Gender

Playwright Chisa Hutchinson and Artistic Director Wesley Frugé discuss the current climate for work by playwrights of color, and advocate producing more work by women writers of color.

Hailey Bachrach reflects on Phyllida Lloyd’s The Tempest, the final installment of her Shakespeare trilogy featuring all-female casts, produced by the Donmar Warehouse at London’s King’s Cross Theatre.

Rachel Spencer Hewitt talks to members of Mothers Artists Makers, a collective of feminist mothers in Irish theatre with children.

Rob Oronato on Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, a “communal, intelligent, erotic, participatory, spectacular performance art concert; a marathon survey dedicated to destroying through exposure the racism, patriarchy, supremacy, and fascism suppressing the fabulosity of all our country’s different beleaguered Others over the years.”

Paco José Madden presents fifteen points for a play or other theatrical work to be considered feminist.

Playwright Carolyn Kras discusses The Subject Project, in which her period play, The Subject, serves as a tool for addressing sexual assault in both past and contemporary society and culture.

Mya Kagan announces a new project: the Future Is Female Festival.

A new play takes cues from funk music to explore bisexuality, biphobia, and polyamory in 1990s Brooklyn.

Catherine Castellani continues her exploration of what it means for a play to be considered “feminist.”

Jess Barbagallo and Chris Giarmo discuss design questions for Jess’s play My Old Man (and Other Stories) and the recently increased interest in trans artists.

Chicago-based costume designer, textile designer, and wardrobe stylist Elsa Hiltner considers the division of labor and allocation of technical support within theatrical design.

One year into organizing, the Committee of the Jubilee reports out on progress, answers common questions, and re-extends an invitation to the American Theatre to join the year-long nationwide festival of 2020.

Rachel Bykowski looks at Dana Lynn Formby’s American Beauty Shop and Kristiana Rae Colón’s good friday and asks: is it possible for women playwrights to tell truthful stories of the female experience and male oppression when men hold the majority of leadership positions in the American theatre?

Allison Raynor talks with playwright Melinda Lopez about women on stage: who she writes, how she writes them, and who she’d like to see.

Artistic Director Gideon Lester discusses Emma Rice leaving Shakespeare’s Globe, and ruminates on the tension between artistic and administrative priorities.

Patricia Davis on Keegan Theatre’s production of What We’re Up Against by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Susan Marie Rhea.

Deborah Randall, founder of Venus Theatre, writes about the need for theatrical spaces that support women's voices.

In this installment, Irene Loy discusses how characters receive desire versus defend themselves against unwanted desire, delving into the difference of consent and dissent.

Two more of “Max’s” plays receive different responses than Mya’s did, leading her to affirm her belief that bias is at work in the submission process.

Summer Banks talks with Jaclyn Backhaus about bringing the story of Men On Boats to life on stage without any men.

Allison Raynor talks with other early-career theatre artists about how the narratives they grew up loving influenced their sense of self.

Josh Platt on The Merchant of Venice directed by Tina Packer in Lenox, Massachusetts.