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Achieving Gender Parity
Essay

Achieving Gender Parity

The 100 Women Plan

2 December 2015

Executive Director of WomenArts, Martha Richards, calls for women and allies to collaborate on building a $10 million a year network of 100 women working full-time to achieve gender parity in the arts.

Why Are There So Few Women Leading Theatres and What Can Be Done About It?
Essay

Why Are There So Few Women Leading Theatres and What Can Be Done About It?

1 December 2015

Researchers Sumru Erkut and Ineke Ceder discuss their study and offer suggestions for including more women and people of color in leadership positions in US regional theatres.

Gender Parity in Theatre
Essay

Gender Parity in Theatre

An Exploration of How Change Happens and Where We Go From Here

29 November 2015

Shellen Lubin launches a series on gender parity on HowlRound this week. She addresses how this is a critical moment in time for women in theatre to make a huge irreversible leap forward.

Five Artists Discuss Representation
Essay

Five Artists Discuss Representation

22 November 2015

Using the production of Ken Urban’s play A Sense of an Ending to launch the conversation, theatre  artists Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Gregg Mozgala, A. Rey Pamatmat,  Mfoniso Udofia, and Ken Urban talk about representation on stage. 

Oh Gender, Up Yours!
Essay

Oh Gender, Up Yours!

18 November 2015

Three transmasculine playwrights discuss working in the theatre.

Color Conscious Directing
Essay

Color Conscious Directing

Three More Questions to Ask

15 November 2015

Chicago director Lavina Jadhwani follows up on her previous HowlRound article about color-conscious casting, discussing how to create a safe space while color-conscious directing.

Your New Diversity Officer
Essay

Your New Diversity Officer

Enforcer or Social Visionary

13 November 2015

Piper Anderson discusses the dual roles of diversity officers and advocates the need for leadership training.

All Eyes on Me (whether I like it or not)
Essay

All Eyes on Me (whether I like it or not)

Tourette Syndrome in the Theatre

8 November 2015

Actor Gardiner Comfort discusses his experiences as a performer and audience member with Tourette Syndrome, and how it has inspired aspects of his solo show The Elephant in Every Room I Enter.

Impulse and Desire
Essay

Impulse and Desire

Finding Humanity in Alchemy of Desire/Dead Man’s Blues

7 November 2015

Emerson College student Andrew Siañez-De La O writes about RareWork’s Theatre Company’s production of Caridad Svich’s Alchemy of Desire/Dead Mans Blues.

Long Arc Relationships
Essay

Long Arc Relationships

Interview with Daniel Beaty and David Dower

6 November 2015

Adewunmi Oke interviews artist Daniel Beaty and Artistic Director David Dower about their longstanding working relationship.

Conversation Interrogating Whiteness with Author Walter Mosley
Video

Conversation Interrogating Whiteness with Author Walter Mosley

Wednesday 4 November 2015
Boston, MA, United States

ArtsEmerson presented the conversation Interrogating Whiteness livestreamed on the global, commons based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 4 November at 4 p.m. PST (Los Angeles) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 7 p.m. EST (New York). In Twitter, use hashtag #namingourselves and follow @ArtsEmerson and @HowlRoundTV.

You Don’t Have to be an Ally, but Don’t be an Enemy
Essay

You Don’t Have to be an Ally, but Don’t be an Enemy

A Response to the Jubilee Responses

30 October 2015

Playwright Catherine Castellani responds to some of the outcry about the Jubilee proposal.

Against Sameness in Theatre
Essay

Against Sameness in Theatre

28 October 2015

Stephanie Barton-Fracas, artistic director of Nicu’s Spoon, New York’s first and oldest inclusive theatre, talks about inclusivity as a necessary reflection of our current society.

The launch of ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America
Video

The launch of ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America

Monday 26 October 2015
New York, NY, United States

ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America presented its launch event livestreamed on the global, commons based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 26 October. It is a new, five-year initiative that seeks to explore and understand the dramatic demographic transformation of the United States and its profound impact on arts and culture.

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.

On the Merits of Yellowface
Essay

On the Merits of Yellowface

Why Casting the “Best” Actor for the Role Is Actually Just a Selection of Bias in a Racist System

9 October 2015

Nelson T. Eusebio III addresses the argument that the “best” actor must always be cast in a role, regardless of race.

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. 

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.

History Is Not Just For The British
Essay

History Is Not Just For The British

6 October 2015

Playwright Rehana Lew Mirza argues that those who defend producing The Mikado using yellowface on the basis of its “historical significance” are supporting centuries of imperialism and oppression.

Unpacking “Diversity” In Musical Theatre
Essay

Unpacking “Diversity” In Musical Theatre

30 September 2015

Michael R. Jackson proposes a way to challenge whiteness as the standard lens through which to see story and song artistically and politically.

#MusicalsWeek: Protecting, Developing & Celebrating Musical Theatre
Video

#MusicalsWeek: Protecting, Developing & Celebrating Musical Theatre

Monday 28 September to Thursday 1 October 2015
New York, NY, United States

Samuel French presented four discussion panels for #MusicalsWeek: Protecting, Developing, & Celebrating Musical Theatre livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Monday 28 September to Thursday 1 October. Follow @MrSamuelFrench and #MusicalsWeek for live-tweeting.

Inclusivity and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Essay

Inclusivity and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

24 September 2015

Justin Kaiser explores the issues of representation and neurodiversity in casting for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Fear and the Representation Problem
Essay

Fear and the Representation Problem

20 September 2015

Dramaturg Alex Barron posits that homogenous seasons may have less to do with sexism and racism than with risk aversion.

Beyond the Hashtag—a conversation on using art and technology to combat the criminalization of our communities
Video

Beyond the Hashtag—a conversation on using art and technology to combat the criminalization of our communities

Tuesday 15 September 2015
New York, NY, United States

The Ford Foundation hosted Beyond the Hashtag, a conversation on using art and technology to combat the criminalization of our communities livestreamed on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 15 September at 7 p.m. EDT (New York) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 23:00 GMT. 

Theatre in a Fly-over State
Essay

Theatre in a Fly-over State

The Racial Divide

14 September 2015

In the second installment of his series, writer and actor Eli Keel discusses the lack of representation for artists of color in Louisville’s theatre scene.