Recent Essays

Robert Hubbard sits down with Dr. Nicolette Bethel and Philip A. Burrows to discuss their creation of the annual Shakespeare in Paradise Festival in the Bahamas.

Glenn Davis, co-artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, sits down with Ken-Matt Martin, artistic director of Victory Gardens Theater, to talk about shifting relationships with donors, the concept of term limits for leadership, the joys of returning to rehearsal rooms, and their shared experiences as Black men at the helm of Chicago theatres.

Rodrigó Balogh, artistic director of the Independent Theater Hungary, shares his work and experiences creating a workshop series for Roma youth focused on several plays from the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival.

Actress and diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant Tania Richard gets candid about her experience having long-haul COVID as a theatremaker and offers tips on how to create more inclusive and equitable rehearsal spaces.

Join us in welcoming Joshua Robinson, HowlRound’s new fellow!

Pulling from works in the Independent Theater Hungary’s annual Roma Heroes International Theatre Festival, Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros discusses the ways that festival artists created and staged nuanced depictions of Roma life. Cisneros highlights several of these plays and pays particular attention to their representations of potentially taboo material.

János Róbert Orsós reflects on the representation of Roma women in the plays presented during the past four years of the Independent Theater Hungary’s Roma Heroes International Theater Fesitval.

María Regina Firmino-Castillo discusses the inspiration behind and implications of Lukas Avendaño’s Xibalbay, a multidisciplinary performance project that relates enduring stories of the Mayan underworld to contemporary forced disappearances of people in Mexico.

Luiza Medeleanu discusses the importance and impact of Roma representation through her analysis of four Roma social plays.

Regina Victor, artistic director of Slideshow Theatre Company, and Kaiser Ahmed, artistic director of Jackalope Theatre Company, discuss the joys and challenges of stepping into their Chicago-based positions as theatres across the United States recalibrate their programming.