Victor Vazquez joins Yura Sapi to share his experience creating X Casting, a casting company that spans theatre and film in the United States and worldwide through a shared purpose of collective liberation and anti-racism. This episode’s topics include thinking about our role in the political landscape, globalism, and a curiosity for generous solutions.
I Don’t Think It’s Just Me Anymore: The Shift Towards Healthier Theatre Education
12 December 2022
Theatremaker Sara Bozin reflects on her college theatre experience and shares changes she’d like to see in theatre education that prioritize students’ physical and mental health.
Theatremaker Latrice Richardson addresses the ongoing misogynoir in storytelling by detailing one of her past experiences and advocates for better representation of Black women in theatre.
Gender Euphoria, Episode 2: The Case for QTPOC Slice-of-Life Drama
With Dillon Yruegas
23 February 2022
Gender Euphoria, the podcast, host Nicolas Shannon Savard sits down with playwright and performer, Dillon Yruegas to talk about two productions of his play The Brunch Crowd. They talk about what a slice-of-life, kitchen sink play full of trans of color characters looks like and what kind of intervention that makes in the theatrical landscape. They dive into the importance of trans joy and queer friendship and its absence on stage. Finally, Dillon reflects on how expansive approaches to casting trans and non-binary characters and how identity-based casting might open up dialogue and create space for a much wider range of faces and experiences to be seen on stage.
Gender Euphoria, Episode 1 Part 2: Transgender Legibility: Have We Really Reached the Transgender Tipping Point?
With Joshua Bastian Cole
16 February 2022
Nicolas Shannon Savard and Joshua Bastian Cole continue their conversation about transgender representation. They critique Time magazine’s 2014 declaration of the “transgender tipping point” of cultural visibility and explore the ways in which Hollywood’s handling of trans narratives bleeds over into the theatre, politics, and daily life for trans and gender nonconforming people.
Gender Euphoria, Episode 1 Part 1: Transgender Legibility beyond the Tropes
With Joshua Bastian Cole
9 February 2022
In episode 1 (part 1) of Gender Euphoria, the podcast, host Nicolas Shannon Savard sits down with Joshua Bastian Cole to talk about popular tropes in transgender representation, gender legibility on stage, and the implications of each for trans and nonbinary theatremakers.
Moving Beyond Color-Blind and Color-Conscious Casting
2 February 2021
Text-based director and adaptor Lavina Jadhwani chats with casting director Victor Vazquez about her shift from using “color-conscious casting” to “identity-conscious casting,” the importance of casting being seen as part of a show’s design and dramaturgy, and more.
Jeff Bouthiette notes that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to reevaluate and rethink everything about the way theatre is created in America, argues that this work has to include fat people, and offers suggestions for a way forward.
David Valdes shares the main excuses theatres give when not programming shows created by and with BIPOC artists, how moving to online theatre offers new opportunities, and what the benefits are of making change.
AJ Schwartz responds to Will Wilhelm’s recent HowlRound piece about trans inclusivity in theatre casting, arguing that, while that’s important, theatre companies have to go a lot further.
Why Trans* Actors Should Transcend the Character Breakdown
24 February 2020
Will Wilhelm argues that trans* actors are particularly skilled at performing gender and questions why it is so rare to see them perform on large stages.
Aley O’Mara reflects on Daniel Winder’s Hamlet and speaks to the lead—trans actor Jenet Le Lacheur—about the titular character in this production being nonbinary and transfeminine.
Tara Brooke Watkins discusses how Oklahoma! has shaped the state’s cultural identity, the Tulsa Race Massacre, and Spinning Plates’s production of the musical with an all-black cast.
StageSource in Boston presented the Gender Explosion Forum—a moderated panel discussion on ways to foster gender diversity in the New England theatre community—livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Tuesday 20 November 2018 at 6:30 p.m. EST (Boston) / 5:30 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 3:30 p.m. PST (Vancouver) / 23:30 UTC +0 (London).
Theatremaker Sloth Levine uses the casting conceit in Jaclyn Backhaus’s play Men On Boats as a jumping off point to explore gender diversity in casting.
Playwright and scholar Julie Taiwo Oni reflects on the experience of casting an actor with albinism for her play Chisel, and discusses why authentic casting is worth the work.
Director Lavina Jadhwani summarizes conversations about casting she's been involved with in the past, and offers advice to artists and producers who find themselves facing criticism for their choices.
Cripping the Crip—Is It Time to Reclaim Richard III?
21 February 2018
Kaite O’Reilly considers how Richard III has been portrayed on stage, the alignment of atypical embodiment with evil and suffering, and her inspiration with The Llanarth Group to create a new staging of Richard III.
Playwright David Valdes discusses the importance of writing more diverse and intersectional characters, and reflects on the conundrum of “color conscious” casting.
Theatre practitioner and educator Sophia Skiles interrogates unconsciously artificial and increasingly antiquated casting practices and urges understanding of casting practices that advance equity, inclusion, and access.
Jonna Capone discusses her experience as a plus-size actress and the body positive movement, advocating for better representation of body sizes on stage.