the week of august 17-21, 2020
"How can I suppress the right of people to express their position?"
Welcome to Nothing for the Group, the newsletter where one dramaturg rounds up one week in theatre news, reviews, and takes.
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If you’re an artist or administrator in financial need, or if you’d like to directly support theatre-makers in your community, here’s a great round-up of local and national grants and resources from Creative Capital.
what’s happening in belarus
I understand if you’ve been too riddled with anxiety over the American election (by the way, check your voter registration here) to follow the historic anti-government protests in Belarus, so here’s a recap: Mass demonstrations started a week after President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, straight-up rigged elections to stay in power. Tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets to protest the results, and they’re still out there and growing.
Director Pavel Latushko, the head of Janka Kupala National Theatre (the oldest theatre in Minsk), was fired by Culture Minister Yury Bondar for speaking out against the government and supporting the protesters. In response, the whole company resigned, as reported by Reuters:
Bondar said the theatre should not be turned into a "political club"…One after another, the company of actors slammed down a resignation letter on the stage in front of him and shouted "go away". The protesters outside cheered as actors emerged after handing in their resignation.
"We cannot work in a state where people are humiliated and beaten," one person was heard shouting from the audience.
You can watch the actors submitting their resignation letters en masse here. (Belarus Free Theatre has also been posting frequent updates and videos from the protests.)
Before his firing, Latushko was told by the government “to stamp out any rumblings of discontent”, but he refused and is staying in Minsk despite the considerate threat to his life:
"How can I suppress the right of people to express their position?" he said. "If we are silent now we will come to a situation where any person can be subjected to violence by law enforcement agencies."
the black artist coalition
Some exciting news for the DC theatre community: The Black Artist Coalition—a collective of Washington area artists, advocates, and supporters from the Black community—launched this week, announcing their purpose, principles, and plans.
The group is committed to improving the status of Black actors, artists, and administrators by "adopting and enacting racial, cultural, and ethnic policies that are equitable; advocating for language and stories of inclusivity; representing the collective mindset of the organization; and offering support to Black artists to hold accountable and dismantle biased practices within regional and local arts organizations."
The BAC also released their first visual project, “The Black Artist Coalition: The Introduction”, to introduce the collective to the Washington theatre community and their plans to produce "new works, workshops, presentations and celebrations of all things Black artistry." You can follow their work on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, using the hashtag #BlackArtistCoalition.
virtual theatre
Ming Peiffer’s Finish the Fight, a virtual play directed by Whitney White celebrating five unsung heroes of the suffrage movement (Mary McLeod Bethune, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Zitkála-Šá, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Jovita Idár), streamed live on August 18th, but you can still watch it on YouTube.
The Tank and New Light Theatre Project will present a livestream production of Gina Femia’s meet you at the Galaxy Diner. on August 21st (today!) at 8 PM.
As part of its digital season, Arizona Theatre Company is streaming a reading of Benjamin Benne’s Alma, directed by Catherine María Rodríguez, through August 22nd.
reopening watch: 2021 season updates
The Goodman Theatre announced an eight-play 2021 season, with no set dates. The line-up includes the return of Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls, Hershey Felder’s A Paris Love Story, José Cruz González’s American Mariachi, Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci and four world premieres: Christina Anderson’s the ripple, the wave that carried me home; Cheryl L. West’s Fannie; Doug Wright’s Good Night, Oscar; and the musical The Outsiders with book by Adam Rapp and music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levin.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announced an updated eight-play season to start in March 2021. The season includes Hershey Felder as Monsieur Chopin, Emily Mann’s adaptation of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, the world premiere of Jessica Dickey’s Nan and the Lower Body, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Paul Gordon’s musical adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, Madhuri Shekar’s Queen, and Ragtime.
Utah Shakespeare Festival announced their upcoming season, set to begin in June 2021. The season includes Pericles, Cymbeline, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, Ragtime, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, and John Goodrum’s The Comedy of Terrors.
Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC is postponing their next season, with a “best case scenario” return launch in August 2021. The theatre will partner with LA-based interactive theatre team Mister and Mischief on an upcoming Zoom collaboration, Objectivity, which will debut at the end of September.
Meanwhile, in Australia: Melbourne Theatre Company has canceled the remainder of its 2020 season, resulting in a $12.5 million box office loss after receiving delayed government aid that accounted for…7% of their annual revenue. In Sydney, after a six-month closure, the Belvoir St Theatre will reopen on September 10th with A Room of One’s Own. The two actors will be separated by “a wall of glass” and audiences will be limited to 120 patrons, with mandatory mask-wearing and temperature checks at the door. The Belvoir is the first of Sydney’s major theatre companies to announce a return of in-person performances.
the great american AD shuffle
Regina Victor is the new Artistic Director of Sideshow Theatre in Chicago. A dramaturg, critic, and artistic producer, Victor replaces founding artistic director Jonathan L. Greene (who will stay on as a member of the artistic company) and looks forward to “lead[ing] Sideshow in an anti-racist, non-hierarchical direction.”
The Public Theater appointed Saheem Ali and Shanta Thake as associate artistic directors. Ali will doubly serve as resident director, curating, developing, and directing productions. Thake will retain the title of director of artistic programs, overseeing Joe's Pub, Mobile Unit, Under the Radar, and more.
the (everyone is losing their) jobs report
The Brookings Institute issued a report measuring the devastating impact of COVID-19 on creative industries, and I regret to inform you that the outlook for the performing arts is still extremely grim:
The fine and performing arts industries—which include the visual arts, music, theater, and dance—will be hit hardest, suffering estimated losses of almost 1.4 million jobs and $42.5 billion in sales. These estimated losses represent 50% of all jobs in those industries and more than a quarter of all lost sales nationwide.
The report is also explicit about what needs to happen for the sector to recover. I wish I was a deranged optimist, but our current government is criminally incompetent so I read this and my soul collapsed in on itself like a dying star:
Small, stop-gap measures will not undo the damage; a substantial and sustained national creative-economy recovery strategy is required. This strategy must be bottom-up, but supported across the board and led by local public-private partnerships between municipal governments, arts and cultural organizations, economic development and community groups, philanthropy, and the private sector, with support from federal and state levels of government, national philanthropy, and large corporations.
things I read and found compelling this week
Diep Tran on the creation of the See Lighting Foundation and the challenges immigrant artists have faced during the pandemic
J.R. Pierce on how theatres are re-evaluating policies, like the infamous 10 out of 12, to create more humane working conditions
That’s all for this week. I’m a little consumed with job applications and some freelance work — I’m serving on a grant panel, and I’m doing a little writing around some upcoming DC theatre news (which I will eventually share here) — so apologies for the brevity of my commentary in this week’s edition.
A friendly reminder that I am still looking for a full-time job — preferably in the DC/Baltimore area, but I’m semi-open to moving elsewhere — so please feel free to forward me anything that will let me make enough money to finally adopt a dog. Think of how much better this newsletter would be with regular dog pictures!