Pub theatres bring theatre to communities in the United Kingdom through the combined business model of a performance venue and pub. Sophie Pell, who both makes and watches pub theatre, details the considerable benefits of this performance model.
In January, hundreds of global arts leaders convened to strategize for a stronger performing arts field. Ashley Malafronte reports on this event, the 2025 Under the Radar Symposium, where participants spoke of funding challenges, politically-fueled decay, and—a bright spot—the centrality and partnership and legacy.
The partnership between Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition (TCTOCC) and the Racial Equity Funders Collaborative (REFC) has become a groundbreaking model in sustainable, socially engaged relationships between theatres and funders. In part two of this two-part essay, kt shorb offers up experiences from the partnership as best practices that other initiatives tackling issues around race and equity might learn from.
The partnership between Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition (TCTOCC) and the Racial Equity Funders Collaborative (REFC) has become a groundbreaking model in sustainable, socially engaged relationships between theatres and funders. In part one of this two-part essay, kt shorb traces the formation of both groups and the TCTOCC-REFC super-coalition.
Theatrical translation demands cross-cultural collaboration. Henning Bochert traces these collaborative vectors by illuminating the scope and funding structures of a number of projects, reaching from German theatres to European Union cultural initiatives and beyond.
Theatre departments now face steady, targeted closures and downsizing nationwide. Jacqueline E. Lawton and Rachel Pollock speak to professors impacted by these cuts and lay out actions to preserve theatre education at the university level.
Notes from the Field: A Frank Conversation on Pay Equity in the American Theatre is the first session in a three-part series on Pay Equity with A.R.T/New York.
Theatremaker and political educator Chris Myers writes a companion piece to Ife Olujobi’s “$5000.” He explains the structural reasons behind Ife’s struggle to gain more money for playwrights, why this struggle belongs to us all, and the organizing it will take to change it.
Dan Kpodoh’s The Struggle dramatizes governmental and corporate exploitation in the oil-rich Niger Delta by telling the story of a group of militants who sought liberation but became corrupted by financial interests. Eseovwe Emakunu, a Nigerian theatre professional, interviews Kpodoh about the play’s function as protest theatre against political oppression.
Theater Mu managing director Anh Thu T. Pham and development director Wesley Mouri discuss the ideology behind the theater’s Pay As You Are program, how it works, and what impact it’s having on the theatre six years after its implementation.
Spurred on by the National Theatre production of James Graham’s Dear England, verity healey discusses the notion that theatre in the United Kingdom might have a few things to learn from football.
This episode focuses on the iconic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey delve into the NEC’s founding and history, its track record of producing successful Black plays, and its legacy within Black theatre and performance.
Reviewing Criteria and Changes to the Application and Answering Questions About This Year's Application Process
Thursday 3 August 2023
United States
For the first time in its more than ten-year history, New England Foundation for the Arts' (NEFA) National Theater Project (NTP) has moved its flagship Creation and Touring Grant application to a summer cycle. This information session with NTP staff will break down what the National Theater Project is; review the criteria and eligibility requirements for the Creation and Touring Grant; explain changes to the timeline, criteria, and process that have arisen from NTP's ten-year evaluation process; and discuss what makes for a competitive application.
Richard Falcon and Fran Astorga discuss the need for inclusive spaces that led to founding their own companies, the road blocks they've pushed against, and the legacy they hope to create as part of the teatro field.
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.
Star Finch and Ellen Sebastian Chang, friends and artistic collaborators in the Bay Area, have a conversation about their local theatre scene’s recent but long overdue racial reckoning, scraping together a creative life, the institutionalization of artists, and more.
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.
Artist and producer Rose Oser interviews Rob Ready and Duncan Wold about the closing of PianoFight, the San Francisco company and venue they co-founded that shuttered in March 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.
This dynamic summary of a panel co-curated by Rachel Penny and Nikki Shaffeeullah as part of Parallel Tracks 2.0 brings together several artists, producers, and lawyers in a discussion about contracting, how it has been impacted by COVID-19, and interrogating power dynamics within the contracting process.
What does the voice of this millennium sound like? In this interview, Khumbolane Chavula provides one answer to that question by splicing together theatre, poetry, and entrepreneurship as the founder of Millesimal Poetry.
Maxwell Ciphinga, better known as Max DC, has weathered massive changes in the audience, form, and funding of Malawian theatre throughout his four-decade career. In this interview, he shares his perspective on the industry and discusses his policy and producorial work as the president of Malawi’s new National Theatre Association.
Robert Magasa is an experienced dancer, choreographer, and actor who trained in Zimbabwe and now runs UjeNi Dance Ensemble Theatre in Malawi. In this interview, Magasa discusses his career, the economics of producing theatre in Malawi, and his current work to bring a combination of traditional and Afro contemporary dance to schoolchildren in Malawi.
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).
In this rethinking of authorship in contemporary theatre, Enid Brain uses a collaborative definition of creativity to open up opportunities for theatre workers to advocate for pay equity.
