jcbowes
Manifesto of an Extroverted Playwright
I recently finished a project focused on Anne Washburn, specifically her play Mr. Burns. The quick and dirty origin story of that play goes something like this: Anne had this idea, or question, in her head: what happens to a pop culture narrative when civilization crumbles? She decided to write a play about it. She […]
Street Performance and the Continued Legacy of Minstrelsy
This past weekend my family visited me for my thesis. My Dad, sister, and I went to Faneuil Hall on a particularly beautiful day to walk around and see the sights. It had been quite a while – over a year, at least – since I’d been to Faneuil, but I hadn’t forgotten about the droves […]
Ephemera, or something
My thesis has closed. It’s dead, it’s done. The play, though I hope it goes on to have a plethora of further productions, will never exist in the same way it did, in that silly studio in Boston in late April, early May. I spent a week without sleep perfecting every square inch of it. […]
Blasted & the importance of content warnings
Okay. CW: suicide ____________________________________________________________________________________________ I just read Sarah Kane’s Blasted for the first time. Like, I finished it five minutes ago. I wanna hurl. If there ever was a play that needs content warnings, this one is it. This play really fucked me up. And not in the fun, wow theatre is so crazy […]
Dramaturgy: Chicken Soup for the Soul
This afternoon, in our New Play Development class, we video chatted with dramaturg, theatre-maker, and all-around lady boss Catherine María Rodríguez. Hearing her speak passionately about how she defines dramaturgy, how her work intersects with activism, and her all-around joy to be doing what she does illuminated something within me. Ideas simmering below the surface began […]
Sci-Fi’s New (Old?) Theatre Magic
I want to connect some threads I’ve been thinking about as of late. Part of this stems directly from one of my last blog posts, in which I re-examined my conceptions of ancient Greek theatre and how it can become a fascinating tool for a modern audience to reconnect with the past and, by doing […]
Developing the Negatives in Company One’s Really
Recently I had the opportunity to catch Company One’s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s play Really. And it was really damn good. The play has kept me thinking about the nature of death and memory, about how my baby brother has more picture and video footage of him than any of my grandparents, about how […]
Deconstructing Tropes in Jordan Peele’s Get Out
By now, you’ve either seen or heard about Jordan Peele’s new movie, Get Out. And honestly, if you haven’t seen it, you better do better. And that means seeing it in theaters, because it’s better that way. SPOILERS AHEAD, Y’ALL Jordan Peele is one half of the mastermind behind Key & Peele, a sketch […]
Make Ancient Theatre Accessible Again
“The Greeks had seen an omen… Do you remember it?” On the night before I closed what would be my final show as an actor at this school, I realized why we perform classical works. Don’t laugh. Y’all know I’ve always been skeptical of Shakespeare, of “reimagined” classics, of really any heightened language or period […]
Making Art is Embarrassing
I am behind on these blog posts. I believe I have to write four this week, if my count is correct. And I know that my count is correct. Because each week the number grows, the tally on my planner saying “Hey! Hey dude! Write a freaking blog post it’s not that hard!” And, like……….. […]
Making a Folk Night: DIY Edition
Two nights ago, I hosted a beautiful, magical event. With some help from a couple STAMP members, we pulled off an evening of new work written and performed by our peers, in an atmosphere of calm and ease so often unfamiliar in our stressful, work-inundated environment. We drank hot cocoa, we listened to poetry and music […]
The Middle Ground of Resistance
Last night, I saw I Am Not Your Negro at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. It was my Valentine’s Day date with myself. I Am Not Your Negro tells the story of James Baldwin, from the perspective of the writer himself. The film was narrated by the powerful Samuel L. Jackson, who managed to embody both Baldwin’s relentlessness […]
Lights Out on Too Much Light
At the end of 2016, the year of utmost fuckery, one of Chicago’s longest running shows will close. Why? Hmm… it seems the jury’s still out on this one. The show is called Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, and it’s produced by the Neo-Futurists, a Chicago-based experimental theatre company that was formed in the […]
I Don’t Want to Work With Abusers
I don’t want to work with abusers. I don’t want to glorify the art of people who hurt other people. I don’t want to have to worry about sexual harassment in my workplace – even if my workplace is a blackbox and even if my work deals with violent or sexual content. Because it is, […]
Theatre Criticism Part 2: Accountability
In my first post about theatre criticism, I tackled the notion of the critic, my personal biases against them, and how criticism can (and should!) intersect with dramaturgy. In this post, I’d like to talk a little bit about accountability. It’s been quite a year for this topic. It seems we always want to find […]
Theatre Criticism Part 1: What’s a Critic?
In the summer of 2014, I must have read upwards of 200 reviews. Maybe more. I was interning in the Marketing department of a major non-profit theatre in the DC area and I was tasked with finding, reading, highlighting, printing, and delivering each review of each show we did that summer to the desks of all major staff […]
November 9th, 2016
“In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.” – Bertolt Brecht I am unsure how to move forward. If there ever was a time in which our art should mean something – do something – it is now. I woke up early this morning, restless. […]
Has Rocky Horror Lost its Edge?
There are droves of negative reviews for Fox’s shiny new made-for-TV special The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again. The one thing missing from those reviews is surprise. It seems that no one had high expectations for the film this time (warp) around. The skepticism is understandable, because the original was […]
Being an “Ally” in the Arts
This might get bumpy. Bear with me. I want to talk about what it means to be to be an “ally” in the arts. I should rephrase… I guess I have some questions? What does it mean to be an ally? How can I use my voice to raise up the voices and experiences of […]
Taking Time Away
My first day in Bangkok was a blur. After spending the month of January in Dublin studying the late, great Irish dramatists by day and the art of properly pouring a pint of Guinness by night, the teeming, smog-filled Asian hub was a shock to my senses. I spent the next two months in Southeast […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 