the week of may 3-7, 2021
“We all know we need some sort of communal healing."
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Identity design by Elizabeth Haley Morton.
online theatre
Christopher Ash, Stacey Derosier, and Jenny Koons’ Trés | Tres will stream live on Ars Nova Supra on May 11th at 7:30 PM. The “interactive visual meditation on home, journeys and the worlds we create for ourselves” was created in collaboration with ViDCo.
Shirley Graham Du Bois' 1939 play I Gotta Home streams May 7-10 at Roundabout Theatre Company. The virtual reading, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, is part of the Roundabout Refocus Project, a multi-year initiative seeking to elevate and restore marginalized plays to the American canon.
Kareem Fahmy’s A Distinct Society streams May 8th at 8PM ET at TheaterWorks Silicon Valley. Directed by Giovanna Sardelli, the reading is part of the theatre’s New Works Online Festival.
Kristina Wong’s Sweatshop Overlord will stream live May 14-16 at New York Theatre Workshop. The performance art piece unpacks “the American Dream, America’s pursuit of global empire at the cost of its citizens, and the significance of women of color performing a historically gendered and racialized invisible labor at a time of heightened anti-Asian racism in the U.S.”
The film adaptation of Heather Christian’s Animal Wisdom starts streaming May 15th at Woolly Mammoth. The musical séance where Christian “shapeshifts between rock star, folklorist and high priestess as she conjures a constellation of souls in an effort to confront her family’s mythologies” features stage direction by Emilyn Kowaleski and film direction by Amber McGinnis.
Julia Izumi’s All the Different Ways Commodore Matthew Perry Could Have Died Before Opening Japan But Didn’t is now available on YouTube for Theatre in Quarantine/New Georges. (h/t to Lila Rachel Becker’s brand new recommendations newsletter What’s On)
And as we’re all wondering what happens to virtual theatre post-pandemic: The Guardian reports that the Young Vic will livestream all future productions and Diep Tran advocated for the continuation of streaming productions in The Washington Post.
in person theatre
Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over is going to Broadway. The LCT production, directed by Danya Taymor, will reopen the August Wilson Theatre. It will be the first time a play written by a Black artist has played the theatre since the space was renamed in 2005. Two things to highlight here:
Antoinette will be a producer on the Broadway production. (She cited Jeremy O. Harris for providing a recent model for playwrights to follow.)
The play’s ending, which was reworked between the Steppenwolf and New York productions, will change again: in previous versions, one of the main characters died, but in the Broadway version both men will live. (If you yell at me for spoiling this for you: the play is published and it’s also streaming on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t read/watched it yet: look at your life, look at your choices!)
Antoinette talked about the decision in the New York Times:
“I wrote the other versions of the play out of anger, and out of a desire to shock white people into caring about the fact that Black lives matter,” Nwandu said. “Now I’m ready to step back from that role of needing to indict white America. White America has been indicted, and continues to be indicted, by the actual death of Black people, so nobody needs to see that theatrically rendered anymore.”
She said the play “is still largely a lament,” but that she is now envisioning a tonal shift at the end, as she thinks about her own emotional well-being and that of her audience. “We all know we need some sort of communal healing,” she said. “We have to witness. We have to grieve. And we have to heal, so we can go out into the world and fight these battles.”
Broadway will reopen at 100% capacity on September 14th. As the NYT reports, there are many unknowns: there have been no decisions about social distancing, masks, required vaccinations, or frequency of performances. (In my opinion, industry leaders and producers also need to take action in response to the recent calls for equity, accessibility, representation, racial justice, and fair wages.)
the regional theatre game of thrones
Anna Shapiro announced that she will step down as artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre this summer. She led the company for six years and plans to remain a member of the ensemble. Shapiro said that the decision to step down was not related to recent accusations of institutional inequity, racism, and neglect, which was published by Chicago-based theatre site ReScripted.
