours. Such generosity in this person. She naturally calls out the bright spots in her own experiences READ MORE

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The Dream of a Center for the Theater Commons at Emerson College

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:43:26 +0000

Ten years ago we connected in a moment of mutual frustration at a TCG gathering in Portland, Oregon, called New Works, New Ways. We recognized instantly in our feeling on the outside of that conversation, that we had found in the other (stealing a phrase from Rob Orchard) a “close READ MORE

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The Commons and Common Ground at Emerson by Melia Bensussen

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:46 +0000

I’ve joked for years that a nail in the coffin of a professional directing career is to teach. As more of us join the rank of the “teaching-professionals,” or “working-professionals who teach” or the “professional faculty” and all other such titles, the more irrelevant and untrue this comment becomes. With READ MORE

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To My Beloved Colleagues who Make Things by Melanie Joseph & the Foundry Theatre

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:30:50 +0000

As some of you may know, The Foundry Theatre frequently hosts different sorts of public events (separate from our productions) where artists might find meaningful exchange with people outside of our own community and practice—both as a way to assert our presence and significance in building the world and hopefully READ MORE

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Robert Brustein: In Search of the Artistic Home

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:00:25 +0000

Jamie Gahlon has asked theater artists from around the country to talk about their personal search for an artistic home. Bob Brustein continues this series. What makes an artistic home? An artistic home is established when a group of people collaborate together over a long period of time in order READ MORE

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The Commons Comes to Emerson by Nick Medvescek

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:00:52 +0000

In December of last year, RareWorks Theatre Company, a student-run organization at Emerson College, put together a workshop of a brand spanking new musical written by Ryan Scott Oliver and Brett Ryback. Here is what was physically with us in the room: chairs, scripts, a table, four walls, and a READ MORE

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Flying High: A Video Explanation of The Commons by Jamie Gahlon & Vijay Mathew

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:00:06 +0000

We are really excited to be heading to Emerson with Polly Carl and David Dower to continue the work we began in 2009 on the American Voices New Play Institute through the creation of the Center for the Theater Commons. The following video explains what’s happening and expresses our excitement READ MORE

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The Weekly Howl on Tues, April 17: What can the Center for the Theater Commons do for you?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:00:02 +0000

This week on HowlRound.com we’re talking about the move of several of the American Voices New Play Institute’s programs and staff from Arena Stage in Washington, DC to the newly formed Center for the Theater Commons at Emerson College in Boston. For this week’s Howl on Twitter, we want to READ MORE

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