Tag Archive | new work
Interview with Sarah Whelan, the Playwright of “White Rabbit”
Today, Sarah Whelan and I sat down to talk about her play, White Rabbit, which will be read on Sunday at 4 PM! Here is a transcript from that conversation Me: How did this play start? S: So I was, well I’ve always been fascinated with how people react to tragedies or war and how […]
Downtown
“The lights are much brighter there You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re Downtown, no finer place for sure Downtown everything’s waiting for you” This song by Petula Clark seems to ring true for playwright Kyle Chua in his new play, Downtown. The lights […]
And on and on and on
In theatre, unless you’re lucky to land an ongoing tour, every piece of theatre is ephemeral not only metaphorically but literally. You’ve got a few weeks or a few months on a project, and then it’s over–you move on to the next, or rather, spend a good deal of energy finding the next. As a […]
The Naked Truth
Last month I ventured to see the show everyone in the gay theatre world was talking about– Afterglow by S. Asher Gelman. The play, which details the sexual romantic escapades of three young men in a burgeoning love triangle, markets itself on the blunt, graphic nudity strung throughout the piece. Though not surprising in a […]
Our Obligation to New Work
This week on my Facebook timeline I came across an article announcing, “Fort Worth Opera Fires Longtime General Director Darren K. Woods“. The word “fire” immediately caught my attention. In short, the company was quoted as wanting to find someone who would “focus more on business and management”, and that while they appreciated Mr. Woods artistic visions for the […]
The Absurdist Impulse in our Time
It is no secret to anyone that I have particular fondness for the absurdist theater, and recently I’ve heard a lot of talk about the power that absurdist theater can have in this current political climate. For example, in the short span of two weeks Howlround has put out not one, but two different pieces […]
Reverence for Plays
I’ve come to a realization, I had to fail in order to do it, but I suppose that’s the case with many realizations. As I have said in my first blog post, I have been reading a lot of new plays recently, and one thing I have been doing is volunteering to read some new plays […]
Formidable Institutions Cultivating New Works in the American Theatre Scene
Last week I peered into the UK new works theatre scene and learned that about two-thirds of its productions are considered new works (according to the Guardian) and learned of The Royal Court’s breadth and scope in cultivation of new works. This week I looked at American theatre-related institutions that are largely contributing to the […]
The Potential of the Staged Reading: Are we Fulfilling it?
What does a play need from a staged reading? A response that might immediately come to mind is something along the lines of ‘to hear the play out loud’ ‘so I can hear the words come out of actors mouths” So I can get a fresh set of eyes and ears on the play’. These are […]
New Work in the U.S. vs. the U.K.: Part One
Lately, I’ve become interested in the state of new work in the American theatre scene, so I’ve decided to make a two-part piece comparing the American scene with the British theatre scene, which seems to place a great emphasis on new work. In this blog piece I’ll talk a bit about what I’ve read concerning […]
James Ricks on pushing the envelope…
Right now in Richmond Virginia at the Firehouse Theatre, audience are being treated to night after night of Privacy. Torture. Love. Gluttony. Truth. War. Hunger. Flatulance. It is all part of Director James Ricks’ vision of merging George Orwell’s dystopian fiction 1984 with Alfred Jarry’s absurdist Ubu Roi in the world premiere of Ubu 84. […]
i can do whatever i want, punk.
“A guy walks up to me and asks ‘What’s Punk?’ So I kick over a garbage can and say ‘That’s punk!’ So he kicks over a garbage can and says ‘That’s punk?’ and I say ‘No, that’s trendy!’”-Billie Joe Armstrong When I moved to Boston almost 3 years ago, I found the streets of Allston […]
Spoiler Alert: All of the Children Die
This Sunday I had the pleasure of seeing Company One’s production of SHOCKHEADED PETER, presented in part with Suffolk University at the Modern Theatre. SHOCKHEADED PETER originated in 1998 through collaboration between Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch of London’s Improbable Theatre, and a British “Brechtian Punk Cabaret” band called The Tiger Lillies. They sought to […]
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 […]
Sorry, Writers…
I’ve gotten the chance to work on a couple new plays over the past six months, and never once did I think about the writer’s being paid for their work. I was lucky enough to be a part of the production team on Williamstown Theatre Festival’s production of A Great Wilderness. Through the eight weeks of […]
The Soap Myth
“5 kilos of human fat are mixed with 10 liters of water and 500 or 1,000 grams of caustic soda. All this is boiled 2 or 3 hours and then cooled. The soap floats to the surface while the water and other sediment remain at the bottom. A bit of salt and soda is added […]
Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment
To be frank, I was very confused during quite a few moments in the production of Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment. But, I loved it. I loved that the show challenged me and I loved that it brought me outside of my comfort zone. The show starts off […]
Critical Response “The Flick”
Company One’s production of The Flick honored and illuminated Annie Baker’s story of three mismatched movie workers with great truth and passion. Baker’s fifth fully produced full-length play had its New England premiere at Company One this February, re-introducing me and the Boston Theatre Community to the powerful nature of Baker’s work. Company One is […]
‘Becoming a Fan’
There are many things to be said about my experience sitting and watching Becoming Cuba… but to start I want to say how amazing it was to go and see a world premiere show. As I got into my seat in the first row of the mezzanine, I glanced to the left to see the […]
A Solution (maybe) for Non-Profits: A Sense of Place
A sense of place—this is an idea Carlos Uriona of Double Edge Theatre talked about recently in a Tedx Talk. I think this is particularly important for artists. In his talk, Carlos tells of his journey from Argentina all the way to Ashfield, MA, USA to Double Edge Theatre. Carlos was an artist and theatre […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 