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Recent Essays

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

A group of people in nude leotards and makeup.
Essay
19 May 2025

Ann Liv Young’s Marie Antoinette at Under the Radar sparked a lot of controversy, namely for its treatment of the performers. Carmi recounts the theatrical experience that was unlike any they’ve had before—which was also true for the performers.

A person in a shawl standing in front of a black board with neon green writing on it.
Essay
15 May 2025

After nearly a year in their new shared leadership positions, the four co-directors of HERE Arts Center reflect on the ways they’ve learned to lead together.

Four people posing together for a photo.
Essay
14 May 2025

What does shared leadership actually look like? What makes it successful? The Producing Artistic Leadership Team of The Movement Theatre Company takes on these questions and more as they “bust” a few myths about shared leadership structures.

A group of people sitting around a campfire.
Essay
13 May 2025

In leadership transition, structure follows values. Consultant and artistic leader Alex Meda makes the case for values-based cultural transformation as a crucial component of establishing shared leadership in theatre organizations.

A promotional graphic for the essay.
Essay
12 May 2025

Shared leadership is not revolutionary, and it is more than a trend. In this essay, Devon Berkshire and Miranda Gonzalez kick off their series The Evolution of Shared Leadership by exploring the generations of shared leadership practice—especially in theatres of color—and the contemporary push toward more collective leadership.

a girl sits on a crate
Essay
8 May 2025

As part of the LINKAGES: Ukraine program, Ukrainian and US American playwrights come together to discuss their work, methods, worries, and strategies for living and writing in difficult times.

A group of people acting menacing in fire light.
Essay
7 May 2025

In 2014, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble embarked on a decade-long project translating and producing Anton Chekhov’s plays. Kate Purdum details how this project used fresh translations and imaginative theatrical landscapes to affirm the playwright’s relevance to contemporary audiences.

A group of people dancing under a tent outside.
Essay
5 May 2025

In September 2024, HowlRound and Company One convened leaders from the theatres in the Mellon Foundation’s Future of American Theatre Cohort. Dramaturg and Company One new work manager afrikah selah reflects on the experience and shares some of the group’s discoveries.

A few people on stage pointing finger guns at each other.
Essay
1 May 2025

The Center for International Theatre Development’s LINKAGES programs foster long-term personal connections among artists. LINKAGES: Ukraine program director, John Freedman, details the program’s work connecting artists form different traditions, countries, and methodologies through conversations and theatrical exchange. 

A stage screen that projects a small puppetry scene.
Essay
30 April 2025

The La MaMa Puppet Festival, which brought three weeks of puppet performances to New York City. The productions, writes Lucy Haskell, moved the material world to help us reconsider our own relationships to the worlds inside and around us.

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