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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

Theatre By and For Gamers
Podcast
Theatre By and For Gamers
by Tjaša Ferme, Emma Bexell
14 March 2024
Recovery, Witness, and Peer-to-Peer Support
Essay
Recovery, Witness, and Peer-to-Peer Support
by Regina Victor, Sean Daniels
8 March 2024
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
Podcast
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
by Tjaša Ferme, Laurel Lawson
7 March 2024
A promotional graphic for Theatre Tech Talks.
Theatre By and For Gamers
Podcast

Theatre By and For Gamers

14 March 2024

In this episode, Emma Bexell from Bombina Bombast, a performing arts company in Malmö, Sweden, takes us to the space of gamified society and theatre. Bombina Bombast combines documentary audio, gaming interface, and immersive installation in a Virtual Reality show where audience members can rest with insomniac Swedish gang members—all while criticizing the attention economy.

Two actors perform onstage.
Recovery, Witness, and Peer-to-Peer Support
Essay

Recovery, Witness, and Peer-to-Peer Support

8 March 2024

Multidisciplinary theatre artist Regina Victor (Pharoah) and playwright and director Sean Daniels discuss navigating being in recovery from addiction within the theatre industry, what recovering artists need, and the power of witnessing.

A promotional graphic for Theatre Tech Talks.
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
Podcast

Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 

7 March 2024

Disabled choreographer, dancer, designer, engineer, and founding member of Kinetic Light Laurel Lawson talks about performing aerially in a wheelchair, accessibility as its own artform rather than an add-on, and their app Audimance which includes haptic interpretation and sensory modulation.

A promotional graphic for the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast.
The Virtuosity of Black Storytelling with Tarell Alvin McCraney
Podcast

The Virtuosity of Black Storytelling with Tarell Alvin McCraney

6 March 2024

Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey interview Oscar winner and MacArthur genius Tarell Alvin McCraney about his work as a playwright, how Black people tell stories, and what it means to be an artistic leader.

Five actors in suits stand in front of TVs reading The Iraq Inquiry
How LUNG Is Breathing Radical Joy into Theatre in the United Kingdom
Essay

How LUNG Is Breathing Radical Joy into Theatre in the United Kingdom

5 March 2024

verity healey speaks to Matt Woodhead and Helen Monks, co-directors of LUNG, about LUNG’s work making campaign theatre that uses verbatim theatre strategies and associated political work to explore issues impacting the United Kingdom.

A promotional graphic for Theatre Tech Talks.
Gore and Myth in Theatre Mitu's (holy) BLOOD
Podcast

Gore and Myth in Theatre Mitu's (holy) BLOOD

29 February 2024

In this episode we talk with the founding artistic director of Theater Mitu, Rubén Polendo, about the hope for the future that inspired Utopian Hotline—now traveling through space as part of the Golden Record. We also discuss the gore, myth, and puppet-robots with their own point of view in Jodorowsky-inspired Santa Sangre.

A promotional graphic for Daughters of Lorraine.
Opening the Channel with Masi Asare
Podcast

Opening the Channel with Masi Asare

28 February 2024

Masi Asare is an assistant professor of theater and performance studies at Northwestern University. She is a songwriter and dramatist and also works as a performance scholar specializing in the study of race and vocal sound and musicals. On this episode, hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview Masi on her experiences as a Black woman working in musical theatre and why Black women’s vocal training is so important. 

A group of people ask questions to a panel.
Towards a Sustainable Theatre Model
Essay

Towards a Sustainable Theatre Model

27 February 2024

Scott Walters, author of Building a Sustainable Theater: How to Remove Gatekeepers and Take Control of Your Artistic Career, sits down with Munroe Shearer to discuss the ways artist-owned theatres can succeed and best serve their communities. 

A promotional graphic for Theatre Tech Talks.
Science Theories Are Like Swiss Cheese
Podcast

Science Theories Are Like Swiss Cheese

22 February 2024

Annemarie Hagenaars is an astronomer, physicist, and actress. In this playful conversation with Tjaša, Annemarie speculates about Einstein's famous equations, love, and shares her own experiment that she conducted with her one woman show The Story of the Einstein Girl, where she performs the play four different ways and lets the audience choose.

A promotional graphic for Theatre Tech Talks.
A Circus Robot’s Death-Defying Act 
Podcast

A Circus Robot’s Death-Defying Act 

8 February 2024

This week, Tjaša speaks with Josh Corn, a true renaissance man. He uses technology to tell absurd and subversive stories about humanity. Josh built René—the most technologically advanced robotic arm from 2002, who had her own circus act. He also made Field Day Games where you can compete with groups over video call to spill, drop, break, crack, ignite, and burn machines in their studio. Everyone wins except Josh. He has to clean up.

A promotional graphic for the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast.
Completing the Unfinished Sentences of Our Ancestors with Jonathan McCrory
Podcast

Completing the Unfinished Sentences of Our Ancestors with Jonathan McCrory

7 February 2024

Jonathan McCrory is a Tony Award and Emmy Award nominated producer and a two-time Obie Award-winning artist who has served as executive artistic director at the National Black Theatre since 2012. In this episode, hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley talk with McCrory about his work with the National Black Theatre and his ongoing commitment to nourishing and cultivating Black creativity and Black life.

Theatre Tech Talks teaser image with guest Maud Achempong's headshot.
Automation, Slavery, Monsters, and Misery in Search of the Whole
Podcast

Automation, Slavery, Monsters, and Misery in Search of the Whole

1 February 2024

Maud discusses monsters, and the “humanization process”: the idea that humanity asks of us to leave some part of the world at the door and opt in for a very specific, very small part of all that life has to offer. They also dissect the West’s capitalist need to reject the consciousness of inanimate objects in order to participate in the consumer culture.

