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Recent Essays

This is a repository of written content, sorted by most recent to oldest. Enjoy!

A group of actors perform a fight onstage.
How Pay As You Are Changed Theater Mu
Essay

How Pay As You Are Changed Theater Mu

27 November 2023

Theater Mu managing director Anh Thu T. Pham and development director Wesley Mouri discuss the ideology behind the theater’s Pay As You Are program, how it works, and what impact it’s having on the theatre six years after its implementation.

Trevor Boffone films an actress singing into a microphone onstage.
Five Ways to Maximize Your Theatre’s Social Media Presence
Essay

Five Ways to Maximize Your Theatre’s Social Media Presence

21 November 2023

When utilized fully, social media can function as a critical extension of work being done onstage. Trevor Boffone pulls from his experience as a content creator and social media manager to share concrete steps that theatremakers and theatre companies can use to leverage the unique potentials of social media. 

A group of people hold a white sheet between them on a lawn.
Performance, Pro-Democracy Protest, and Activism Across Cultures
Essay

Performance, Pro-Democracy Protest, and Activism Across Cultures

13 November 2023

Kristin Idaszak reflects on experiencing Theatre Du Polet’s Be Water, My Friend at the Prague Quadrennial. This protest art about Hong Kong’s fight for democracy in 2019, performed in the Czech Republic, crosses cultures, political regimes, and time periods.

Three students stand with two chairs in the middle of a circle of audience members outside.
Setting the Stage for Empowerment with Theatre of the Oppressed
Essay

Setting the Stage for Empowerment with Theatre of the Oppressed

9 November 2023

Applied theatre scholars and practitioners Jennifer Schaupp and Dr. Felicia Owusu-Ansah discuss the empowering potential of Theatre of the Oppressed, and how Felicia has been able to utilize it in Ghana and other places around the world.

A chart displaying statistics of gender between theatrical designers
Who Designs and Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun, 2012-2020
Essay

Who Designs and Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun, 2012-2020

6 November 2023

​Lighting designer Porsche McGovern​ shares the results of the final year of her study on the pronouns of designers and directors working in LORT theatres, how the study came about, and what she hopes for the future.

Porsche McGovern sits at a tech table taking notes.
More Cultivation, Less Crane Machine: Who Gets to Design in LORT Theatres
Essay

More Cultivation, Less Crane Machine: Who Gets to Design in LORT Theatres

6 November 2023

Designers Porsche McGovern and Sherrice Mojgani discuss the impact of Porsche’s multi-year study looking at designers and directors in LORT theatres by pronouns, and how theatre leaders can better support and learn from the freelance artists they hire.

A performer stands in the center of the frame as another moves a prop into frame.
Evolving Our World Through the Power of an Actor’s Empathy
Essay

Evolving Our World Through the Power of an Actor’s Empathy

2 November 2023

Empathy can be a very powerful tool for our collective liberation, and it is something actors are often more skilled in than others. Yura Sapi discusses how actors can harness the power of empathy to have a significant impact on our world.

An abstract rendering of a small room.
Scattered, but Not Apart: A Two-Sided Story
Essay

Scattered, but Not Apart: A Two-Sided Story

26 October 2023

Carl(os) Roa and Rula(s) A. Muñoz share a multi-vocal, non-linear account of their group’s work at the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) Designer and Director Colaboratorio. Through both text and images, they document their group’s explorations of non-hierarchical generative process, as well as the challenges they faced.

Ten actors link arms with each other during a performance.
Balancing Trauma and Joy While Teaching Queer Theatre History
Essay

Balancing Trauma and Joy While Teaching Queer Theatre History

24 October 2023

Theatre professor John Michael DiResta reflects on teaching queer theatre history to students who have had very different lived queer experiences than he had growing up. By investigating queer theatrical history from a contemporary lens and with an invitation to engage and make something new, his students were able to find the joy in history where they previously only saw trauma.

A large group of people standing in a circle on a stage with one person crouched in the center.
An Approach to Content Warnings in the Theatre Classroom
Essay

An Approach to Content Warnings in the Theatre Classroom

23 October 2023

Theatre educator Sofia Lindgren Galloway explores the complicated question of whether one should use content warnings when teaching theatre, and offers an approach for others to consider.

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