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event poster for A Conversation with Indigenous Authors Regarding Representation in Literature.
The Living Presence of Our History: Part VIII
Video

The Living Presence of Our History: Part VIII

A Conversation with Indigenous Authors Regarding Representation in Literature

Sunday 26 March 2023
Massachusetts, United States

A panel of scholars and local Indigenous authors will discuss the importance of our stories in literature. We will explore how these narratives affect Native and non-Native communities today and the possible steps to educate, decolonize, and make changes using an Indigenous lens.

A performer wearing black and a mask standing on top of a box with arms in the air.
Movement Is for Every Body
Essay

Movement Is for Every Body

23 March 2023

Theatre artist and educator Katie Butler discusses the need to recalibrate movement practice toward accessibility and body autonomy, and shares her own experience navigating changes in her body’s abilities.

Two performers embrace onstage while another sits next to them and faces forward.
One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection
Essay

One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection

20 March 2023

In response to student demands for greater input in season selection, the Department of Theater and Drama at the University of Michigan has spent the past few years revising their selections process. Professor Christianne Myers details their approach, which centers on a department-wide feedback and a semester-long Student Selection Advisory course.

Four senior actors stand on-stage and look at their scripts during a rehearsal.
Elder Dramaturgy
Essay

Elder Dramaturgy

7 March 2023

Playwright Carlyle Brown describes his journey with the play We Take Care of Our Own by Zainabu Jallo, detailing the joys and challenges that come from work featuring characters in their eighties and nineties.

Two actors sit across from each other at a small square table during a show.
Civic Imagination: The Urgency of Possibility
Essay

Civic Imagination: The Urgency of Possibility

27 February 2023

Theatre artist Michael Rohd shares a lyrical call for more civic imagination, community care, and care-centric processes in the theatre field.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Find Your Dream Team with Christiamilda Correa
Podcast

Find Your Dream Team with Christiamilda Correa

23 February 2023

This week, Yura Sapi is joined by Christiamilda Correa to discuss creating LiberArte, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to racial, social, and climate justice worldwide; the Strategic Planning Institute; and NYU Latinx Alumni. Topics for this episode include writing prompts, seeking out spaces to find community, and transforming challenges.

Two performers in extravagant costumes stand on either side of a performer with both arms extended at their side.
An Artist’s Take on Disability Creativity with David Salsbery Fry
Essay

An Artist’s Take on Disability Creativity with David Salsbery Fry

22 February 2023

David Salsbery Fry’s career in opera shifted dramatically when he publicly disclosed his disability in 2015. In this candid discussion with Marianna Mott Newirth and Gregory Moomjy, co-founders of New York City’s first disability-affirmative opera company, he details his experiences navigating an industry that has not made itself fully accessible or welcoming to artists with disabilities.

A large group of people are seated in front of a brick wall, facing the camera.
Disability Creativity in Opera
Essay

Disability Creativity in Opera

21 February 2023

Gregory Moomjy and Marianna Mott Newirth share their approach to creating disability-affirmative opera productions in which disability artistry flourishes.

A woman sits and speaks into a microphone while others look at her.
Restorying Our Past and Present, Imagining Our Future
Essay

Restorying Our Past and Present, Imagining Our Future

9 February 2023

Theatremaker and advocate Ronee Penoi shares her inspired keynote speech from the Public Theater’s 2023 Under the Radar Professional Symposium.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Imagining with Victor Vazquez
Podcast

Imagining with Victor Vazquez

8 February 2023

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.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image.
Blessings with Brittani Samuel
Podcast

Blessings with Brittani Samuel

1 February 2023

Recently named Edward Medina Prize winner Brittani Samuel joins Yura Sapi to share about her experience building her own table as a theatre critic. Topics in this episode include choosing joy every day, being a child of immigrants, and a shared meditation practice. This episode is dedicated to theare artist and critic Edward Medina, honoring his legacy which brings us all together today.

A group of protesters with various posters smile for a photo in Times Square in New York City.
A Dream Deferred: Black, Indigenous, and Women+ of Color Playwright-Activists
Essay

A Dream Deferred: Black, Indigenous, and Women+ of Color Playwright-Activists

30 January 2023

Yvette Heyliger reflects on her experience as a Black woman artivist and discusses the racial and gender inequities in the theatre field.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image.
Use Your Voice with Jose Solís
Podcast

Use Your Voice with Jose Solís

25 January 2023

Jose Solís joins Yura Sapi to discuss creating the BIPOC Critics Lab and co-creating the Token Theatre Friends podcast-webseries. This episode’s topics include finding beauty in the internet, how a metaphorical grain of sand can change the world, and a tarot reading for the first three months of 2023.

