Festivals

Steve Lyons offers insight on the necessity and development of the American Association of Community Theatre NewPlayFest.

This manifesto was delivered by José Luis Valenzuela as part of the opening session of the Latina/o Theatre Commons National Convening held at the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Encuentro 2014 on Thursday, November 6, 2014.

Professor Jorge Huerta gives a short overview about the precedents that led to the historic and revolutionizing event, focusing on the growth of Chicano/a theatre festivals since 1970. 

Martha Steketee writes about the logistics and process of the OOB Festival, including quotes from an interview with the team behind it.

The 2014 Latinx Theatre Commons Second National Convening at Los Angeles Theatre Center's Encuentro 2014 runs November 6-9, 2014 and is open to all theatermakers, artists, scholars, administrators, and advocates with an interest in Latina/o theater (or the New American Theater). If you plan to come to any Convening events, please RSVP here no later than November 1, 2014.

Jonathan Mandell writes about the second Theater: Village Festival in NYC.

Marcina Zaccaria looks at The Bolshoi Theatre production of Don Quixote performed at the 2014 Lincoln Center Festival.

Teresa Marrero writes about the 2014 International Hispanic Theater Festival in Miami and how/why Latin American theater and American theatre are embedded differently in culture

Paul Adolphsen covers the 40th anniversary of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa, looking at the works exploring legacy and South Africa's first democratic elections.

Jamie Gahlon interviews José Luis Valenzuela on the LATC and the upcoming Encuentro 2014: A National Latina/o Theatre Festival.

Jonathan Mandell writes about seven tropes of the NY Fringe Festival, highlighting productions which fit into the reoccuring genres.

Allison Vanouse writes about Sleeping Weazel's 2014 festival of plays, trans cabaret, and solo performance coinciding with Boston Pride Week.

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.