the week of february 7-11, 2022
it starts... (the mr. burns revivals)
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Identity Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton || Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
in-person theatre
Neyla Pekarek and Karen Hartman’s musical Rattlesnake Kate is now playing at the Denver Center. Directed by Chris Coleman, the world premiere musical dramatizes the legend of Colorado frontierswoman Kate Slaughterback, who saved her son from 140 rattlesnakes with only a single rifle.
Alistair McDowall’s The Glow is now playing at The Royal Court. Directed by Vicky Featherstone, the “uncanny new play delights in alien time fractures, the chaos of humanity and the unifying feeling of intense loneliness.”
Ciara Ní Chuirc’s Made by God runs February 11 - March 20 at Irish Rep. The world premiere, directed by Olivia Songer, follows an American podcaster traveling to Ireland to investigate a decades-old, real-life tragic death of a teenage mother and her newborn child.
Caridad Svich’s La casa de la laguna (The House on the Lagoon) is now playing at GALA Hispanic Theatre. The adaptation of Rosario Ferré’s acclaimed novel is directed by Rebecca Aparicio and presented in Spanish with English surtitles.
digital theatre
Ontroerend Goed’s TM livestreams at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre through February 13th. The Belgian theatre collective’s latest interactive experience is a an individual performance between one actor and one spectator, exploring “media manipulation, populist ideology, and conspiracy theories.”
Psalmayene 24’s Dear Mapel streams February 14 - 27 on demand at Mosaic Theatre Company. Directed by Natsu Onoda Power, the “joyfully energetic coming of age story takes viewers from Park Slope, Brooklyn to Washington, DC, on a journey through Psalm’s adolescence and major life milestones which are often accentuated by the absence of his father.”
accountability update: williamstown
Last Thursday, Williamstown Theatre Festival announced a series of substantive operational changes and actions, months after the LA Times’ investigation into the festival’s toxic culture. Artistic director Mandy Greenfield resigned a month after the report, with former WTF leader Jenny Gersten taking over on an interim basis.
The LA Times has a succinct summary of the announcement. The changes include reducing the festival’s seven-show season, mandatory safety training and days off, hiring a full-time director of people & culture and employing a third-party HR firm, re-tooling its reporting systems and hiring practices, and reimagining and rebuilding its board, early career training programs, and audience development initiatives.
In response to the announcement, The WTF, Williamstown?! Collective of festival alumni — who wrote an eight-page letter about WTF’s dangerous and inhumane working conditions to the organization’s leadership and board last February — shared the following statement with reporter Ashley Lee:
2022 season updates
Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival announced its 2022 summer season. The line-up includes Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (directed by Davis McCallum); Romeo & Juliet (directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch); Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong (directed by Mei Ann Teo); and two developmental workshops: Heidi Ambruster’s Untitled Agatha Project (directed by Ryan Quinn) and Will Power’s Memnon (directed by Carl Cofield).
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park announced its 2022-23 season. The line-up includes Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (directed by Risa Brainin), Vanessa Severo’s Frida…A Self Portrait (directed by Joanie Schultz), Benjamin Scheuer’s The Lion (directed by Sean Daniels and Alex Stenhouse), A Chorus Line (directed by Blake Robison), August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (directed by Ron OJ Parson), Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady, and the world premieres of Karen Zacarías’ Shine (directed by Blake Robison/Guthrie co-commission) and Nathan Alan Davis’ Origin Story (directed by Joanie Schultz).
awards & commissions
Zora Howard is the inaugural recipient of Manhattan Theatre Club’s Judith Champion Playwriting Fellowship. The annual fellowship will provide writers with “artistic and financial resources to develop a new commissioned play.”
Irish Repertory Theatre and Fishamble Theatre Company launched the Transatlantic Commissions Program. Four Black Irish artists and writers of color comprise the initial cohort: Felispeaks (Felicia Olusanya), Kwaku Fortune, Jade Jordan, and CN Smith. The program “aims to address the historic marginalization and inequalities within the canon, particularly in Irish theatre.”
that’s not a living wage
Here are this week’s featured underpaid job listings, paired with the living wage for a 40-hour work week for one adult with no children in that area. (You can read more about the methodology here.)
Development Associate, American Associates of The National Theatre (part-time): “$19,000 per annum ($38,000 annual salary pro-rated to 20 hours a week)”
Living Wage for NYC: $51,323
