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Interviews

This section collects all HowlRound content that takes the form of an interview between two or more theatremakers. Interested in contributing your own interview? Here are our interview guidelines and best practices!

The Latest

Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work
Podcast
Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work
by Jeffrey Mosser, Stewart Pringle
31 May 2023
Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
Podcast
Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
by Jeffrey Mosser, Alexander Devriendt
24 May 2023
Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project
Essay
Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project
by Tiziana Penna, Anna Rispoli
11 May 2023
From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work
Podcast

Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work

31 May 2023

Stewart Pringle, senior dramaturg at the National Theatre, sheds light on the theatre’s Generate program. Jeffrey Mosser and Stewart discuss the problem with the term “literary department,” when to take a risk, and why it’s important that the big fish in the big pond makes the investment in smaller-scale ensemble-based companies.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
Podcast

Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors

24 May 2023

Artistic director of Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed, Alexander Devriendt talks through their process for imagining and developing participatory content. Alexander and Jeffrey Mosser also dig into financing art in Europe, the cost of touring internationally and how COVID has affected it, and sustaining family and art simultaneously.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
SoulWork and Soul Searching
Podcast

SoulWork and Soul Searching

17 May 2023

Culture worker and theatre practitioner Dr. Cristal Chanelle Truscott provides a primer on her SoulWork process, applies it to her present processes, and expands our horizons as artists.

Twelve people sit and stand around a dining table and look upward and smile toward the camera.
Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project
Essay

Creating Trust Through Money: A Conversation on the Common Wallet Project

11 May 2023

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.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Turning City Council Meetings into Performance
Podcast

Turning City Council Meetings into Performance

10 May 2023

Creatives and book authors Mallory Catlett and Aaron Landsman dig into their new book based on their piece City Council Meeting, an exciting performance, rooted in a commonplace bureaucratic event, that develops dynamic participatory relationships with audiences and local government.

Two people standing in front of a lit whiteboard with an audience.
A Living Intergenerational Conversation
Essay

A Living Intergenerational Conversation

9 May 2023

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.

Two people standing on a barely lit stage with large photos of faces behind them.
Claim Your Culture, Find Your Power
Essay

Claim Your Culture, Find Your Power

5 May 2023

Jacqueline Flores and Abel López, co-curators of the Latinx Leaders at the Forefront series, discuss their careers, their sense of cultural identity as Latinx theatremakers, and importance of intergenerational dialogue.

A woman standing in front of a stage with her arms outstretched.
Understanding Theatre as Service, Part Two
Essay

Understanding Theatre as Service, Part Two

4 May 2023

Olga Sanchez Saltveit and Shayna Schlosberg continue their conversation for the Latinx Leaders at the Forefront series, focusing on mentorship, trade-offs they have made, and their shared experiences working in service of equity.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Looking for Another Way
Podcast

Looking for Another Way

3 May 2023

Playwright and director Karen Malpede joins Jeffrey Mosser to talk about her career and connections from the Open Theater to Theater Three Collaborative, as well as her partner George Bartenieff, an actor and champion for the avant-garde.

A large group of women sitting in a circle, listening to someone speak.
Understanding Theatre as Service, Part One
Essay

Understanding Theatre as Service, Part One

3 May 2023

Olga Sanchez Saltveit and Shayna Schlosberg sit down to discuss their careers making theatre and advancing equity for the Latinx community in the Pacific Northwest.

On the left, a headshot of Nidia Medina; on the right, a headshot of Jose Luis Valenzuela.
Reflecting the United States Latinx Experience on Stage
Essay

Reflecting the United States Latinx Experience on Stage

2 May 2023

Nidia Medina, associate artistic director of INTAR Theatre, interviews José Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of the Latino Theater Company, about his path into artistic direction, his mentors, and the legacy he has cultivated.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Philanthropies, Foundations, and Boards (Oh, Wow)
Podcast

Philanthropies, Foundations, and Boards (Oh, Wow)

26 April 2023

Since the “great pause,” funders have shifted their giving models. Ben Cameron has seen it from every side—and he talks all about it. Through anecdotes about his experiences at organizations from Theatre Communications Group to the Jerome Foundation, Ben offers many insights into how ensemble fits in a thriving theatre ecosystem.

