Recent Essays

AJ Schwartz responds to Will Wilhelm’s recent HowlRound piece about trans inclusivity in theatre casting, arguing that, while that’s important, theatre companies have to go a lot further.

Tracy C. Davis talks to instructors at Northwestern University about how they are preparing to teach acting and dance—quintessentially embodied forms dependent on human-to-human observation and whole-body involvement—online.

Ann C. James reflects on the quickly growing field of intimacy direction, arguing that it is vital for the leadership to include people of color so that stories centering on racialized sexual trauma and non-white romantic intimacy can be told in the most truthful ways.

In this virtual keynote, Todd London reflects on the nature of new work and the social cooperation inherent to making theatre.

Barbara Fuchs and Rafael Jaime argue that beyond the English-language theatrical canon lies a rich corpus of classical work that remains remarkably hospitable to women, focusing their discussion on two playwrights: Ana Caro and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

The HowlRound team shares a primer on livestreaming, in the hopes that people will consider using HowlRound TV as an alternative or enhancement to in-person gatherings.

Jonathan McCrory talks about the JUBILEE’s initiative of spotlighting “cultural architects”—theatre organizations that have been producing work of historically marginalized voices for years, before it was a “trendy” thing to do.

Tiffany Vega-Gibson shares information she gleaned from seven theatre companies around the United State about how to best work with young artists who may be struggling in their personal lives.

Denmo Ibrahim reports on the National Convening for Artists of Middle Eastern, Southwest Asian, and North African Descent, which took place in San Francisco in November 2019.

In the second half of this two-part deep dive, playwright John J King continues his exploration into self-producing, looking at the production phase and marketing.