Commons-Based Approaches

HowlRound defines commons-based approaches as practices that promote relationality, cooperation, horizontal and decentralized decision-making and networks, bottom-up activity, and peer-to-peer sharing of infrastructure, material goods, knowledge, and ideas. Content in this section directly addresses practices of commoning from around the field. Dive in with essays on the promise of the commons, the birth of a climate commons, and how a commons becomes a selection committee.

The Latest

Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project

Essay

Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project

by Tiziana Penna, Anna Rispoli

11 May 2023

Meet the Participants of the 2023 Latinx Theatre Commons Designer and Director Colaboratorio!

Essay

Meet the Participants of the 2023 Latinx Theatre Commons Designer and Director Colaboratorio!

by Latinx Theatre Commons

8 May 2023

El Movimiento Continua/The Movement Continues

Essay

El Movimiento Continua/The Movement Continues

by Jacqueline Flores

1 May 2023

Twelve people sit and stand around a dining table and look upward and smile toward the camera.

Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project

Essay

Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project

11 May 2023

Tiziana Penna and Anna Rispoli talk about the Common Wallet, an initiative in which everyone involved commits to living out of the same bank account. Together, the group aims to develop more radical forms of solidarity, kinship, and trust, as well as a thorough questioning of and experimenting with different possible relationships to money.

Artists gather around a table and look at magazines and notes.

Meet the Participants of the 2023 Latinx Theatre Commons Designer and Director Colaboratorio!

Latinx

Theatre Commons

Essay

Meet the Participants of the 2023 Latinx Theatre Commons Designer and Director Colaboratorio!

8 May 2023

The Latinx Theatre Commons announces the cohort of six directors, twenty-four designers, and seven scholars/documentarians selected for the Designer and Director Colaboratorio in Portland, Oregon this summer.

A large group stands on a stage and smiles at the camera.

El Movimiento Continua/The Movement Continues

Jacqueline

Flores

Essay

El Movimiento Continua/The Movement Continues

1 May 2023

Latinx Theatre Commons producer Jacqueline Flores introduces the Latinx Leaders at the Forefront Series, which amplifies the history and work of Latinx teatros through conversations between established theatremakers with future leaders of the field.

Event poster for performingbordersLIVE featuring an open mouth in a dark purple light.

performingbordersLIVE: Our Bodies in the Commons

performingbordersLIVE

Video

performingbordersLIVE: Our Bodies in the Commons

Reading Karaoke Led by Youngsook Choi

Saturday 29 April 2023

London, United Kingdom

After three years of digital only, transnational collaborations, performingborders is opening a space for movement, sharing, and conversation, to re-center our bodies in the explorations of borders, live art, community, and resistance. This event features live captioning and closed captioning for the video archive.

Whole Earth Talk #3: Andreas Weber (Germany)

Segal

Center

Video

Whole Earth Talk #3: Andreas Weber (Germany)

The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene

Thursday 20 April 2023

New York City

Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Andreas Weber (Germany) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.

A woman stands and gives a speech on a round stage as the audience watches on.

Values-Led, Commons-Based Creative Producing

Essay

Values-Led, Commons-Based Creative Producing

A Conversation with Abigail Vega

20 April 2023

Communications manager Ramona Rose King chats with Abigail Vega on her last day as HowlRound’s creative producer to reflect on her work with HowlRound and the Latinx Theatre Commons, producing using commons-based practices, and advice she’d give to aspiring producers.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Miranda Wright.

Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary

Podcast

Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary

19 April 2023

Miranda Wright, producer and executive director at Los Angeles Performance Practice, and Jeffrey Mosser discuss how Miranda has developed a presenting organization for sharing ambitious, collaboratively created work over the last ten years, as well as what she’s learned from some major arts funding research.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.

A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)

Podcast

A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)

12 April 2023

Bob Leonard chronicles his work from the People’s Bicentennial Commission and the Road Company through the founding of the Network of Ensemble Theaters and Alternate ROOTS. Together, Jeffrey Mosser and Bob connect the dots through the middle wave of ensemble-based theatre in the United States.

Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International

Podcast

Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International

5 April 2023

Carlos Uriona and Jennifer Johnson, co-artistic directors at Double Edge Theatre, connect with Jeffrey Mosser to discuss how working in rural Massachusetts for over thirty years has enabled them to share art on the world stage.

An illustration of a clothesline with a film strip in front of it.

Making Then Is Now During a Pandemic with Our Chinese Canadian Feminist Elders

Essay

Making Then Is Now During a Pandemic with Our Chinese Canadian Feminist Elders

28 March 2023

Julia Hune-Brown and Keira Loughran discuss crafting Then Is Now, a concept album/video playlist they created through conversations with Chinese Canadian women who grew up in Toronto’s Chinatown during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Two women stand next to each other and speak.

On Diane Rodriguez’s Legacy of Mentorship as Reciprocity

Essay

On Diane Rodriguez’s Legacy of Mentorship as Reciprocity

9 March 2023

As the inaugural recipient of the Diane Rodriguez Teatrista Award, Patricia Garza reflects on Rodriguez’s embodiment of collaborative leadership. They are joined by Manny Prieto and Nijeul X for a conversation about the potential unlocked by more expansive approaches to mentorship.

Transform Yourself with Tierra Allen

Podcast

Transform Yourself with Tierra Allen

8 March 2023

This week, Yura Sapi is join by Tierra Allen who shares about creating The Real Work, a podcast about theatre culture and transformative justice that is co-produced with We Rise Production. This episode’s topics include learning from non-humans, sharing poems and songs, and being the change.

Four people stand side by side for a photo.

The International Presenting Commons Convenes at Last

Janice

Paran

Essay

The International Presenting Commons Convenes at Last

6 February 2023

The International Presenting Now convening brought a collective of US-based presenters of international work together in physical space in January 2023, following almost three years of virtual conversations and events. Janice Paran details the conversations that arose around the convening’s key question: how might international presenters want to work differently?

International Presenting Now: Collaborative Models, Practices, and Pathways Toward a Sustainable Future

Image of a globe and the words International Presenting Commons

The International Presenting Commons (IPC)

HowlRound Theatre Commons

Video

International Presenting Now: Collaborative Models, Practices, and Pathways Toward a Sustainable Future

Monday 9 January 2023

New York City, New York

This roundtable conversation explores pathways for sustaining and furthering global exchange and international touring in the United States. This event livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Monday 9 January 2023 from St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. The archival video has American Sign Language interpretation and closed captions.

Artistic imagination as force for change event poster.

Animating Democracy Session Three

Art2Action

Animating Democracy

Video

Animating Democracy Session Three

Artistic Imagination as a Force for Change

Friday 18 November 2022

United States

Art2Action and Animating Democracy presented Artistic Imagination as a Force for Change, the third event in the series Animating Democracy: REFLECTING FORWARD, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 18 November 2022 at 1 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 3 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 4 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Three people posing for a picture together in front of a window overlooking the city.

Moving at the Speed of Trust: Two Theatres, One Playwright-in-Residence

Essay

Moving at the Speed of Trust: Two Theatres, One Playwright-in-Residence

24 October 2022

Star Finch sits down with artistic director of Crowded Fire Theater Mina Morita and co-founder of Campo Santo Sean San Jose to discuss their innovative idea to collaborate for the National Playwright Residency Program.

Five people sitting around a table on stage.

Polish Connections: A New Generation of Theatre Linkages Between the United States and Poland

Essay

Polish Connections: A New Generation of Theatre Linkages Between the United States and Poland

19 September 2022

For the past two years, LINKAGES: Poland has convened theatre leaders from Poland and the United States to discuss fieldwide issues. When three theatremakers who have been deeply involved in the project traveled from the United States to Poland this summer, they were struck by the changing landscape of Polish theatre and its parallels to the US theatre industry.

