Race & Representation

The Latest

How Sustained Support for Playwrights Impacts Artistry

Essay

How Sustained Support for Playwrights Impacts Artistry

National Playwright Residency Program Evaluation 2020

by Alexis Frasz, Holly Sidford

1 March 2021

One Day We’ll Realize Our Shoulders Aren’t Raised to Our Ears

Essay

One Day We’ll Realize Our Shoulders Aren’t Raised to Our Ears

Mad-Libs for a Culture Shift

by Nia Farrell

17 February 2021

Black Spatial Relics

Video

Black Spatial Relics

Celebrating and learning from the centuries-long Black freedom dialectic between the Caribbean and Philadelphia

Tuesday 23 February to Saturday 27 February 2021

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Livestreaming a Reading: Chasing the Wolf by Nathan Singer

LA Writers Center (LAWC)

Video

Livestreaming a Reading: Chasing the Wolf by Nathan Singer

with LA Writers Center's "Breathe" online play reading series

Saturday 27 March 2021

United States

LA Writers Center presents a reading of Chasing the Wolf by Nathan Singer as a part of their "Breathe" online play reading series livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 27 March 2021 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).

a large group sitting in a circle watching a staged reading

How Sustained Support for Playwrights Impacts Artistry

Essay

How Sustained Support for Playwrights Impacts Artistry

National Playwright Residency Program Evaluation 2020

1 March 2021

Alexis Frasz and Holly Sidford of Helicon Collaborative share their findings from the most recent assessment of the National Playwright Residency Program.

Villains by Marquis Ewing

LA Writers Center (LAWC)

Video

Villains by Marquis Ewing

with LA Writers Center's "Breathe" online play reading series

Saturday 27 February 2021

United States

LA Writers Center presented a reading of Villains by Marquis Ewing as a part of their "Breathe" online play reading series livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 27 February 2021 at 11 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC-8) / 1 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC-6) / 2 p.m. EST (New York, UTC-5).

Black Spatial Relics

Video

Black Spatial Relics

Celebrating and learning from the centuries-long Black freedom dialectic between the Caribbean and Philadelphia

Tuesday 23 February to Saturday 27 February 2021

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Black Spatial Relics presented their second annual convening livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Tuesday 23 February to Saturday 27 February 2021.

One Day We’ll Realize Our Shoulders Aren’t Raised to Our Ears

Nia

Farrell

Essay

One Day We’ll Realize Our Shoulders Aren’t Raised to Our Ears

Mad-Libs for a Culture Shift

17 February 2021

Nia Farrell shares her vision of the future—one that exists now, on this very Earth, and that begins with the declaration: “I am adamant that Blk people exist in the future.”

A Summer on Fire, a Harvest Moon

Caroline

Sprague

Essay

A Summer on Fire, a Harvest Moon

8 February 2021

Caroline Sprague reflects on Shey Rivera Ríos’s recent piece, Fire Flowers and a Time Machine, transformative justice, the nonprofit industrial complex, and more.

Identity-Conscious Casting

Essay

Identity-Conscious Casting

Moving Beyond Color-Blind and Color-Conscious Casting

2 February 2021

Text-based director and adaptor Lavina Jadhwani chats with casting director Victor Vazquez about her shift from using “color-conscious casting” to “identity-conscious casting,” the importance of casting being seen as part of a show’s design and dramaturgy, and more.

Investing In Cultural Equity

Ralph B.

Peña

Essay

Investing In Cultural Equity

28 January 2021

Ralph Peña argues that private foundations play a vital role in sustaining nonprofit theatres in the United States and these funders must better recognize the value of, and make significant investments in, smaller, community-focused BIPOC organizations.

"What does it mean to be a woman of color and in leadership?"

Essay

"What does it mean to be a woman of color and in leadership?"

A Conversation with Nicole Brewer and Sophia Skiles

19 January 2021

Sophia Skiles, the incoming head of acting for the Brown/Trinity MFA program, and Nicole Brewer, who recently joined the acting faculty at the Yale School of Drama, dive deep into a conversation about what it means to be a woman of color in leadership.

Two people with speech bubbles, one saying "Can we talk about elitism in American theater" and the other responding "Um, yes please."

Get Off Your High Horse

Ambiance Theatre Company

Video

Get Off Your High Horse

Why Elitism doesn't work for BIPOC Theatremakers

Monday 11 January 2020

United States

Ambiance Theatre Company presented the conversation Get Off Your High Horse livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 11 January 2021 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

blue graphic of actor onstage against yellow background

(Re)Imagine Indigenous Theater (ASL interpreted and live captioned)

Seattle Rep

Video

(Re)Imagine Indigenous Theater (ASL interpreted and live captioned)

A series by Seattle Rep that brings artists and community leaders together

Thursday 19 November 2020

United States

Seattle Rep presented (Re)Imagine Indigenous Theater livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 19 November 2020 at 5 p.m. PDT (Seattle, UTC-7) / 6 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC-6) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).

Liberating Terror

Sayda

Trujillo

Essay

Liberating Terror

Clown and Activism

13 November 2020

Sayda Trujillo talks about white supremacy’s prevalence in clown pedagogy and shares how the invincible spirit of the clown has shaped her, “seeping through every tiny crack possible to make itself present to speak, to laugh, to sing, to bounce, to witness, and to encounter.”

