Elena Morris
Who Let John Patrick Shanley Have a Twitter
John Patrick Shanley is undoubtedly a prolific playwright. I knew his name before I knew the names of a lot of other playwrights (not that that means his work is any more deserving of my attention than the work of other playwrights who have been out there, but less publicized.) I follow a lot of […]
Performance Response: A Conversation between Wig Out and Black Light
When I see plays that unearth and uplift the lives of people who have been systematically oppressed due to race and LGBTQ issues, I am always grateful to be welcomed into these stories as a white, cishetero woman who does not understand the nuances of the experiences I may see on stage. Before sitting down […]
Here, Have Some Inspiration from the Light Leaks!
This week I wanted to take the time to shout out to one of my peers, who I knew growing up, who is kicking-ass at creating her own content and building an empowering community for female and gender non-conforming filmmakers. Her name is Kim Hoyos. A soon-to-be-grad from Rutgers, Kim has been inspiring me personally […]
The Beautiful Messiness of Twitter
In this day in age of social media, we all have that one platform that we flock to. For me, it’s Twitter. I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly prolific in terms of creating my own content, save for maybe this: Despite my lack of confidence in my own tweets, I have a lot of respect […]
An Analysis of Playwriting Residencies
Ever since taking Dramaturgy, I’ve thought a lot about the importance of financially supporting artists who make their livings doing creative work. Grants, fellowships, and residencies are invaluable for supporting the future generations of artists, especially for playwrights. Recently, HowlRound posted an assessment of the National Playwright Residency Program. My interest was sparked not only because […]
My Experience in a Men’s Prison
Two weeks ago, my Collaborative Arts Incubator class took a trip to a men’s prison here in eastern Mass*, which this class has been doing for the past seven years as part of BU’s Prison Education Program. I did not know about this program before my enrollment in the class – it was made clear […]
A Call to Action
In 2016, Caridad Svich wrote a moving essay on Howlround about the paralyzing conflict artists face when creating art with the goal to effect immediate change for a movement of social justice, but when actual legislative change seems worlds away. I happened upon this essay reading Tiffany Antone’s essay, “Amplifying Civic Engagement Through #TheatreActionGunControl,” which outlines […]
The Accessibility Cycle
A few weeks ago, I did a presentation on John Belluso’s Pyretown, which was the first play I’ve read by a playwright with a disability. It was also my first encounter with the term “person-first language”. Going into this presentation, I knew there was a lot I didn’t know, and a lot that would be counter-productive […]
We’re on each other’s [production] team
This week my senior thesis, Theresa Rebeck’s Seminar, teched, opened, and closed. Within one week, we loaded in five huge pieces of furniture, printed a poster, and went though a ton of troubleshooting to get lights, sound, and transitions up to speed. There were only a few bumps in the road, and overall everything came together, but […]
Get Tough
This week I stumbled upon James Grissom’s blog, Follies of God. The author, who is famous for his biography of his mentor, Tennessee Williams, publishes blog posts of his interviews with actors and artists, most of whom he was led to through his connection to Williams. One post, a conversation with the actor Kim Stanley, […]
Oh my god you were sooo good
There is a phenomenon I have observed with my behavior at the theatre. When I see a performance and the show ends, I usually feel like I need some time to digest the experience. But after the doors open and the audience floods into the lobby, chatter begins and I’m caught up in a whirlwind […]
Million Dollar Community Theatre – The Conundrum, Part One
Over winter break, I saw a production of Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, one of the few theaters in my hometown, and one of only several in West Michigan. (This is a town I am still getting to know, having only lived there on breaks from college for the past three […]
The Search for Meaning
When I was home over winter break, in my tonsillectomy-induced stupor, I mourned my ability to ring in 2018 without falling asleep in my mother’s clam dip. Painkillers aside, I was excited for the beginning of a new year, and I knew that I wanted to set some new goals for myself. I’m not one […]
Interview with Arden Lasalle, playwright of “The Dark Comes at Night”
This week I had a conversation with Arden Lasalle, who is going to be reading his play The Dark Comes at Night, at a Sunday Sit Down next week, hosted by S.T.A.M.P. Here is a transcript of our conversation about monsters, anime, and new play development: E: So if you could write a note, or a blurb […]
Assumptions about Community Theatre
Since I went home for Thanksgiving break this past weekend, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it would be like to produce theatre outside of a large city. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey (albeit not a long train ride from Manhattan) and later moved to a large suburban area […]
Posthumous Palimpsests
When I dove into my new anthology of Sarah Kane’s work to start my dramaturgical work on Phaedra’s Love, I read the introduction written by David Grieg and was touched by the story of her career as a playwright. Her “Complete Plays” stand alone as incredibly rich works of theatre, but together they reveal a thematic journey. Blasted, […]
FUNdraising
This week, as members of STAMP and I fundraise for PROM, I’m realizing something big. People love art. People want to experience art, specifically art that’s part of a communal experience. People will pay money to enrich their lives with art and support the work of artists. Desiré was selling tickets at the end of […]
On Art and Breathing
Every school year, something happens to me mid-semester right around Thanksgiving. My classes and rehearsals, all in full swing, keep me busy for most of the day, with the majority of that time being spent on churning out material for projects, solo pieces, group work, showcase, this blog. My work starts to blur together – […]
Why was this put on stage?
American Theatre Magazine recently published an article responding to Marin Theatre Company’s production of Thomas Bradshaw’s Thomas and Sally, a new play that depicts the complicated romantic relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemmings. Since the show’s opening on September 28, audiences and members of the arts community have given this new work a lot […]
Calling all Future Artistic Directors
Some of my posts on this blog thus far have touched on the conversations the senior class has had about “the industry.” We’ve covered resumes, headshots, websites, and how to get our feet in every door we can post-graduation. In our conversations about art, it’s not gone amiss from me that when when one is […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 