HowlRound Theatre Commons: Essays and Conversations from the First Ten Years (2011-2020)

In this installment of the series From Scarcity to Abundance: Capturing the Moment for the New Work Sector, Meiyin Wang hypothesizes on the future of theatre and the impact it can have on the world.

Thoughts on maintaining a sense of abundance and gratitude as a theatre artist.

Marshall Botvinick traces the history of theatre’s connection to community and advocates that theatre artists and companies to go local.

Taylor Mac discusses actor professionalism, and trusting rather than auditioning them.

Annah Feinberg offers insight on her experiences as an intern.

Timothy Douglas writes about his resignation from Chicago’s Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.

Jaan Whitehead addresses the revolutionary attitude necessary for artists to reclaim the theatre from the institutions that produce it.

The needs of non-arts organizations, and theatre artists' assets can intersect through Civic Practice. This guide from Michael Rohd offers examples of application and what this work can accomplish.

Dudley Cocke, the director of Roadside Theater, on Rural Theater, its specific gifts, and the necessity of its inclusion in American Theater.

Lauren Gunderson writes about the failings of theatre to be a lens for society, and the inability to properly represent real life without the voices of women.

christopher oscar peña and A. Rey Pamatmat talk about writing race in plays.

Josh Sobel investigates the relationship between critics and Chicago's theatre community.

A revised version of Todd London’s address delivered at the National Innovation Summit for Arts + Culture in Denver, October 21, 2013.

Director Jess K. Smith investigates women directors' use of language in theatre and calls for a revolution of women's use of language that is not apologetic, dominating, or rooted in fear.

Playwright Gabriel Jason Dean and Director Lindsay Amer discuss "risky plays", queer characters and narratives, and young audiences.

In a volatile, war-torn place, things change quickly and recurring issues of conflict, occupation, and survival dominate—all the more reason to have festivals like this and theaters like Ashtar that persist under such circumstances and create transformative experiences.

In this installment, Mike Lew discusses the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the fraught practice of yellow face, and what equity for people of color actually looks like.

Director Will Davis shares his experience navigating theatre spaces as a queer person.

Larissa FastHorse explores the issues she deals with as a Native playwright, from finding an agent to what happens when she has to un-Native American a character.

Elizabeth Doud addresses the emergency of climate change and the need for a poetics to shift consciousness.

Putting his dichotomies to work, Mickey Rowe explains how his autism helps him to be a better actor.

ArtsEmerson Artistic Director David Dower shares the process behind programming the company’s 2015/2016 season.

Nelson T. Eusebio III addresses the argument that the “best” actor must always be cast in a role, regardless of race.

February 2 marks forty years since then twenty-two-year-old Mixed Blood Artistic Director Jack Reuler sat down to write the original mission and primary objectives for Mixed Blood. Jack commemorates that founding by presenting a list of qualities and practices for successful and ethical artistic leaders.

James McMaster on the politics of Hamilton and the need for a musical theatre revolution.

Chantal Bilodeau on writing ourselves out of the pyramid and why she is breaking up with Aristotle.

Josh Platt on Double Edge Theatre’s Latin American Spectacle in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, Cada Luna Azul / Once a Blue Moon in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and the Springfield Spectacle, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Chicago-based costume designer, textile designer, and wardrobe stylist Elsa Hiltner considers the division of labor and allocation of technical support within theatrical design.

Rob Oronato on Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, a “communal, intelligent, erotic, participatory, spectacular performance art concert; a marathon survey dedicated to destroying through exposure the racism, patriarchy, supremacy, and fascism suppressing the fabulosity of all our country’s different beleaguered Others over the years.”

Ralph B. Peña offers advice to those looking to diversify their theatre companies and productions.

A collectively authored essay by leading artists, academics, and theatre advocates about Paula Vogel’s Indecent and Lynn Nottage’s Sweat on Broadway amid a conversation about critical bias toward women playwrights and playwrights of color.

Following the success of The Wolves, Helen Schultz looks at why are there so few dramas about teenage girls on stage and compiles a short list of plays about teenage girls by women playwrights.

Asif Majid addresses some of the flaws in minority development programs and suggests some tips for how to improve such programs.

Playwright David Valdes discusses the importance of writing more diverse and intersectional characters, and reflects on the conundrum of “color conscious” casting.

Founder and executive artistic director of Dallas’s Bishop Arts Theatre Center Teresa Coleman Wash looks at the realities of running a theatre company as a woman of color.

Robert Goodwin and Mary Kathryn Nagle discuss decolonizing Western theatre, linear narrative structures, the historic silencing of underrepresented voices, Shakespeare, and more.