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
Essay
Facilitative Directing Centers the Art
by Kimberly Senior
1 June 2026
Essay
Artists Lead the Way at the 2026 Under the Radar Symposium
Unrehearsed Futures Episode #18: We Have Been Here Before livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 5 August 2021 at 5 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 11 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2).
Fátima De La Caridad Patterson Patterson, Mathew Schwarzman, and Carolina Caballero share their experience of creating Open Channels, an event where artists from thirteen countries gathered digitally to talk about Caribbean popular theatre.
Fátima De La Caridad Patterson Patterson, Mathew Schwarzman, y Carolina Caballero comparten sus experiencias creando Open Channels (Canales Abiertos), un evento donde artistas de trece países compartieron digitalmente para hablar del Teatro Popular Caribeño.
A 24-hour marathon of Covid-19 talks with the global theatre community
Tuesday 20 July to Wednesday 21 July
India
The Martin E. Segal Theater Center presents A HowlRound for India: a 24-hour marathon of Covid-19 talks with the global theatre community livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Tuesday 20 July to Wednesday 21 July at 6 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 9 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 13:00 UTC / 2 p.m. BST (UTC +1) / 6:30 p.m. BST (Bengaluru, UTC +5:30).
Tara Brooke Watkins reflects on the legacy of Robbie McCauley, who challenged the status quo of theatre systems, from the classroom to the rehearsal room to productions.
A Caribbean Theatre Workshop from Santiago de Cuba & New Orleans / Canales Abiertos—un Taller de Teatro Popular del Caribe desde Santiago de Cuba y Nueva Orleans
Thursday 8 July 2021
Cuba
The Stone Center for Latin American Studies and The Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute and The New Orleans Center for the Gulf South of Tulane University (New Orleans, LA), and Estudio Teatral Macubá presented Open Channels livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 8 July 2021 at 10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 a.m. CDT (New Orleans, UTC -5) / 7 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7).
Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre for their Communities livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 30 June 2021 at 8 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / Thursday 1 July 2021 at 4 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 5 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2).
Matthew Glassman shares his commonplace—a collection of quotes, poems, reflections, dreams, doodles, images, and more, and a portal to reach forward to our future selves and for our future selves to reach back to us.
The International Presenting Commons shares a statement on how and why arts presenters and creative independent producers have come together to sustain and evolve a commitment to international cultural exchange and engagement.
Southern Soil: Collective Learning in Harmony with the Land
Friday 14 May to Sunday 16 May 2021
United States
Alternate ROOTS presented its first-ever Virtual ROOTS Weekend livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 14 May 2021 to Sunday 16 May 2021.
Join us for a conversation about curating, producing and presenting theatre and performance in the Time of Corona
Thursday 6 May 2021
United States
The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented SEGAL TALKS with Lucien Zayan and Raja Feather Kelly (NYC) livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 6 May 2021 at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Zenkő Bogdán believes public cultural institutions should be redefined from the perspective of the people around it: it’s artists, employees, and audiences. As an exercise, she has begun to reimagine a future public theatre’s rules of organizing and functioning—and wants each and every reader of the document to participate.
Class Consciousness and the Transformation of the World
20 April 2021
Chris Myers talks about the importance of class politics and makes a case for why artists ought to reckon with it, both as creative people and just plain workers.
The co–artistic directors of Red Eye Theater in Minneapolis talk about shifting to a collaborate leadership model with a horizontal structure and consensus-based process, backdooring their way into traditional funding structures and resources, and more.
Connecting rural queers across regions in Oregon through story and dance
Thursday 25 March to Sunday 28 March 2021
United States
Beyond Boom and Bust presents OUT Dance Project Virtual Tour livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Thursday 25 March to Sunday 28 March 2021.
One part teach-in and one part pep rally to share the many organizing efforts happening in our community
Monday 1 March 2021
United States
The Ghostlight Project presented Community Roll Call livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 1 March 2021 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).
National Playwright Residency Program Evaluation 2020
1 March 2021
Alexis Frasz and Holly Sidford of Helicon Collaborative share their findings from the most recent assessment of the National Playwright Residency Program.
Jamie Gahlon, HowlRound’s director, kicks off the Devising Our Future series by reflecting on the necessity of working together now to co-envision and co-create the future we need for the theatre field.
Blair Nodelman discusses why theatremakers are well suited to deeply understanding the political machine and work toward dismantling the status quo, creating a more equitable and community-based iteration of governing.
What Would a Truly Caring World Look Like? With Edna Bonhomme and Anne Jung
Thursday 14 January 2021
Brussels, Belgium
What would a truly caring world look like? NTGent presents School of Resistance, Episode Twelve: Politics of Interdependence livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 14 January 2021 at 9 a.m. PST (Los Angeles, UTC -8) / 12 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 17:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 18:00 CET (Brussels, UTC+1) / 20:00 TRT (Istanbul, UTC +3).
In this article for the Performing the Internet series, Miller Puckette and Onyx Ashanti get together for a conversation about the changing landscape of multimedia technology in the arts, how technologically mediated performance practices have taken on new relevance in the post-COVID era, and more.
A Beginner’s Guide to Using the Commons-based OBS Studio Live Broadcast Software
14 October 2020
HowlRound’s cultural strategist, Vijay Mathew, offers a part two to his guide on how to produce a livestream, this time focusing on the commons-based OBS Studio.
Part of Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists’ ConFest Virtual Series
Monday 14 September 2020
United States
Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists presented a panel discussion Modeling Solidarity: Theater As Political Action livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 14 September 2020 at 1 p.m. HST (Honolulu, UTC-), 3 p.m. AKDT (Juneau, UTC-), 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7), 5 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC-6), 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5), 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).
Tatiana Gil, Micah Rosegrant, Viviana Vargas, and Ciera-Sadé Wade—members of the Boston University School of Theatre Anti-Racist Student Initiative (BU SARSI)—speak to how, after a public outpouring of testimonials from former and current students of BU’s School of Theatre—detailing racism, sexism, ableism, and more—they rallied together to innovate ways of addressing the white supremacy within the school.
