By Lisa Barnes “Hawaii. It either loves you or it spits you out.” These were the comforting, parting words from a friend as I boarded the plane for that dot in the middle of the Pacific. My friend had founded a theatre on Maui and ran it for six years. Until Hawaii spit her out. … Continue reading
By Gabriella Rose Balsam A new instrument, tuned to stretch and amplify our theatre community’s range in casting and hiring, has begun to play its unfamiliar tune. RISE Theatre —Representation, Inclusion, & Support for Employment, was created in a partnership between The Miranda Family Fund and Maestra Music Inc. RISE seeks to build a more … Continue reading
Dramaturg, producer, activist and dog-lover Susan Jonas interviews elite animal trainer, Lydia DesRoche, acting coach to a menagerie bitten by the theatre bug. Continue reading
Does one even have to make an argument for the rewards of working internationally? The merits are easily grasped. It broadens horizons, changes perspective, helps you leave your comfort zone and stretch yourself. It introduces you to new people, builds friendships and creative interactions that may last for years, and, besides, traveling is really fun. … Continue reading
By Heather O’Donovan Nestled unassumingly on a Chelsea side street sits New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre, or, as most call it, Irish Rep. It’s an inconspicuous space: no Broadway-style marquees, only a suitably green banner poking out from the facade alerting in-the-know theatre-goers to its presence. It was in the basement blackbox studio of this … Continue reading
by Martine Sainvil In the last complete Broadway Season before the global COVID pandemic, Broadway was breaking attendance records with the highest numbers in its history. But the nearly 18 month shut down changed everything and the subsequent return has been slow going. Industry insiders always knew that getting back to business would be a … Continue reading
By Alexis Greene The twentieth century in America was the women’s century. The century opened with the ascendance of what the media at that time called the New Woman. The New Woman didn’t yet have the right to vote, but she was out there: getting jobs, so she could support herself; organizing unions; establishing settlement … Continue reading
American audiences don’t get access to many contemporary plays originally written in another language despite the burgeoning number of talented playwrights in the US and around the world who are creating work for the stage in languages other than English. Traditionally, classic European plays such as those written by Moliere, Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov … Continue reading
by Alexis Greene Hrotsvitha and Alice Childress; Rachilde and Zora Neale Hurston; Ana Caro and Mrs. Harlow Phibbs. They lived centuries and continents apart, but they shared two enticing characteristics: they were women and they were playwrights. And now they are among the 250 dramatists who constitute “ON HER SHOULDERS: Celebrating 1,000 Years of … Continue reading
When the news hit in the spring that theatres in New York were going to be shut down, I–like many of my fellow theatre-makers–was devastated. Our movement company, 10C, had been developing our third science-based piece throughout the fall and winter of 2019 and the quarantine felt like we drove 50 mph into a wall. … Continue reading
WIT journal 