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Recent Essays

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

a screen capture of an ASL interpreter and live captions for a presenter on a Zoom video conference that was livestreamed
How to Produce a Livestreamed Event
Essay

How to Produce a Livestreamed Event

A Producer’s Guide to the Tools and Embedded Values

14 April 2020

Vijay Mathew, HowlRound’s cultural strategist, offers a guide to producing and livestreaming events online.

black text on a yellow background
Instigating Institutional Change Towards Decolonization
Essay

Instigating Institutional Change Towards Decolonization

13 April 2020

Roya Amirsoleymani and Erin Boberg Doughton of the Portland Institute of for Contemporary Art share the steps they’ve taken toward decolonizing and indigenizing the practices and curatorial processes of their organization, which have been supported by Emily Johnson and the advisory council of the Global First Nations Performance Network.

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Performance Despite the Pandemic
Essay

Performance Despite the Pandemic

Continuing to Create at the Intersection of Coronavirus, Crisis, and Care

9 April 2020

Theatremaker Asif Majid talks about adapting his show, Snapshots, for a digital space after COVID-19 shut down theatres across the country.

Kaja Dunn holding one of her sons
Taking a Pause in Response to a COVID-19 World
Essay

Taking a Pause in Response to a COVID-19 World

8 April 2020

Kaja Dunn reflects on how quickly the world turned upside down with COVID-19 and offers a simple idea before rushing into to creating new work: take a breath and allow for a moment to process all that is happening.

two actors onstage
Pandemic Theatre Aesthetic
Essay

Pandemic Theatre Aesthetic

7 April 2020

Jonathan Mandell examines the new theatrical landscape brought on by COVID-19 and discusses the emerging aesthetic—one that is low-tech, low-key, one-on-one, close-up.

balcony view of parable of the sower
Answering the Call to Pause
Essay

Answering the Call to Pause

On Deciding to Postpone Due to COVID-19

2 April 2020

David Dower and David Howse—artistic director and executive director of ArtsEmerson, respectively—talk with artist Toshi Reagon about the decision to postpone her show due to COVID-19, and how that decision came from a place of power and progress.

stage view of an actor
Lost Works
Essay

Lost Works

What Could Have Been

1 April 2020

Kristin Idaszak and Kristen Osborn invite you to pay tribute to the work you have lost due to the recent theatre closures.

shannon knapp
Introducing Shannon Knapp, Communications Manager!
Essay

Introducing Shannon Knapp, Communications Manager!

31 March 2020

Join us in welcoming Shannon, our new Communications Manager!

three people looking at a large projection of a person's face
Lessons in Online Theatremaking from New Paradise Laboratories’ Whit MacLaughlin
Essay

Lessons in Online Theatremaking from New Paradise Laboratories’ Whit MacLaughlin

30 March 2020

Alex Ates speaks with Whit MacLaughlin—the experimental theatremaker who ventured into the online realm before it became our norm—about the intersection between digital technology and live performance and pedagogy.

a large group posing for a picture
Giving Yourself Permission to Leave
Essay

Giving Yourself Permission to Leave

Two Founding Artistic Leaders Discuss Stepping Down

26 March 2020

Michelle Hensley and Abe Rybeck—former founders and artistic directors of Minneapolis’s Ten Thousand Things and Boston’s the Theater Offensive, respectively—discuss their leadership transition, including knowing when to step back, succession planning, fears of leaving, and more.

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