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Organizational Models

There are many different kinds of theatre organizations, and content in this section explores the diversity of models. Dive in with essays on shared leadership and restructuring a company as a worker’s cooperative.

The Latest

Essay
Pink Fang: Inheriting a Legacy, Building a Future, Connecting Islands
by Mei Ann Teo, Jane Jung, Sara Zatz
9 March 2026
Essay
How to Fill a Clown Car (Lessons from Julia Proctor’s Clown Gym)
by Michael Amendola
17 February 2026
Video
Threads of Legacy: Legacy Leaders
CAATA Conversations
Monday 2 March 2026
United States
Essay
7 December 2016

Matthew Clinton Sekellick unpacks the crediting dispute over the Broadway production of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and the implications for the relationship between non-profits and commercial producers.

Essay

Don’t Settle for Your Venues

4 December 2016

In this installment, Ricky Young-Howze discusses the importance of choosing the right venue for productions.

Essay

The WP Lab

20 November 2016

Five of the women producers from the 2014–2016 WP Lab report on producing the Pipeline Festival in partnership with a Lab playwright/director/producer team.

Essay
19 November 2016

Sean Daniels writes about the successes and challenges of his first year as Artisitic Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre. 

Essay
19 November 2016

In this first installment, Maurice Decaul discusses the inspiration and beginning stages of Veterans and Theatre Institute, a program that trains military veterans in the various aspects of theatre. 

Essay
18 November 2016

Playwright Mia McCullough discusses how teaching classic plays in high school alienates future young audiences, and advocates for contemporary playwrights to craft comprehensive anthologies of their work. 

Essay

Emma Rice’s Sudden Departure from Shakespeare’s Globe

3 November 2016

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

Essay

Why We Need Independent Women’s Theatre

26 October 2016

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

Essay
25 October 2016

Matt Opatrny writes about ensemble company Blessed Unrest and the lack of affordable space for small companies in New York City.

Essay

Part Two

16 October 2016

The second dispatch from Team Awesome Robot on producing independent theatre in New York City.

Essay
14 October 2016

Michael Whatley writes about the importance of early-career staff members at large theatrical institutions.

Essay

On Rapid Response, Performance, the Election, and Civic Engagement

11 October 2016

Artistic Director Joan Lipkin discusses the inspiration and process for “Dance the Vote,” a voting registration campaign in St. Louis, Missouri that included performances by local artists. 

Essay

Why the Division between Marketing and Engagement?

9 October 2016

Theatre marketing consultant Alli Houseworth calls for marketing and audience engagement to come together, the first in a series of articles about Triple Play, a project with Theatre Development Fund and Theatre Bay Area exploring the relationship between playwrights, theatres, and audiences.

Essay
6 October 2016

Andrew Jacobs discusses his senior theatre project in college, sharing his observations about what it means to create and maintain a socially responsible theatre on a local level. 

Video
Monday 22 August 2016
San Fransisco, CA, United States

American Conservatory Theater and The Wellesley Centers for Women presented the opening session of the Women’s Leadership Conference livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from San Francisco on Monday 22 August at 10 a.m.-12 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 12 p.m.-2 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 1 p.m.-3 p.m. EDT (New York) / 17:00-19:00 GMT / 6 p.m.-8 p.m. BST (London). Follow @ACTSanFrancisco@HowlRoundTV and share your thoughts using #ACTWLC and #howlround.

Essay
8 August 2016

Kimmothy Cole discusses strategies for theatre companies to invest in the local communities they serve.

Essay
29 July 2016

The work and life of Zelda Fichandler permeate the values and purpose of HowlRound. She was a significant inspiration for how we imagined our intervention into the theatre. Her rigorous thinking and her visionary artistry will continue to influence how we move forward. We republish her words in honor of her memory and as a celebration of her brilliance.—HowlRound

Essay

20 Theatre Lessons from the 2016 TED Fellows

15 July 2016

Madeline Sayet, a 2016 TED Fellow, shares insights from other TED Fellows with applications for theatre practice.

Essay
14 July 2016

In this installment, Ricky Young-Howze discusses his experience marketing his play Last Hope for Twenty Miles, and what he learned for future reference.

Essay
8 July 2016

Artistic Director Kimmothy Cole discusses gender fluidity and advocates the need for creating more opportunities transgender, gender-queer, androgynous, and other non-binary actors.

Essay

Deferred Action by David Lozano and Lee Trull

30 June 2016

Trevor Boffone and Roxanne Schroeder-Arce on the Cara Mía Theatre Company and Dallas Theater Center coproduction of the new play Deferred Action in Dallas, Texas.

Essay

REMAP Bay Area and Future Aesthetics

18 June 2016

Laura Brueckner reports on the recent Arts in a Changing America’s REMAP Bay Area convening.

Essay
12 June 2016

Eric Kildow looks at the letter written by Doug Wright of the Dramatists Guild in the wake of casting conflicts and at the cease and desist letters sent to the creators of thatswhatshesaid in the context of what they mean for the nature of collaboration and collective control of the means of production. 

Essay
5 June 2016

After Ernie Nolan was terminated from a theatre company where he was artistic director, he considers the rights of artists and administrators who work in states where employers can fire at will.

Essay
22 May 2016

Justin Taylor on reframing rejection.

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