A promotional graphic for the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast.
We’re in Our (Black) Opera Era
Podcast

We’re in Our (Black) Opera Era

31 January 2024

In this episode, hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley talk about a filmed production of the opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast.
Theatre in Palestine
Podcast

Theatre in Palestine

31 January 2024

How can theatre make an impact in moments of crisis? During a time of ongoing genocide and brutal occupation in Palestine, this special episode focuses on Palestinian theatre and political action across borders. We discuss The Gaza Monologues and To The Good People of Gaza. Then Palestinian actor, writer, and scenographer Jeries AbuJaber joins us in conversation about what is currently happening in the West Bank and Gaza and his experience as a theatre artist in Palestine.

A promotional graphic for Theatre Tech Talks.
A Twelve-Foot Robotic Arm, Like Chekhov Would Have Wanted 
Podcast

A Twelve-Foot Robotic Arm, Like Chekhov Would Have Wanted 

25 January 2024

In this episode, Tjaša chats with director Igor Golyak of Arlekin Players about the power of virtual theatre and the experience of using technology that had never before been used for live performance. And if you were wondering why there was a twelve-foot robotic arm on stage, serving coffee and sweeping the floor in The Orchard at Baryshnikov Center, Igor thinks that’s what Chekhov would have wanted.

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast.
Queer Dramaturgies in Turkish Theatre
Podcast

Queer Dramaturgies in Turkish Theatre

24 January 2024

How can we think of queerness as a form of political intervention? In this episode, we talk with Erdem Avşar about Turkish theatre, queer utopias, and ghosts. We examine queer dramaturgies in Turkish and international theatre, discuss translation into and from Turkish, re-think temporality in playwriting, and question what queer utopias look like onstage.

Theatre Tech Talks teaser image with guest headshots.
Quipu: an Ancient Incan Recording Device 
Podcast

Quipu: an Ancient Incan Recording Device 

18 January 2024

We dive deep with Anonymous Ensemble into LIontop: a technologically ambitious installation and multilingual performance that centers on Quechua voices; Google finally translating Quechua; and the mystery of the ancient Incan Quipus. 

Promotional Graphic for Kunafa and Shay.
Producing Queer MENA Theatre on the American Stage
Podcast

Producing Queer MENA Theatre on the American Stage

17 January 2024

This season, we have talked about what it means to create characters who break out of boxes and create new queer representations. Once these characters are created, then comes the challenge of having your work produced. In this episode, we talk with Kareem Fahmy who has dealt with the considerations of producibility and what it means to have his work produced on stages in the United States.

Theatre Tech Talks teaser image with guest Heidi Boisvert's headshot.
Using Technology to Heal Trauma
Podcast

Using Technology to Heal Trauma

11 January 2024

Guest Heidi Bosivert believes that our bodies are archives of stories and if we can't get those stories out, the whole fabric of society will break down. When she worked in tech, addressing social issues, she had a crisis of faith and figured that bringing people into physical spaces and working with the body might be one way of mitigating deleterious effects of technology. Now, she’s creating a media biogenome.

An actress sings passionately during a performance.
Interrogating the Politics of Oppression in The Struggle
Essay

Interrogating the Politics of Oppression in The Struggle

4 January 2024

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.

An actress stands onstage in front of a shadow puppet of a man on a horse.
Perspectives from Two Teatros Doing the Work
Essay

Perspectives from Two Teatros Doing the Work

3 January 2024

Alberto Justiniano and Milta Ortiz, artistic leaders at Teatro del Pueblo and Borderlands Theater, respectively, have to balance organizational leadership and prioritizing their art. They discuss this work and the ways they engage their Latine communities while providing them with avenues to reflect on social justice issues. 

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast.
Affinity Spaces for MENA/SWANA and LGBTQIA+ Artists
Podcast

Affinity Spaces for MENA/SWANA and LGBTQIA+ Artists

13 December 2023

Affinity spaces have been an undercurrent of discussion across the three seasons of Kunafa and Shay. In this live session at the 2023 MENATMA Convening at Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, in partnership with Mizna+RAWIfest, Marina and Nabra sit down with artists to discuss the nuances of MENA and SWANA affinity spaces and MENATMA, Mizna, and RAWI’s roles in facilitating national cultural affinity among artists of intersectional identities.

A group of actors perform in a dimly lit space.
On Translating Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse’s Works for American Audiences
Essay

On Translating Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse’s Works for American Audiences

11 December 2023

Amelia Parenteau sits down with Sarah Cameron Sunde, who has translated and directed six of Jon Fosse’s plays, to mark the occasion of Fosse being awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. Their conversation pays tribute to Sarah and Jon’s longstanding creative relationship, examines the plays’ Norwegian context as it is translated internationally, and uplifts the need for American audiences to see more dramatic work in translation.

Kunafa & Shay teaser image with guest headshots.
Home and Exile in Queer MENA Theatremaking
Podcast

Home and Exile in Queer MENA Theatremaking

6 December 2023

MENA cultures are deeply familial with a strong connection to home, defined geographically and through close family bonds. With fraught political and religious opinions about queerness throughout the region, making queer art can threaten those deep connections. How do queer MENA artists consider those complications when making theatre? How do individuals change culture in the face of possible exile? Multi-hyphenate artists Zeyn Joukhadar and Raphaël Aimé Khouri interrogate these questions.

A group of actors perform a fight onstage.
How Pay As You Are Changed Theater Mu
Essay

How Pay As You Are Changed Theater Mu

27 November 2023

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.