the week of june 14-18, 2021

hi walnut street theatre please don't sue me

Jun 18, 2021

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this week in debacles: walnut street theatre

In the article “America’s Oldest Theater Wants to Shut This South Philly Actress Up" (A+ headline, no notes), Philadelphia Magazine reported that Walnut Street Theatre issued a cease-and-desist to actor Jenna Pinchbeck for her social media posts questioning the company’s commitment to creating a safe working environment for marginalized artists.

The letter cites Pinchbeck’s Facebook and Instagram comments asking how Walnut Street Theatre plans to “make your space safer for BIPOC, trans and disabled artists…How are you going to make women feel safe with Bernard around? What have you done to hold him accountable?” Philadelphia Magazine points out exactly which question rankled the organization enough to take legal action:

The cease-and-desist didn’t specifically rebut her comments about BIPOC, trans and disabled people. But her allegations about 79-year-old Havard and women? That’s a different situation entirely. Those comments apparently struck a nerve.
“These statements you decided to post imply that Mr. Havard engaged in unlawful activity harming the safety of women,” Diaz wrote. “They actually suggest criminal activity. Mr. Havard, however, has not engaged in any such unlawful or criminal activity and your statements to the contrary are not just false but recklessly so.”

Bernard Havard is the Producing Artistic Director and President of the Walnut Street Theatre. I don’t know anything about Havard, and given how litigious he seems, I’m not going to speculate. But I do think it’s worth noting that Havard’s annual salary is $690,655 — against $16.6 million in annual expenses* — while Walnut apprentices make $300 a week. Until last year, the 20-member Walnut Street Theatre board was entirely white. (There is now one Black board member.) This is publicly available data and you can draw your own conclusions about the institutional culture and priorities!

WST threatened to take Pinchbeck to court unless she retracted her previous comments and stopped posting about the theatre. Pinchbeck has done the exact opposite: she hired her own legal representation, organized a protest, and is now collecting testimonials about WST and Havard from the Philly theatre community, which she plans to publish on social media.

* I think it’s useful to compare executive compensation at other regional theatres here:
Steppenwolf: $17.9 million in expenses / AD salary: $305,115
La Jolla Playhouse: $19.7 in expenses / AD salary: $305,461
The Alley Theatre: $20.6 million expenses / AD salary: $400,958
Berkeley Rep: $20.7 million in expenses / AD salary: $245,605
Arena Stage: $30.6 million in expenses / AD salary: $468,567
The Guthrie: $32.2 million in expenses / AD salary: $373,588

audio & online theatre

It’s the most delightfully unhinged time of the year: ANT Fest. Ars Nova’s annual festival kicked off on Tuesday and continues next week with Collin Kelly’s He Rip His Shirt Off Completely, physical theatre company Voloz Collective’s AMERICA, Amara Janae Brady’s “My Dick is David Duke” or The Sad Fat Negress Can’t Get a Date (directed by Caitlyn Johnson), Nora Sørena Casey & Nana Dakin’s Sorry/Not Sorry, Jasmine Joshua’s Bread Crumbs (directed by Eddie DeHais), sound artist/DJ Jess Ramsay and drag artist Untitled Queen’s concept art album Meebula: A Drag and Sonic Memoir, and Lyam B. Gabel & Evan Spigelman’s My Mouth is a Queer Time Machine.
Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only, co-realized by Les Waters and Jared Mezzocchi, is streaming on demand through June 20th. The new short play is being presented by the National Asian American Theatre Company.
Noma Dumezweni’s Home? is now streaming for free through June 20 on the Old Vic’s YouTube channel. The monologue series, curated by Dumezweni in collaboration with fellow refugee artists, “celebrates and recognizes those who have sought safety from their homes, their place within our collective community and the journey that it took to get there.”
Jonathan Spector’s short audio play Owner Occupy premieres June 20th from Playing On Air. The Taibi Magar-directed comedy about “bloodsuckers of all kinds” chronicles the arrival of Alvin and Mia’s new neighbor, “a tech entrepreneur who’s rich, charismatic, and strangely pale.”
Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis’ Harold & Lillian will stream June 21 - 27 as part of South Coast Rep’s digital Pacific Playwrights Festival. The musical, directed by Michael Greif and dramaturged by Jerry Patch, is based on the documentary by Daniel Raim about “the six-decade marriage between storyboard artist Harold Michelson and film researcher Lillian Michelson.”
Tara Moses’ Arbeka streams June 22nd at 5PM PDT as part of Native Voices at the Autry’s Festival of New Plays. The play follows Hokte Tiger, who returns to the Arbeka grounds in Oklahoma after a decade in Hollywood to confront past tragedies, mistakes, and wounds.
Heather Raffo’s Tomorrow Will Be Sunday streams June 23rd at 7 PM CDT as part of the Playwrights’ Center Lab. The piece is “a theatrical experiment into the future of migration and the global economy.”
Charlayne Woodard’s The Garden virtually premieres at Baltimore Center Stage on June 24th. Directed by Patricia McGregor, the solo production explores the unexpected reunion of a long-estranged mother and daughter.
Torrey Townsend’s Off Broadway will stream June 24-27 on Broadstream. Directed by Robert O’Hara, the satire is presented by Jeremy O. Harris and “follows the staff of a non-profit theatre as they come together on Zoom and scramble to stave off extinction.”

