Journal Series

The US and Canada are in the middle of an unprecedented turnover of artistic leadership in the nonprofit theatre. This series aims to put a range of voices, issues, and ideas in play that can inform and reflect this historic changeover. 

Independent Theater Hungary in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons presented the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021 which included forty livestreams of twenty shows and twenty interviews from Romani artists in ten countries who were featured during four editions of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Budapest. Livestreamed on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network Tuesday 19 October to Friday 10 December 2021.

What does it mean to be a creative producer and build networks of support as an independent theatremaker? Crafted by members of the Creative and Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA), this series delves into the expansive nature of creative producing and how CIPA came together during the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the perspectives and experiences of a diverse field of working producers, these pieces explain the unique challenges that they've faced since the onset of COVID-19, explore different processes for creative producing, and highlight CIPA members' collective vision for the future.

The Devising Our Future series asks theatremakers to consider a future theatre field where resources and power are shared equitably in all directions, contributing to a more just and sustainable world. This series is curated by HowlRound Theatre Commons as part of our tenth anniversary celebration.

Submit your ideas for the future

This series aims to build a deeper understanding of what work is being done and engage in discussions around the impact of structural oppression on our communities, the social position of designers in the larger theatre industrial complex, the interconnectedness of artistry and advocacy, and strategies for co-creating a roadmap into the future.

The events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have dragged performers into a sort of ideological rabbit hole, entirely dislocated from the artifice and audiences that comprise the more familiar theatrical experience. After more than a year of adapting rehearsals and sharing Zoom link tickets, many of these changes have forced artists to reimagine every aspect of their work on both sides of the curtain. Puppetry—with a unique and diverse relationship to theatrical space, and the plasticity of its performers—has, historically, found itself well-positioned to thrive in ever changing, often hidden, and deliberately reimagined environments like the ones we endure today. This series draws on work by a wide range of professionals hailing from both academic and performance fields to explore the unique power of puppets in their spaces, existing between the real and imagined, supremely adaptable to a world turned upside down.

Ignited is an occasional series that delivers on-the-ground communiques from the Latinx Theatre Commons’ (LTC) El Fuego initiative.

In this conversation series, software engineers, musicians, culture-shaping collectives, writers, and ritual makers look at how the internet has been and is a critical unsung part of our new narrative. These makers contemplate intention, play, genesis, open-source, context collapse, collaborative mediums, and data collection, and dive into the call to action for a more robust dramaturgy and intention around the World Wide Web.

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on many artists’ livelihoods, but especially performance and theatre artists. From the lens of a group of queer artists, this series offers a hyper-specific look at how artists living in Bogotá have been surviving and adapting during the pandemic. / COVID-19 ha hecho estragos para los sustentos de muchas artistas, especialmente artistas de performance y teatro. De los perspectives de un grupo de artistes cuir, esta serie se ofreca una vista hiperespcífica de cómo artistas viviendo en Bogotá ha estado sobreviviendo y adaptando durante la pandemia.

This series features a selection of folx from around the world who are all part of a long and diverse heritage of clown activists who subvert bigots and in cultivate hope in hard-hit communities. From rural villages to urban centers, from popular protests to refugee camps, each of our contributors use grit and humor to activate their communities toward equity and justice.