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Developing Genuine Malawian Theatre on Stage and on the Radio
Podcast

Developing Genuine Malawian Theatre on Stage and on the Radio

14 December 2022

Fumbani Innot Phiri Jr. interviews playwright and director Inno Katz about his career and his efforts to redefining Malawian theatre by focusing on local stories in both English and Chichewa.

Two performers embrace each other with their foreheads touching.
The Queer Theatre We Need Now
Essay

The Queer Theatre We Need Now

13 December 2022

David Valdes explores the limitations of queer theatre historically and makes the case for a more expansive future—one that includes a wider range of characters living more complex lives, created by more queer theatremakers.

The cover of a book called The Wildcard Workbook: A Practical Guide for Jokering Forum Theatre. It is purple and yellow.
The Wildcard Workbook: Why Forum Theatre and Why Now?
Essay

The Wildcard Workbook: Why Forum Theatre and Why Now?

15 November 2022

Theatremakers Sulu LeoNimm, Liz Morgan, and Katy Rubin discuss the process of co-authoring The Wildcard Workbook, a guide designed to help others in the field delve into Theatre of the Oppressed practices and devised theatre processes.

Eight actors in a space with hardwood floors dancing together.
Worldmaking 101: Imagination and Reparation at Double Edge Theatre and Ohketeau Cultural Center
Essay

Worldmaking 101: Imagination and Reparation at Double Edge Theatre and Ohketeau Cultural Center

14 November 2022

Writer and educator Jonathan P. Eburne details how he first came to know of Double Edge Theatre and the Ohketeau Cultural Center and discusses their unique approach to worldmaking, land sharing, and theatremaking.

Kit Ingui and Jacob Padron sit on a stage facing each other
From the Top Down: The Importance of HR in Theatre
Essay

From the Top Down: The Importance of HR in Theatre

25 October 2022

Iris McQuillan-Grace sits down with Kit Ingui, managing director of Long Wharf Theatre, to discuss Kit’s efforts to create a supportive and inclusive work environment by consciously building Long Wharf’s Human Resources (HR) practices.

A performer in a wheelchair suspended in midair by a wire.
Moving from Disability Visibility to Disability Artistry
Essay

Moving from Disability Visibility to Disability Artistry

20 October 2022

Morgan Skolnik argues for theatre that goes beyond physical accessibility and disability representation to actively center disabled artists and the creative potential the disability community holds.

Six masked performers gather on or around a bed on stage.
Challenging “Certification”: Revising Hiring Practices in Fight and Intimacy Choreography
Essay

Challenging “Certification”: Revising Hiring Practices in Fight and Intimacy Choreography

18 October 2022

Fight director and theatre artist Danielle Rosvally and founder of Heartland Intimacy Design and Training and associate professor Kate Busselle come together to interrogate the concept of “certification” in fight direction and intimacy coordination by illuminating current training practices, opportunities, and programs in the field.

event poster for reflecting forward session two: Art, Race & Dialogue.
Animating Democracy Session Two
Video

Animating Democracy Session Two

Art, Race, and Dialogue

Thursday 13 October 2022
United States

Art2Action and Animating Democracy presented Art, Race, and Dialogue, the second event in the series Animating Democracy: REFLECTING FORWARD, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 13 October 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).

Children throwing a parachute in the air.
Are You Really a Parent-Friendly Workplace?
Essay

Are You Really a Parent-Friendly Workplace?

27 September 2022

Michelle Ramos sits down with Ashley Davis, founder and director of the social enterprise Unlock Creative, to discuss Ashley’s experience being a mom in the field and how she works to make her own organization more accommodating of parents and caregivers.

Two actors in sunglasses lounge together in a bathtub.
Everything Everywhere: Perspectives from “Third-Culture” Theatremakers in the Sinophone Community
Essay

Everything Everywhere: Perspectives from “Third-Culture” Theatremakers in the Sinophone Community

8 September 2022

Writer and translator Livian Yeh examines the complexities of Asian identity within American theatre and gives her take on what it means to be a “third-culture” theatremaker.

A woman sits looking at a camera while two others kiss in the background.
Being Authentic in a New Theatre Practice
Essay

Being Authentic in a New Theatre Practice

A Conversation with Jyreika Guest

31 August 2022

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.

Actors working together during rehearsal.
Making Our Own Table: Defining Black Intimacy Practice
Essay

Making Our Own Table: Defining Black Intimacy Practice

A Conversation with Kaja Dunn

25 August 2022

Ann James interviews Kaja Dunn, who works both as an intimacy specialist and a scholar of race and choreography, about her decade-long path through the intimacy industry. They discuss the way to bring intimacy professionals into a production process, the importance of citing Black women’s contributions to the field, and the need diversify who is telling stories on our stages.