A woman stands and gives a speech on a round stage as the audience watches on.
Values-Led, Commons-Based Creative Producing
Essay

Values-Led, Commons-Based Creative Producing

A Conversation with Abigail Vega

20 April 2023

Communications manager Ramona Rose King chats with Abigail Vega on her last day as HowlRound’s creative producer to reflect on her work with HowlRound and the Latinx Theatre Commons, producing using commons-based practices, and advice she’d give to aspiring producers.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Miranda Wright.
Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary
Podcast

Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary

19 April 2023

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.

A performer standing under spotlights on a stage in front of an audience.
The Closing of San Francisco’s “Anti-Theatre” Theater Venue
Essay

The Closing of San Francisco’s “Anti-Theatre” Theater Venue

18 April 2023

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.

Five cast members of Ain't No Mo' stand on stage during a performance.
Dreaming Beyond Broadway
Essay

Dreaming Beyond Broadway

13 April 2023

Playwrights Star Finch, Psalmayene 24, and J. Nicole Brooks chat about Black playwrights on Broadway, and what being produced there represents to them.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)
Podcast

A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)

12 April 2023

Bob Leonard chronicles his work from the People’s Bicentennial Commission and the Road Company through the founding of the Network of Ensemble Theaters and Alternate ROOTS. Together, Jeffrey Mosser and Bob connect the dots through the middle wave of ensemble-based theatre in the United States.

Three performers stand in front of a fire-like backdrop where a sign above them reads "Bienvenidos a Ciudad Juarez."
The Making of the Shiny Knight of Chicanos, Part One
Essay

The Making of the Shiny Knight of Chicanos, Part One

A Conversation with Octavio Solis

10 April 2023

Playwright Octavio Solis reinvents early modern Spanish theatre in several of his plays, often instilling these classics with a Texano perspective. Glenda Y. Nieto-Cuebas and Erin A. Cowling interview Solis about his adaptation process and the way that growing up on the Mexico-United States border has shaped his work.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International
Podcast

Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International

5 April 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.

Illustration of several different hands all holding needles and working on a sewing project together.
Intentional, Relational, Consensual: A New Framework for Performing Arts Contracts
Essay

Intentional, Relational, Consensual: A New Framework for Performing Arts Contracts

30 March 2023

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.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
What Ensemble Touring Can Learn from Dance
Podcast

What Ensemble Touring Can Learn from Dance

29 March 2023

Jeffrey Mosser connects with Willa Jo Zollar, who is founder, chief visioning partner, and MacArthur Genius at Urban Bush Women. Together they talk about touring, the festival circuit, and strategy necessary to sustain a company for thirty years.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Create Space with Gabriel Barrera
Podcast

Create Space with Gabriel Barrera

22 March 2023

In the season finale of the Building Our Own Tables podcast, Yura Sapi invites Gabriel Barrera to share about creating Scenic G, a visual art and design company providing services in art and design, workshops, consultation, facilitation, and mentorship infused with social justice. After spending twenty years as a scenic designer, Gabriel shares about his decision to leave and build his own table as an independent artist providing opportunities for others along the way. Topics in this episode include decolonizing ideas of who a teacher can be, addressing toxic behaviors, and facilitation skills.

A purple stage with a lit blue backdrop.
Inventing the “Flay” (Film/Play) with Campo Santo
Essay

Inventing the “Flay” (Film/Play) with Campo Santo

16 March 2023

When Campo Santo decided to film their production of Star Finch’s Side Effects early in the COVID-19 pandemic, they were embarking on a creative journey that felt entirely novel and a little overwhelming. In this conversation, the production’s directors discuss development of the production’s aesthetic and the generative process they embarked on at the intersection of “film” and “play.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Full of Wonder with Mica Rose
Podcast

Full of Wonder with Mica Rose

15 March 2023

Theatremaker Mica Rose joins Yura Sapi this week and shares about co-creating Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston. Topics for this episode include moving from morning routine to waking ritual, the power of circles and cycles, and a grounding meditation.

Two women stand next to each other and speak.
On Diane Rodriguez’s Legacy of Mentorship as Reciprocity
Essay

On Diane Rodriguez’s Legacy of Mentorship as Reciprocity

9 March 2023

As the inaugural recipient of the Diane Rodriguez Teatrista Award, Patricia Garza reflects on Rodriguez’s embodiment of collaborative leadership. They are joined by Manny Prieto and Nijeul X for a conversation about the potential unlocked by more expansive approaches to mentorship.