Regina Victor, the editor of ReScripted, published an article this week called “Your Journalists Are Failing You”, criticizing the way mainstream outlets minimized the accounts of former employees in favor of covering Steppenwolf’s new season announcement, and the need for equitable arts coverage.
2021-22 season updates
The Young Vic announced its 2021-22 season. Projects include Ben Okri’s Changing Destiny, Jessica Siân’s Klippies, the pandemic-delayed Cush Jumbo-led Hamlet, James Graham’s Best of Enemies, and the Chinonyerem Odimba/Nina Segal/GPT-3 OpenAI technology collaboration AI, a play written by humans and robots together.
The Alley Theatre announced its in-person 2021-22 season. The line-up includes Lynn Nottage’s Sweat (directed by Rob Melrose), Hilary Bettis’ 72 Miles To Go… (directed by José Zayas), Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone (directed by Brandon Weinbrenner), Kate Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility (directed by Adriana Baer), and four world premieres: Chisa Hutchison’s Amerikin (directed by James Black), Vichet Chum’s High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest (directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene), Liz Duffy Adam’s Born with Teeth (directed by Melrose), and Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow’s musical Noir (directed by Darko Tresjnak).
Cleveland Play House announced its 2021 New Ground Theatre Festival. The featured plays are George Brant’s Crooked River Burning, Charly Evon Simpson’s I’m Back Now, Jessica Dickey’s The Ghost Tour, Chelsea Marcantel’s Lake Erie Oubliette, and Vichet Chum’s Liébling.
prize watch
Sydney Chatman and Winsome Pinnock are the inaugural recipients of the Golden & Ruth Harris Commission. An initiative from Jeremy O. Harris and New York Theatre Workshop to support new works by Black womxn, both writers will receive $50,000 for a new theatrical project. The four finalists — Rhodessa Jones, Jasmine Lee-Jones, Djanet Sears, and Pamela Sneed — will receive $12,500.
(Also, this might be my favorite judging panel of all time: Janicza Bravo, Roxane Gay, Katie Mitchell, Robert O'Hara, Claudia Rankine, Machel Ross, Doreen St. Félix, and Brandon Taylor. A perfect album, no skips.)
Donja R. Love won the Terrence McNally Award. The prize honors a Philadelphia playwright and comes with $5,000 and development guidance from Philadelphia Theatre Company; Love received it for his play What Will Happen to All That Beauty?.
The Drama League announced its 2021–2022 Directing Fellowship and Residency Recipients. The 2021–2022 Drama League fellows are Ryan Dobrin, Reena Dutt, Keenan Tyler Oliphant, Christian Ávila, Jasmine B. Gunter, Cara Hinh, Nicholas Polonio, Sivan Battat, Tatyana-Marie Carlo, and Lanise Antoine Shelley. The directors in residence are Ran Xia, Rachel Dickstein/Ripe Time, Matt Dickson, Lyam B. Gabel, Arpita Mukherjee, and Danny Sharron.
things I read this week
This roundtable with directors Whitney White, Tyne Rafaeli, Taibi Magar, and Danya Taymor reflecting on their year without live theater and the structure changes that need to happen to truly diversify the field (NYT)
Soraya Nadia McDonald speaking to the leaders of The Theatre Leadership Project and its mission to support a new generation of Black creative producers and managers (The Undefeated)
Rob Weinert-Kendt on the Black students fighting for recourse after Juilliard’s traumatic “slavery immersion” exercise (American Theatre)
Brittani Samuel reflecting on the progress, purpose, and potential of the We See You White American Theatre collective (The Brooklyn Rail)
Jerald Raymond Pierce on the post-pandemic revival plans for Chicago storefront theatres (American Theatre)
Thanks for this awesome weekly roundup! Did you see Mixed Blood’s AD is stepping down too? That’s two MAJOR Midwestern regional theatres with open AD positions... TIDES ARE A CHANGING (hopefully for the better)