Tag Archive | New York
Challenging my Activism
This week, I’ve been researching and writing for our Antigone program note assignment. The play that I’m dramaturging is Antigone in New York by Janusz Glowacki. Glowacki also wrote Hunting Cockroaches, which was produced here at BU in 2016, directed by Stephen Pick. In Cockroaches, he writes about the strife of poverty, but specifically uses humor as a […]
I <3 NY — Wait, Do I?
I have a complicated relationship with New York. My dad took me when I was a youngster and I was ecstatic to see my first Broadway show. I was less ecstatic about the stench, the grime, the frustration, and the anger on its streets. This past semester I revisited after nine years and stayed with […]
Chotto Desh
Somehow midway through this semester I found myself in New York to see a production of Hamilton! Honestly, that show deserves more of a novel than a blog post, so I’ll just say that it delivered on the hype and I was blown away. Hamilton was a matinee and my bus back to Boston didn’t leave until […]
Dramaturgy in the Ballet World
In most major ballet companies (New York City Ballet, Houston, Paris Opera, etc.) there is a person or staff of people employed as the Ballet Masters. Each of them have a repertoire of ballets that they have either seen, danced in, or learned from the original choreographer. These ballet masters are responsible for keeping the ballet […]
#BLM, Jews, and the Theatre that Betrayed Them Both
Let’s set the scene. Feinstein’s/54 Below had a concert scheduled for Sept. 11, 2016 to benefit Black Lives Matter. Then, the week of, ticket holders were abruptly emailed that the show had been cancelled. A more detailed email to performers indicated that the cancellation was due to the venue owners’ and management’s desire to appear unaffiliated with […]
This Is (in fact) Our Youth (of today)
In inspiration through a guest workshop with Bill Marx today, I look at this drama criticism article of “This Is Our Youth” directed by Anna Shapiro with star name Michael Cera in the role of Warren. This article posted on the Village Voice website utilized two voices of criticism “One Veteran, One Youth”. I understand […]
Target Demographic
How on earth is my demographic (18-34 year-old, male, (and, let’s be honest, straight and white), or possibly 18-49, etc.) still the most coveted in terms of sales, advertising, and apparently Broadway? I really want to know, because I find it a bit baffling. It can’t be because there are more of us. Data indicates […]
Regular Singing at the Public Theater
For the past four years, many fortunate theatergoers in New York have had the pleasant opportunity of getting to know the Apple family. Living in suburban New York, the Apple family has gotten together over recent years to mark certain dates in history, whether an important anniversary or the evening of a notable historical election. […]
New York, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down
It’s been said time and time again, over and over, like a broken record. New York is over. New York is dead—you know, because Hip Hop is dead and Punk is dead and Times Square has been fully Disney-fied since a thorough clean-up effort began in 1980. New York is no longer the cultural capital […]
What and How?
The first time I went to New York I was 16. I remember being so excited – as I was very recently getting into theatre – and viewed Broadway as the be-all, end-all of theatre: the best of the best. Before I left though, I was baffled at the amount of friends and family I […]
Where are all of the horror plays?
I’ve asked this question since I first starting doing theatre, at 14. In the fifth grade I remember seeing a one-act of The Fall of the House of Usher on a field trip and being captivated by the sense of dread I felt in that theatre. Ever since I thought (and still do) that theatre […]
Rethinking Audience
As an avid viewer of all talks Ted, I stumbled across a fairly recent conference investigating storytelling entitled “Something Just Out of Sight.” This TEDx talk––the “x” indicating a locally organized TED event––was created and led by Ben Ferguson, Alex Falberg, Curtis Gillen, Ryan Melia, Matt Nuernberger, Arya Shahi, and Daniel Weschler, a group perhaps […]
You call yourself a professional? (Maybe you should.)
This insightful blog post by Melissa Hillman has defined perfectly, for me, what being a “professional” means for the artist. Or rather, that the word “professional” itself can be used to describe me, despite what my paycheck may say at any given point. I am sure every theatre artist has had this experience at some time or other in […]
Broaaaaadwaaaay
I was reading an article this week (and by “an article” I mean Buzzfeed) about Hollywood actors taking the stage in New York. Like any semi-pretentious, semi-entitled college theatre student, I rolled my eyes as I clicked the link. Great. Another 2010 Tony Awards waiting to happen. Hollywood invades Broadway. The tagline for the article […]
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed
On Sunday (homework day), while reading Mark Lord’s “The Dramaturgy Reader”, I spilled 16 fluid ounces of sparkling water on my laptop. Black screen. Dead. No pulse. No hope. The journey to the Apple Store was wrought with self-reproach and frustrated grunts. And when the man at the Genius bar (who, I assume, is accustomed […]
Have We Lost Control?
After reading a New York Times article regarding the recent deaths caused by the drug molly, it got me thinking about drug use in the arts world. For centuries artists have taken to drugs for inspiration- that is no secret. We often hear about musicians, visual artists, and theatre professionals smoking this or taking that but more […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 