in-person theatre

Nina Raine’s new play Bach & Sons starts performances June 23rd at the Bridge Theatre. Directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Simon Russell Beale, the play traces the relationship between…Bach and his sons. (I haven’t read it and I’m only going off of vague marketing copy leave me alone)

2021-22 season updates

Atlantic Theater Company announced its 2021-22 season. Projects include five world premieres: Ngozi Anyanwu’s The Last of the Love Letters (directed by Patricia McGregor); David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s world premiere musical Kimberly Akimbo (directed by Jessica Stone); Shhhhh (written, featuring, & directed by Clare Barron); Sanaz Toossi’s English (directed by Knud Adams); and Joshua Harmon, Sarah Silverman, and Adam Schlesinger’s musical The Bedwetter (directed by Anne Kauffman).
New York Stage & Film announced its 2021 summer line-up. In-person presentations include Melissa Li and Kit Yan’s Interstate (directed by Jesca Prudencio), Michael R. Jackson’s White Girl in Danger (directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz), songs from Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson’s concept album Mexodus, and Florencia Iriondo’s solo musical South.
Syracuse Stage announced its upcoming in-person season. The line-up includes Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day (directed by Robert Hupp), Dipika Guha’s Yoga Play (directed by Melissa Crespo), Brian Quijada’s new musical Somewhere Over the Border, the world premiere of Kyle Bass’ salt/city/blues (directed by Gilbert McCauley), Matilda the Musical (directed by Donna Drake), and The Play That Goes Wrong (directed by Hupp).

the regional theatre game of thrones

Michael Ritchie is retiring as artistic director of Center Theatre Group. He’s led the LA-based company for 16 years.

prize watch

Katori Hall won the Pulitzer Prize for The Hot Wing King. The finalists were Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley’s Circle Jerk and Zora Howard’s Stew. I don’t have any influence anymore so I’ll just toss out my local season planning ideas for free: if you run a DC theatre and you don’t program The Hot Wing King and cast Justin Weaks and Jaysen Wright then you are fumbling the bag!

things I edited this week

“A View from the Door: Institutional Dramaturgy” (3 Views on Theater)
It was a real pleasure to edit this piece for 3 Views, and I’m so grateful to Kirsten Bowen, Ashley Chang, Sarah Rose Leonard, and Naysan Mojgani for sharing the joys, frustrations, and precarity of institutional dramaturgy. I loved being a staff dramaturg, but I don’t think it’s currently a sustainable profession and my four brilliant colleagues perfectly articulate the minefield of emotions and concerns. I want their vision for the future of our field — and the American theatre at large — to be realized. I hope you’ll give it a read.

Nothing for the Group