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Aesthetics

In this section, dive into conversations focused on beauty, taste, and the artistic choices made while creating performance. Check out Brendan McCall’s Beyond Ibsen series, which features contemporary Norwegian theatremakers, and Jonathan Mandell’s essay “Pandemic Theatre Aesthetic,” which discusses the immediate artistic responses of theatremakers in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

The Latest

The Amateur Botanist Talks Merrily Into the Night: Some Notes on Neurodivergent Performance (and How to Make It)
Essay
The Amateur Botanist Talks Merrily Into the Night: Some Notes on Neurodivergent Performance (and How to Make It)
by Rob Onorato
12 December 2023
Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog
Podcast
Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog
by Leticia Ridley, Jordan Ealey
15 November 2023
Scattered, but Not Apart: A Two-Sided Story
Essay
Scattered, but Not Apart: A Two-Sided Story
by Carl(os) Roa, Rula(s) A. Muñoz
26 October 2023
Practicing Sincerity in the Creative Process
Essay

Practicing Sincerity in the Creative Process

13 November 2015

Andrew Bailes encourages theatre artists to embrace sincerity in their work, rather than cynicism or irony.

Where the Wild Things Aren’t
Essay

Where the Wild Things Aren’t

12 November 2015

Michael Bigelow Dixon introduces the Monsters on Stage Project from Translyvania University.

Marcus Gardley on An Issue of Blood and The Gospel of Lovingkindness
Essay

Marcus Gardley on An Issue of Blood and The Gospel of Lovingkindness

11 November 2015

Part interview, part photo essay, part play excerpts, Rebecca Stevens goes in-depth with playwright Marcus Gardley on his two recent productions at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois. 

Why I Work in Theatre
Essay

Why I Work in Theatre

7 November 2015

On Albert Camus’s birthday, scholar Amy Brady reviews an article that was published in Theatre Arts Magazine in 1960 reflecting Camus’s reasons why he worked in theatre.

Pulp Ibsen
Essay

Pulp Ibsen

Chekhov’s Gunmen

30 October 2015

In this final installment, Jake Rosenberg traces the theatrical origins of the Spaghetti Western genre.

Independent, Fringe, and Alternative
Essay

Independent, Fringe, and Alternative

Czech Theatre Beyond the Big Houses

30 October 2015

Eva Kyselová writes about trends in independent theatre in the Czech Republic.

Against Subtext
Essay

Against Subtext

26 October 2015

Agnes Borinsky considers a framework for thinking about playwriting from the sentence up, rather than from the idea down, which offers an alternative to the infiltration of playwriting with market-based thinking.

This Is Our Year
Essay

This Is Our Year

The Understated Inclusivity of The Golden Drum Year

20 October 2015

Brett Aresco on Radical Evolution’s production of The Golden Drum Year by Beto O’Byrne.

Choreography Isn’t Just For Dancing
Essay

Choreography Isn’t Just For Dancing

The Films of Bob Fosse

18 October 2015

Bob Fosse is the only theatre artist who has won eight Tony Awards for choreography and one for direction, an Academy Award, and an Emmy. Dan Friedman considers Fosse’s impressive although spare film legacy.

Welcome to the Jubilee
Essay

Welcome to the Jubilee

17 October 2015

The Committee of the Jubilee makes a call to action to support a vision of every theatre in the United States of America producing work by women, people of color, artists of varied physical and cognitive abilities, and/or LGBTQIA artists in the 2020–2021 season.

Actors Light Up the Venice Film Festival
Essay

Actors Light Up the Venice Film Festival

13 October 2015

Marcina Zaccaria on the 72nd Annual Venice Film Festival and the intersection of theatre and film acting.

Cross The Edge
Essay

Cross The Edge

A Guide to Successfully Breaking Genres

11 October 2015

Em Piro writes about the exciting wave of cross-genre collaboration she’s witnessing in St. Louis, and addresses the successes and pitfalls of such work.

The Bird, the Bunny, and the American Avant-Garde
Essay

The Bird, the Bunny, and the American Avant-Garde

10 October 2015

In this installment of her After-the-Avant-Garde series, Kate Kremer looks at the parallel functions of the prompter in the chicken suit in Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s 2009 Romeo and Juliet and Br’er Rabbit in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon.

From Impulse To Audience
Essay

From Impulse To Audience

Four Days at Toronto’s Theatre Centre

8 October 2015

Raphael Martin on the history, organizational model, current reality, and aspirations of The Theatre Centre in Toronto, Canada.  

Why The Mikado is Still Problematic
Essay

Why The Mikado is Still Problematic

Cultural Appropriation 101

8 October 2015

Director Desdemona Chiang provides an overview of Asian American discrimination and cultural appropriation in the US and argues that there is no way to divorce The Mikado from this problematic history. 

Pulp Ibsen
Essay

Pulp Ibsen

A Pain in the Asimov

7 October 2015

In the third installment of his series, Jake Rosenberg explores the history of Science fiction in literature, film, and theatre.

Leah Nanako Winkler, The Mikado, and This American Moment
Essay

Leah Nanako Winkler, The Mikado, and This American Moment

7 October 2015

Victor Maog interviews Leah Nanako Winkler on her response to the controversy around NYGASP's The Mikado.

A Call for Theatre That Depicts The Reality of Mediterranean Immigrants
Essay

A Call for Theatre That Depicts The Reality of Mediterranean Immigrants

5 October 2015

Minna Vallaste argues for the importance of theatre pieces that speak directly to international social issues and inspire change and action.

This Ain’t No Quick Change
Essay

This Ain’t No Quick Change

1 October 2015

Producer Branden Huldeen discusses examples of new, exciting forms of musical theatre, and how much opportunity there still in for growth in the field.

Latina/o Play Project Panel: Aesthetics of Alma, Performance of Corazón: Envisioning the Progression of Latina/o Theatre
Video

Latina/o Play Project Panel: Aesthetics of Alma, Performance of Corazón: Envisioning the Progression of Latina/o Theatre

Saturday 26 September 2015 
Ashland, OR, United States

Oregon Shakespeare Festival presented the Latina/o Play Project panel Aesthetics of Alma, Performance of Corazón: Envisioning the Progression of Latina/o Theatre livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 26 September at 4:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 6:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 7:30 p.m. EDT (New York). 

That’s Entertainment? Seven Lessons Playwrights Can Learn from Postmodern Philosophy
Essay

That’s Entertainment? Seven Lessons Playwrights Can Learn from Postmodern Philosophy

23 September 2015

Playwright Jake Rosenberg explains how Postmodernist philosophy can inform the work of contemporary playwrights.

A Conversation about Smart Phones and Theatre
Video

A Conversation about Smart Phones and Theatre

Monday 21 September 2015
Vancouver, Canada

Playwrights Theatre Centre in Vancouver presented A Conversation about Smart Phones and Theatre—livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 21 September at 7 p.m. PDT (Vancouver) / 8 p.m. MDT (Calgary) / 9 p.m. CDT (Austin) / 10 p.m. EDT (Montreal).

The Audience Position
Essay

The Audience Position

Introduction

21 September 2015

In the first installment of his series, Damon Krometis explains his relationship to interactive theatre and his influences.

The Moisture Festival
Essay

The Moisture Festival

Outliers and Oddities

17 September 2015

Susan W. Kemp on The Moisture Festival in Seattle, Washington.

Cafecito
Essay

Cafecito

Diane Rodriguez

13 September 2015

Christopher Goodson interviews Diane Rodriguez about her process for developing The Sweetheart Deal.