Acting & Performance

Ann James interviews Cha Ramos about her approach to intimacy direction, which pulls from Cha’s multidisciplinary theatrical career, her Cuban American upbringing, and—perhaps most crucially—her intentional rediscovery of spirituality as an essential part of artistic practice.

Ann James chats with Jyreika Guest, who works as both an intimacy specialist and an actor, about framing intimacy work for actors. Jyreika shares her hopes for a future in which consent is an automatic part of rehearsal processes.

Ekemini Ekpo applies W.E.B. Dubois’ concept of “double consciousness” to the experience of performing Blackness for a predominantly white audience that may or may not be interested in disturbing the primacy of their own lived experience.

Katrina Stelk discusses the role of nudity in theatre and the problem with requiring body checks during the casting process.

While performing across the West and in Africa, Misheck Mzumara noticed stark differences in typical audience behavior. He discusses those differences, their cultural contexts, and their impact on theatremakers’ experiences in cross-cultural theatre productions.

Denise Rogers Valenzuela shares the way that learning to perform improvised crowd scenes with large, flat puppets—called naked population puppets or potato people—encourages an embodied practice that resists individualism.

In 2021, Ian McFarlane and Laura Stinson of North Barn Theatre launched into a bicycle tour that brought a puppet circus to rural communities across Nova Scotia. They discuss the creation and performance of their show, which joyously embraced troublemaking as a path to activism.

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.

Eve Bernfeld discusses creating a culture of care in her Alexander Technique classes by paying attention to embodiment. She asks: What if we heal the false rift between mind and body in our theatre making and training?

Kieron Cindric talks about how the theatre industry—and, in particular, musical theatre—has continually reinforced a narrow and harmful version of masculinity.

Melisa Pereyra writes to students of the American theatre from the future, sharing what the field looks like years down the road.

verity healey speaks with Alex Istudor, the Romanian-born director who lives and works in the UK, about the challenges of migrant theatremakers, different attitudes towards creating shows between the UK and continental Europe, and more.