I attended an inspiring and provoking event last night, the New York Theatre Experiment’s second “Generations” event, where Michael Mayer, Denis O’Hare, and Annie Baker talked about the future of theater. A lot of juicy topics came up, many of which I think would be fodder for their own panel...
A lot of the cross talk that happens on the #2amt tag on Twitter is, at its core, about gatekeepers. Who they are, why they exist, why we want them not to exist and what can or should we do about them. Outrageous Fortune is a story of gates and...
“We regret to inform you that of the 19 nominated plays, none was deemed sufficiently realized by the selection panel to receive the Prize. As a result, the Wasserstein Prize will not be presented in 2010. While the panel thought that many of the scripts showed promise, they felt that...
In the past twelve months, I have been a candidate in several searches for a new artistic director, and in three cases, I have been one of the last two or three standing. These experiences – these cover letters, interviews, meetings, discussions and also the crushing disappointments of that...
Gwydion, this one’s for YOU. Recently, after having pored through a stack of theater brochures that hit my inbox, I put out a whimsical challenge to the #2amt twitter community: Describe your next project in 140 characters without using a single adjective. Gwydion remarked that he LIKED adjectives, and wasn’t...
Looks like everyone’s wrestling this week, whether it’s playwrights & critics, casts & audiences, critics & artistic directors, journalists & editors… We’ve also been thinking, arguing and questioning what we do and why we do it. We even get a little political, but only a little. And there’s no intermission....
In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month, the White House hosted a roundtable discussion with members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Visual artist Chuck Close, ballet dancer Damian Woetzel, and committee co-chairs Margo Lion and George Stevens, Jr. discuss arts and humanities education and the...
We all have regrets. We have the shows we almost saw, the times when we didn’t quite make it out the door, didn’t cross town, and then the show we wanted to see existed on Earth no more. It happened without us. We so wanted to go. We were tired, or we were distracted,...
Last week, I coached an actor who had a big audition this past weekend. It was of the ‘bring two contrasting pieces’ variety. She came to me a little later in her process than I would have liked: I didn’t get a chance to consult with her about what pieces...
Screw pricing conversations. DANCE BREAK. Seriously, though, theater needs more dance breaks. I believe this very strongly. I’m willing to fight about it (in a stylized, West Side Story dance-fight sort of way). And I’ll tell you why. I started thinking about this because I recently re-read Jason Grote’s 1001...