U.S. by State

Journalist and filmmaker Michelle Memran reflects upon the easy beginning, the messy middle, the focused concluding months, and MOMA premiere screening of her documentary dreamscape film The Rest I Make Up about her great friend, the beloved playwright and teacher María Irene Fornés.

Playwright Paco José Madden explores what it means to be produced by student-run theatre companies: the pros and cons, what factors to consider, and how a playwright can make the best of their experience in a similar setting.

Playwright Michelle Tyrene Johnson and director Claire Syler discuss their collaboration on The Green Duck Lounge, a play that delves into Kansas City, Missouri’s civil rights history.

Jonathan Mandell writes about The Boys in the Band, The Gentleman Caller, and 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous, and discusses their portrayal of gay male characters.

Todd London celebrates playwright Carlyle Brown, who recently won the William Inge Theater Festival’s award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater.

Robert Goodwin and Mary Kathryn Nagle discuss decolonizing Western theatre, linear narrative structures, the historic silencing of underrepresented voices, Shakespeare, and more.

Annalisa Dias and Madeline Sayet introduce the Decolonizing Theatre series by exploring the ways the American theatre has been and still is complicit in the legacy of colonialism.

Announcing the Celebrando Fornés/Celebrating Fornés initiative, a year-long event to raise awareness of Maria Irene Fornés’s impact on theatre and preserve the legacy of her work.

Caitlin Cassidy discusses ten principles and practices she's learned as an artist working at the intersection of arts and cross-cultural exchange, and as one of Georgetown University's Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics Fellows.

Benjamin Viccellio reflects on the Kenyon Playwright’s Conference in Ohio, as the program nears its fifth anniversary.

Jose Solís explores R.Evolución Latina’s production To Be or Not to Be, the culminating project of the company’s spring 2018 workshop, which brought Latinx artists from all over to New York to create a piece based on Shakespeare’s texts.

For the last few years, professor Catherine Coray has been helping create collaboration opportunities for theatre artists in Arab countries and the Americas. Arab Voices: Stories of Palestine is the most recent iteration, and has taken place in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Beirut.

Julie Trébault and Laura Kauer García discuss the work that Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) has been doing to connect, defend, and protect artists worldwide.

Matthew Covey, founding director of Tamizdat, discusses why American theatre artists should be more knowledgable about US visas and policies, and describes how Tamizdat is working to support international artists performing in the US. 

Jessica Litwak, artistic director of the H.E.A.T Collective, explores the growing field of artist rights and safety, and talks about her dedication to “art of service,” the work that serves communities by facilitating creative personal and social change.