livdamato
The Importance of a Challenge
For this last post, I want to talk about my final dramaturgical project and my experience of working on a text that was especially outside my realm of comfort. When choosing a play at the beginning of the semester, I knew I wanted something that would really test my dramaturgical skills. I didn’t want to focus on […]
*With Valid Student ID
So, I’ve inevitably been thinking a lot about graduation over the past few weeks. I’ve experienced the gamut of classic post-grad feelings: fear, anxiety, readiness, suspense, excitement, bewilderment. But an aspect of post-grad life that had not occurred to me until recently suddenly took me by surprise: graduating = no more student ID Trust me, it’s not that I’m sad to […]
“No Brits. No Chekhov translations. No classics.”
“No Brits. No Chekhov translations. No classics,” that was the line spoken by Carole Rothman as she unveiled next years season for Second Stage. As the Artistic Director of Second Stage, Ms. Rothman is now also in charge of programming a nonprofit, Broadway house, as the company just acquired the Helen Mills Theatre. Although the Mills is […]
The Who and The What
Last week I saw the Huntington’s production of The Who and The What by Ayad Akhtar. When I got to the Calderwood, I was (unsurprisingly) one of the youngest people there. It was a typical Huntington audience- very white and very old. This didn’t phase or bother me too much until later on in the evening. […]
Opening Doors
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “success.” What does it mean? Does it even exist….. Who defines it? What happens if you achieve it? Then I stumbled across the documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened on Netflix and some of these questions were answered. The film, directed by Lonny Price, is […]
Help Me Help You Help Me
I recently came across a HowlRound article that I can’t seem to get out of my head. It’s titled What are We Watching? What are We Teaching? Preparing Acting Students for the New Golden Age, and was written by actor-director-teacher Welker White. Here is one of my favorite passages: Right now, students at hundreds of MFA […]
Now What?
This past weekend I completed my Senior Acting Thesis. That is a sentence I cannot believe I just typed. The past four years have felt as though they have culminated in this moment; a chance for me to share with friends, family members and teachers the experiences I have gained since starting my training freshman year. Although I started […]
An Hour with AXIS Dance Company
Today I had the incredible pleasure and honor to attend a collaborative workshop between the 2017 Acting Major class and AXIS Dance Company. AXIS is a dance company based in Oakland, California that exists to “change the face of dance and disability.” They are currently celebrating their 30th anniversary, and are here for a week-long residency […]
Finally Being in “The Room Where it Happens”
That’s right folks, it happened. This past Tuesday I finally found myself sitting in the Richard Rogers Theatre, better known as”the room where it happens.” I bought my tickets for Hamilton a year-ago. After saving ~many~ of my summer paychecks to snag a coveted seat (which I will admit was located only three rows from the very […]
Keeping It In the Room
Over the past few days, I have found myself constantly reminded of a conversation we had in class recently about what it means to be a generous artist in a collaborative process. It was the discussion in which we talked about the value of “keeping things in the room,” and finding ways to voice your thoughts for the benefit […]
Every Brilliant Thing
If you live a full life and you get to the end of it without ever once feeling crushingly depressed, than you probably haven’t been paying attention. –Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan I first came across Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing about a year ago. I had ordered a bundle of Macmillan’s plays in order […]
Why We Have Yet to Pop Our CFA Bubble
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to any other CFA student reading this post that we as artists and members of the BU community are extremely insular. Throughout my four years here, this conversation has been brought up in a multitude of ways, by many if not most of us. Who comes to see our […]
Viewing the Arts Through Trump-Colored Glasses
I recently started watching The Young Pope on HBO, which stars Jude Law as a self-obsessed, tyrannical, and incredibly stunted ruler who is more concerned with his own image than the good of his people. Sound familiar? The Young Pope clearly understands its role in todays political milieu. Law’s Holy Father “says what he thinks, directly, loudly, whether people […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 