Festivals

In a volatile, war-torn place, things change quickly and recurring issues of conflict, occupation, and survival dominate—all the more reason to have festivals like this and theaters like Ashtar that persist under such circumstances and create transformative experiences.

Mark Jackson reports on the "format and the values" he witnessed in Romania at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which is the third largest theater festival in the world.

The Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), in association with the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC), is proud to announce the 2014 LATC Encuentro: A National Latina/o Theatre Festival. This groundbreaking festival will be the largest national Latina/o theater festival in over twenty-five years, bringing together 100 artists from across the country to explore the aesthetic, thematic, and cultural diversity in the field.

Dani Snyder-Young writes about the intentional diversity she witnessed in five of the 2014 Humana Festival productions.

Los Angeles Theatre Center Encuentro: A Festival of National Latina/o Theatre will be held October 12-November 10 2014 and will feature ten companies from around the country, presenting their work in repertory over the course of the Festival. During the day, the companies will work together to share artistic practice and methodology which will culminate the final weekend of the Festival with public performance(s) of the co-created new work.

Theater is always a place for community. Often, a festival can provide a rigorous forum to investigate issues surrounding community. What is the need for stories? What is collective storytelling? How do we appreciate the role that performance plays in our ever-changing, cultural landscape? How is the moment created and for whom? How do we define a cultural landscape that includes forms, images, and ideas? Do ideas and images succumb to the whims of the moment or do they persist over time?

Bertie Ferdman recounts productions from the 2014 UTR and COIL Festivals.

Holly L. Derr covers Radar L.A. 2013, an interdisciplinary and internationally focused theater festival in Los Angeles theater

Daniel Sack continues his reflection on the 2013 Avignon Festival with a look at South African director Brett Bailey's installation-performance on colonial injusticies.

Chris Garza covers the 2013 Minnesota Fringe Festival and reports back on its selection lottery, aesthetics, and discusses some of the 42 performances he saw.

Daniel Sack writes through the one-night-only performance of Romeo Catellucci's Schwanengesang D744 at the 2013 Avignon Festival, and how it turned its gaze back on the spectator.

In the midst of the fringe festival, Kingston escapes to site-specific theatre coming face to face with the lines of audience participates and affects.

Talya Kingston shares her experiences with Nirbhaya, Quietly, and The Events at Edinburgh Fringe in the second installment of this series focusing on the idea of witnessing.

In this first installment, Talya Kingston struggles to figure out the best way to choose from all of the possible selections to see at Edinburgh Fringe.

Holly L. Derr questions if the Hollywood Fringe Festival’s “open access” producing training is at the expense of diversity considering the inherent privilege in the model of producing.

Jeff Augustin’s Cry Old Kingdom takes place in Haiti, 1964 during François "Papa Doc" Duvalier's reigme. Dani Snyder-Young reviews the 2013 Humana Festival production with an eye towards its theme of sacrifice, and the actor-audience power dynamic.

answer some questions about their process as part of The Next Thing Festival.

February 20, 2013

New York City Players and Los Angeles Poverty Department answer some questions about their process as part of The Next Thing Festival.