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Why You Didn’t Get Cast
Buster Keaton and Donald O’Connor rehearsing in 1956 A few days ago, I had two conversations almost back-to-back. One was with an experienced and talented actor who believed they were getting the...
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Our Role in This as Artists
Like pretty much every blogger, the plan I had for my next post got chucked out the window after the violence at UCSB. I’ve been closely following #YesAllWomen on twitter, the news stories, the many,...
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Why I Don’t Watch the Tonys
Tony winner and all-around excellent human James Iglehart as the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin. Photo by Cilla von Tiedemann. Before anyone starts calling me out, Yes, I did watch part of the Tonys for...
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You Need a Dramaturg (Because Clowns are Creepy, and Other Semiotic Shifts)
I should be sorrier for this than I am. Like everyone (right?) I have a running joke with a friend about how scary and creepy clowns are. It’s just a joke– considering I sleep every night with a...
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Why Forced “Audience Participation” Doesn’t Work
(UPDATE: I tweaked the title a bit due to the number of people confusing me with the recent Chicago Trib article. If you’re here to read something against all forms of audience participation...
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Six Female Characters You Really Need to Stop Writing
Please read Kate Beaton’s entire comic. It’s GLORIOUS. http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 There’s been a lot of talk lately about the stereotypical “Strong Female Character,” based on the CRAZY...
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Things Playwrights Do That I Love
Sometimes I open a play and see something that makes me feel like this: Here’s what you do that makes my heart sing as I’m reading the plays in my stack. Are these subjective? Sure. But I made sure to...
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The Class Divide in Theatre
For so long I’ve wanted the Theatre Industry machine to behave a certain way and suddenly I realized I want to take that machine apart and build a new one instead. It’s been brewing in the back of my...
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10 Tips for Choosing an Audition Monologue
Hello, you magnificent bastards. I love you all, and I’m prepping a new blog post for you while I’m also prepping a bunch of classes and a new season at my theatre, so it’s moving kinda slow at the...
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Ferguson, Narrative, and Dungeons and Dragons
Like everyone, I’ve been thinking a lot about Ferguson, and about the epidemic of white men gunning down unarmed young African American men. What is racism made out of? What makes someone think that...
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Protecting Racism in Theatre
Yes, I am still talking about this, despite some truly delightful comments and emails requesting that I stop draining all the fun out of life. (One woman, who said, and I quote, that she would like to...
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Words and Symbols: Not Just Decorative
Theatre is storytelling. A large part of that job is understanding how various aspects of your story, visual, aural, linguistic, etc– will affect your audience. You’ll never be 100% accurate, of...
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The Performance of Protest vs The Performance of Excusing Apathy
Once upon a time I met an actor with mental health issues. Just . . . save that joke for later; I’m serious times right now. He told me that the Korean government was trying to kill him because of his...
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The Most Important Thing in Theatre You’re Not Talking About
There’s a massive disconnect between theatre intelligentsia– bloggers like me– and what’s actually happening on the ground. Theatre writers have been doing an excellent job drawing attention to issues...
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The White Guy Problem
Before you start limbering up your fingers to write NOT ALL WHITE GUYS before you even read the article, lemme just say this: I KNOW. The only reason I’m able to track the performative phenomenon I’m...
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Most-Read Posts of 2014
It’s already 2015? Seriously? OK, I need to make a rehearsal schedule for Richard 3 STAT. While I’m doing that, here’s something to look at. On the excellent advice of fellow theatre blogger Jonathan...
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Oh, THAT Play
Here I am reading a cover letter . . . jk, I don’t read cover letters. So I’m in heavy season planning right now, and reading many many many plays a day. Yesterday I cracked open four plays in a row...
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Homing in on Home
I’m a fifth-generation East Bay resident. My family came here in 1900. My son makes six generations of my family in the beautiful East Bay. This is my home. But lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about...
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Theatre’s “Broken Business Model”: An Open Letter to Dwayne Clarke, CEO
Dear Mr. Clarke: I read the Stranger article about your play at ACT in Seattle. As a millionaire (billionaire?) CEO, it’s honestly touching that you wrote a play about your life-changing experiences in...
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Go Ahead and Start Your New Company. But.
One of the earliest flyers from my company. This was 1997. We did a series of 10 minute plays called “Impact Briefs” for 9 seasons. Pictured are Charlie Marenghi, Alex Pearlstein, Tonya Sutherland, and...
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