A Very Very Very Serious Clown from Lebanon

Essay

A Very Very Very Serious Clown from Lebanon

10 November 2020

Amrita Dhaliwal and Nathaniel Justiniano speak with Lebanese humanitarian clown Sabine Choucair, covering the differences between clowning and bouffon, joining the revolution, environmental work, and more.

a group posing for a photo in front of a white van with "democracy" written on it

Can a Clown Be an Activist?

Essay

Can a Clown Be an Activist?

9 November 2020

Nathaniel Justiniano and Amrita Dhaliwal kick off the clown, bouffon, and activism series, talking about how the clown world has a racism problem and introducing the four contributors who practice their art around the world.

Anti-Racism and the Institution

Donny

Repsher

Essay

Anti-Racism and the Institution

5 November 2020

Donny Repsher argues that racial justice needs a new inclusion paradigm and offers a proposal for predominantly white arts institutions and their white leadership to reflect on this historic opportunity to finally pursue real and lasting change.

"Unbought & Unbossed"

National Black Theatre

Video

"Unbought & Unbossed"

Part Three: To Be UNBOSSED ft. Hope Boykin, Dianne Smith, and Dane Figueroa Edidi

Thursday 29 October 2020

United States

NBT @ HOME presented an "Unbought & Unbossed" Conversation livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 29 October at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Towards a Fat Theatre

Jeff

Bouthiette

Essay

Towards a Fat Theatre

Reimagining Bodies Onstage

26 October 2020

Jeff Bouthiette notes that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to reevaluate and rethink everything about the way theatre is created in America, argues that this work has to include fat people, and offers suggestions for a way forward.

NO SUMMARY with playwrights Hassan Abdulrazzak, Tariq Hamami, Hannah Khalil, and Mona Mansour

Golden Thread

Video

NO SUMMARY with playwrights Hassan Abdulrazzak, Tariq Hamami, Hannah Khalil, and Mona Mansour

Online conversations with artists that don’t fit in a box

Friday 23 October 2020

United States

Golden Thread Productions presented NO SUMMARY: a conversation with playwrights Hassan Abdulrazzak, Tariq Hamami, Hannah Khalil, and Mona Mansour livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 23 October 2020 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

School of Resistance, Episode Eight: The Paranoia of the Western Mind

NTGent

Video

School of Resistance, Episode Eight: The Paranoia of the Western Mind

Why is it so difficult to recognize a non-European universalism?

Saturday 17 October 2020

Graz, Austria

NTGent presented School of Resistance, Episode Eight: The Paranoia of the Western Mind livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 17 October 2020 at 9 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 17:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 18:00 CEST (Berlin, UTC +2).

portraits of panelists with event description

Antoine Hunter presents #DeafWoke with Matt Maxey

dancers performing against white background

Urban Jazz Dance Company

Video

Antoine Hunter presents #DeafWoke with Matt Maxey

An evening with the founder of DEAFinitely Dope to share his #DeafWoke journey as a Black/Hoh male performance artist and activist.

Thursday 15 October 2020

United States

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with Matt Maxey livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 15 October at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

"Unbought & Unbossed"

National Black Theatre

Video

"Unbought & Unbossed"

Part Two: Issues Facing Black Women's Lives and Liberation Today featuring Stephanie Young, Rhonda Ross, and DeRay Mckesson

Thursday 15 October 2020

United States

NBT @ HOME presented an "Unbought & Unbossed" Conversation livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 15 October at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Black Directors Roundtable

Art2Action

Pangea

Video

Black Directors Roundtable

Centering the voices of Black leaders in theatre with the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation

Thursday 8 October 2020

United States

The National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation presented a Black Directors Roundtable livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 8 October 2020 at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

performer sitting, wearing a black button-down and black pants.

It’s a cultural thing. Or is it? (Ireland)

Independent Theater Hungary

Video

It’s a cultural thing. Or is it? (Ireland)

As part of the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2020

Thursday 8 October 2020

Ireland

Independent Theater Hungary presented a performance and conversation around It’s a cultural thing. Or is it? (Ireland) as part of the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2020 livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 8 October 2020 at 9:30 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 12:30 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 17:30 BST (London, UTC +1) / 18:30 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2) / 19:30 EEST (Bucharest, UTC +3).

a large group of actors on an outdoor stage

Shakespeare in Black with Renea Brown

Podcast

Shakespeare in Black with Renea Brown

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Episode #9

7 October 2020

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview actress Renea Brown on the interactions between Black theatre and Shakespeare, as well as her experience as a Black Shakespearean performer.

black woman in dress stands with arms out in front of uniformed police officers

Black and Blue 2020: Art / Activism / Transformation

The Yvonne Bechet Theatre Project

Junebug Productions

Video

Black and Blue 2020: Art / Activism / Transformation

Artists, activists, and the New Orleans Police Monitor reflect on the life of Yvonne Bechet and using stories to build social movements

Monday 5 October 2020

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Yvonne Bechet Theatre Project presented a panel discussing issues raised in the play Black and Blue livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 5 October at 12 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 2 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 3 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).