HowlRound defines commons-based approaches as practices that promote relationality, cooperation, horizontal and decentralized decision-making and networks, bottom-up activity, and peer-to-peer sharing of infrastructure, material goods, knowledge, and ideas. Content in this section directly addresses practices of commoning from around the field. Dive in with essays on the promise of the commons, the birth of a climate commons, and how a commons becomes a selection committee.
Michael Milligan explores the bare minimum needed to make solo theatre, as well as the grassroots nature of it, and what can happen when you collaborate with people who are deeply passionate, though perhaps not artists.
The People's State of the Union—2015 Poetic Address to the Nation at Bowery Poetry
Sunday 1 February 2015
New York City, NY, United States
The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture presented The People's State of the Union—2015 Poetic Address to the Nation livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 1 February at 6:30 p.m. EST (New York) / 5:30 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 3:30 p.m. PST (Los Angeles) / 23:30 GMT (London). Livestreaming by CultureHub at Bowery Poetry in New York City.
January 2015 marks the four-year anniversary of the launch of the commons project called the HowlRound Journal. Thank you authors, readers, and commenters—and thank all of you for participating in this ongoing conversation about theatre.
We hope 2015 activates us all and that we can continue to function as a digital-stage in which to strengthen our conversations, and augment our visibility. For now, we leave 2014 by offering you some of our favorite excerpts from Café Onda this year.
The Mirror up to Nature: Reflecting the Environment in Designs, Maps, and Theatre
Sunday 26 October2014
New York, NY, United States
CultureHub in New York City presented the discussion The Mirror up to Nature: Reflecting the Environment in Designs, Maps, and Theatre livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 26 October at 22:00 GMT (London) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York) / 5 p.m. CDT (Austin) / 3 p.m. PDT (Vancouver) / 9 a.m. AEDT on Monday, October 27 (Sydney). In Twitter, use #howlround.
Participate in The Latinx Theatre Commons Second National Convening Nov. 6-9 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center's Encuentro 2014
17 October 2014
The 2014 Latinx Theatre Commons Second National Convening at Los Angeles Theatre Center's Encuentro 2014 runs November 6-9, 2014 and is open to all theatermakers, artists, scholars, administrators, and advocates with an interest in Latina/o theater (or the New American Theater). If you plan to come to any Convening events, please RSVP here no later than November 1, 2014.
Today Westport has one of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States. A hedge fund responsible for $120 billion of the world’s money is nestled in the woods there. In this gilded environment, my family has always been slightly out of place. Though now winterized and expanded, our house is one of a dwindling number of non-mansions on the street. Recently, my parents and I decided to experiment with sharing that resource, thinking other artists might also benefit from the opportunity to get away and spread out.
I walk away, reflection upon reflection, moved and inspired. Even now, the questions that came up at the long table stay with me: What is your fire? What is it that you are here to uniquely do? As many of us prepare to meet again in Los Angeles this fall, we will keep these questions in mind. I can’t help but to think back to the idea of a spherical journey, which is the unstoppable future of the LTC and Latina/o theater in this the US.
“Paying your dues”—it’s a pervasive refrain, and one that clearly lives deeply within us; it has gotten under our skin and through our veins. I can’t help but think that it’s a lie. The concept of “paying dues” implies a sort of social contract that’s simply no longer present, if it ever was.
The Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC) in downtown Los Angeles is looking for ten arts leaders of various backgrounds who represent the future leadership of the American theater to apply to our newly minted Artistic Leaders Fellowship. The Fellowship will take place from October 1 through November 21, 2014 at The LATC, and run concurrently with the 2014 LATC Encuentro—the largest National Latina/o theater festival in over twenty-five years. // El Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC), localizado en el centro de Los Ángeles, busca a 10 diversos líderes en las artes que representan el futuro liderato del Teatro Americano para que soliciten la nueva beca llamada Artistic Leaders Fellowship. Este programa se llevará a cabo del 1 de octubre al 21 de noviembre en el LATC en paralelo con el Encuentro LATC 2014—el festival nacional latino más grande en la nación en los pasados veinticinco años.
To understand the deep impact Latina/o artists have had in our collective history, it is crucial to discuss the varied artistic expressions that exist within the polycultural Latina/o theater landscape. The Encuentro seeks to understand how and why we arrive to each form—be it community-based, avant-garde, ensemble-based, playwright-driven, devised, or experimental work. // Para poder entender el impacto que han tenido varios artistas Latinos/as en nuestra historia colectiva, es necesario discutir las varias formas de expresión artística existentes en nuestro territorio multi-cultural mediante el teatro Latino. Este Encuentro busca entender el como y el porque de cada proyecto escénico—sea teatro de la comunidad, avant-garde, colectivo, basado en material original y en el dramaturgo, teatro ideado, o experimental.
The ALTA Unified General Auditions reminded us, and the theater community at large, of the breadth of Latina/o theater talent that is multiplying and thriving in our beloved windy city. The goal of the Unified General Auditions was to serve as a resource for the participants and also to anchor them in the broader Chicago Latina/o theater community. In doing so, ALTA fulfilled one of the most important aspects of our organization’s purpose: to give Latina/o actors, both new and old, a sense of community and the warmth of a home effectively achieved through alliance and advocacy.
The three-year occupation of Teatro Valle in Rome is now legendary: a spontaneous response to the failures of conventional government in supporting a venerated public theater, and the conversion of the theater into a commons by countless ordinary citizens. Now the mayor of Rome is threatening to end the occupation, evict the commoners, and privatize the management of the facility.
We are committed to providing a safe, crowd-sourced space for online dialogue and discussions around the topic of Latina/o theater. As the definitions of Latinidad and Latina/o theater continue to shift and evolve, so will Café Onda / Nos dedicaremos a proveer un espacio positivo, creado de opiniones publicas donde las conversaciones acerca de los temas de el teatro Latino/a puedan florecer. Así como es cambiante e indefinida la identificación académica y artística de lo que es Latinidad y el teatro que lo representa, así también Café Onda será siempre cambiante y evolucionará en forma colectiva.
Panel Discussions on Intellectual Property in Theatre
Monday 14 July through Thursday 17 July 2014
New York, NY, United States
Samuel French, Inc in New York City presents four livestreaming panel discussions for #RightsWeek: Protecting & Sharing Your Intellectual Property on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at HowlRound.TV this Monday, July 14 through Thursday, July 17. What is the state of intellectual property? What are the rights of theatre artists and new work? The complete #RightsWeek series will include these four livestreamed panel discussions, five essays and blog posts on HowlRound, and live tweeting throughout the week including a real-time Twitter chat on Thursday, July 17. To participate in these four livestreamed panel Q&A's, watch HowlRound.TV, follow @MrSamuelFrench, @HowlRound, and use hashtags #RightsWeek and #howlround. Alternatively, you can watch the livestreams and comment using Samuel French's Facebook page.
The Anxiety of Generosity and the Abundance of the Commons
1 May 2014
A Keynote speech delivered by P. Carl at North Dakota State University “Playing on Common Ground: Theatre and the Complex Communities of the 21st Century.”
ArtsEmerson Artisitic Director David Dower questions the competitive culture of theatre and advocates for a commitment to truth seeking and resource sharing.
P. Carl writes about his experience cross-dressing to fundraise for HowlRound, and makes an appeal to help us continue our mission of highlighting the dissonances of the theater industry.