Tag Archive | BU SOT
Should we make new spaces, or integrate existing power structures?
Today, on the UN’s International Day of the Girl, the Boy Scouts (BSA) announced that they will be opening up to accept women. By 2019, women will be able to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. This comes after the BSA allowed transgender troopers in January, allowed openly gay troop leaders in 2015, and allowed […]
There must be a Right Answer that isn’t the White Answer
As a preface, I am white. I identify as a woman that uses she/her/hers pronouns. I struggled with whether or not to post this, because as a white woman, I was unsure if it was my place. I was also unsure why I assumed that just because I was a white woman, I couldn’t […]
Streeeeeeetch
I came into the process of Our Town with a few ideas about the play. It’s overdone. My mother announced my casting assignment to the web of her community and people of my grandmother and mother’s generations came out in droves to tell me what character they played in high school… Is wide acclaim and […]
MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM Theatre
I do theatre and watch theatre to commune with something: OVERWHELMING POWERFUL LARGER-THAN-EVERYTHING EVERYTHING. After a good show: I am ELECTRIC Every cell in my body is dancing to techno at a Berlin nightclub I can run across the country in a single blink (.) I am INJECTED with life force MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM TREMENDOUS, […]
Stories Worth Telling
I recently read a blog post by my classmate, Ally, in response to Scott Slavin’s post about solo performance on HowlRound. In Ally’s post, she concludes that the main purpose of solo performance is telling a story worth knowing. I agree, and further ask, what constitutes a story worth knowing? Both Scott and Ally remark […]
The PLAY After Tomorrow (It’s Wicked Cold)
It’s a tough time to be doing theatre in Boston right now. Let’s face it, it’s a tough time to be doing anything in Boston right now. WCVB news calculates that it’s snowed 96.3 inches this season (in an article posted two days ago, and it snowed again yesterday, and today, so I’m simply dying to know where we’re at now…). […]
Giving Back To Your Artistic Upbringing (where the f**k am I moving?)
No mater where we start, the conversation of “where are you moving?” constantly works its way into conversation between my peers and I. As the Senior Class prepares to go out into the nation and become active theatre artists, I often find that I am torn between moving to some grand city (alright, lets be […]
What It’s All About
Pacific Overtures has so far been one of the most challenging shows I’ve ever run. Second only, I think, to the Shakespeare in the woods I SMed this summer. I’ve stated several times throughout the process that this show makes me feel dumb at stage management. There are so many things going on sometimes that […]
Why My Arts Training is Making Me the Person I Need to Be
I guess you could say I applied as a Stage Management major on a whim. I was labelled as the “stage manager” of my high school technical theatre group, but since we were primarily the school’s event production service I did not get much experience with theatrical productions, and only dabbled in the actual duties […]
The Easy Choice
Previously on this blog I have advocated for the consideration of stage managers as theatre artists, citing our creative sensibilities in communicating notes from the rehearsal room, and the influence we can have on the execution of the design elements in a production. I truly believe this, and recognize in myself my own capacity for […]
PUT YOUR HAND DOWN WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS TALKING: A STUDENT MANIFESTO
When asked the question “what do you want to do with your degree in theatre?” I always respond with the same sentiment: I just want to talk to people for the rest of my life. People often give a thoughtful nod and a contemplative humph, which allows me to elaborate: communication is essential to theatre […]
Interdisciplinary Theatre, Within the Theatre
It has long been established in my mind that Stage Managers are interdisciplinary artists. (This is the reason why it’s so difficult to explain in a sentence what we do.) The Boston University curriculum for Stage Management (at least from 2011 onward, since I have been a student) encompasses very few technical Stage Management classes. […]
Chicken Soup for the Dramaturg’s Soul
“I live in the world. The theatre is where I go to work,” quoth Canadian playwright George F. Walker in an interview with dramaturg and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre literary manager Paul Kosidowski. This very measured distinction struck me as helpful and healthy. My experience working towards my BFA in the School of Theatre has often […]
Tabloid Theatre! The Dramaturgical Question in Celebrity Casting
Oh, what a tangled web we weave in a conservatory program like the Boston University School of Theatre. Theatremaking is often personal. The process of honing that craft is, in my experience, always personal. We work from what we know, adapting our raw material—depending on one’s approach images, memories, imaginative prompts, etc.—to suit the task at hand. No […]
Failing and Trying – The Advantages of Theatremaking in the University Setting
A topic that’s been circulating back around on the blog in the past few weeks has been the BU School of Theatre’s place in the larger university setting, specifically in terms of uniting with the larger university curricula and sharing what we in the SOT have to offer with a university-wide audience (See: Rachel Rees’ […]
They need it more than we do.
Hey fellow theatre students: Why do we spend so much time and effort into making theatre that nobody will see? At least, nobody other than our classmates, fellow artists, who always see it… How do we engage with new audiences? Ones whose first impulse would not be to spend their Friday night going to the […]
I’m a Woman. Now What?
I’ve never considered myself a “feminist” in the stereotypical sense, yet I’m beginning to wonder why. I am a woman, after all, and fundamentally believe in universal equality. However, I’m staring to realize that the level of prejudice of every nature still exists in the world, in greater amounts than I’d like to admit. I’m […]
Joining the Discussion
Coincidentally, in two of my classes this semester we have recently read an adaptation of a Greek play that focuses on the theme of war, which we creatively discussed in class. In Scenic Design 1, we read Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptation of Aeschylus’ The Persians and each created three-dimensional artistic responses to the piece. We brought […]
“Have you seen Henry?”
Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing the opening of Women of Henry VIII. The Boston University School of Theatre show is a devised piece written by the cast under the direction of Lily King (3rd Year MFA Directing Candidate). What is a devised piece you ask? Instead of beginning with a script, the […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 