Out of the Frame

Shoshin Theatre

Video

Out of the Frame

International Theatre Forum Hosted by Shoshin Theatre Association in Cluj, Romania

Saturday 17 September 2022

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Shoshin Theatre Association in Cluj, Romania presented Out of the Frame International Theatre Forum livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 17 September at 7 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 11 a.m. UTC / 2 p.m. EEST (Cluj, UTC +3).

sculpture floating above a theatrical stage.

Intimacy and Equity: A Balancing Act

Ann

James

Essay

Intimacy and Equity: A Balancing Act

23 August 2022

Ann James introduces the Rebuilding for the Future: A Convergence of Thought Leaders in Intimacy Practice series with this call for intimacy professionals to build a foundation of equity in the industry by interrogating available mentorship and training structures. This essay begins that work by highlighting the need for a diverse pool of training ideologies and methods; and the interview-based series that follows takes up that need by highlighting the perspectives of eight practitioners who navigate the intimacy industry in a variety of ways.

BREAK/through Convening

Network of Ensemble Theaters

Video

BREAK/through Convening

A Participatory Experiment in Hybrid Community Convening Offered Online and in Philadelphia

Monday 25 July 2022

Philadelphia, PA

Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) presented BREAK/through, a participatory experiment in hybrid community convening offered in Philadelphia and livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Monday 25 July 2022 from 7:30 a.m.-12 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT (Philadelphia, UTC -4).

Different Leadership Models

The Playwrights Realm

Video

Different Leadership Models

A Conversation With Theatres Implementing Alternative Organizational Models

Tuesday 19 July 2022

United States

The Playwrights Realm presented the panel Different Leadership Models livestreaming on the commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 19 July 2022.

The Corpo Quebrada and Ecopoetics of the Commons / O Corpo Quebrada e as Ecopoéticas dos Comuns

Adilson

Siqueira

Essay

The Corpo Quebrada and Ecopoetics of the Commons / **O Corpo Quebrada e as Ecopoéticas dos Comuns**

22 April 2022

Gabriel Augusto Liparini Queiroz sits down with Adilson Siqueira, Aneliza Rodrigues Prado, and Patrick Veniali da Silva to discuss their work at the Laboratory of Ecopoetics (ECOLAB) at the Federal University of São João del-Rei. They share their research on the concept of the corpo quebrada—literally the “bent body”—which responds to ecological crisis by embodying resilience and flexibility.

event poster for I.E.T.M Brussels focus.

IETM Focus Brussels 2022: "Beyond Fairness: Stories of Solidarity"

IETM

Video

IETM Focus Brussels 2022: "Beyond Fairness: Stories of Solidarity"

Brussels-based artist Anna Rispoli talks about the Common Wallet project.

Thursday 7 April 2022

Brussels, Belgium

IETM – International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts – presented a keynote "Beyond Fairness: Stories of Solidarity" by Brussels-based artist Anna Rispoli on the Common Wallet project. Livestreaming on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network Thursday 7 April 2022 at 9 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 2 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 15:00 CEST (Brussels, UTC +2).

event poster for talleres for dreaming episode 4.

Every Step is a Prayer

Cara Mía Theatre

Video

Every Step is a Prayer

An Interview with Sharon Day and Chas Jewett facilitated by Priscilla Solis Ybarra

Tuesday 29 March 2022

United States

Cara Mía Theatre’s Mellon Playwright in Residence Virginia Grise presented Talleres for Dreaming: Episode 4 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network on Tuesday 29 March 2022 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

event poster for talleres for dreaming episode 3.

Artists are the Vanguard of Revolution

Cara Mía Theatre

Video

Artists are the Vanguard of Revolution

An Artist Talk by Kristiana Rae Colón

Tuesday 22 March 2022

United States

Cara Mía Theatre’s Mellon Playwright in Residence Virginia Grise presented Talleres for Dreaming: Episode 3 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network on Tuesday 22 March 2022 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).