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Sex, Lies, and Hillary Clinton
In the mid-60s, Jan Kott wrote a truly horrible book called Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, in which he analyzes Shakespeare’s plays according to his specific point of view as a white European male who...
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We Didn’t “Fail.” Democracy Failed Us.
Source: Damon Winter/The New York Times In a shocking upset over predicted winner Hillary Clinton, an open racist, sexist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, journalist-hating confessed sexual...
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Yes, Theatre Is Supposed To Be A Safe Space
. . . just not in the way Donald Trump thinks. Theatre needs to be safe from encroachment on our freedom of speech. Brandon Victor Dixon addresses Pence from the stage of Hamilton. Source. Vice...
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Everything You Needed to Know About the “Alt Right” You Could Have Learned...
Remember when Gamergate was happening? All those online attacks, threats, and harassment by the “alt right” pretending to be about “ethics in games journalism” but really just attacking, threatening,...
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2017: Closer to the Heart
My husband, clowning around in the pre-stolen Rush hoodie My husband is a huge Rush fan, and has been since middle school, 35 years ago. For those of you who aren’t Rush fans, or aren’t intimately...
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Theatre Resistance Plan, 2017 – 2020
Pete Seeger’s banjo There is no more powerful tool for changing ideas, shifting cultural zeitgeist, and resisting authoritarianism than art. While theatre is not the biggest bat artists wield, our...
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Stop Using the Word “Distraction”
Connie Lim, composer of the song that became the unofficial anthem of the Women’s March, “I Can’t Keep Quiet,” photographed by Rachael Lee Stroud. I see a lot of confusion from white people about why...
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Hairdemort Drinking Game
(Source: Getty Images) Hairdemort* Drinking Game 1. “Fake news”– one shot 2. “Loser” or “Winner”– one shot 3. Discredits a federal judge– half a beer 4. Discredits a federal judge appointed by a...
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The Bechdel Test and White Feminism
I keep running across white women saying things like, “I’m never seeing any film or play that doesn’t pass the Bechdel test ever again!” This statement epitomizes the problem with white feminism....
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Eleven Tropes I No Longer Have Time For
photo by Tom Hilton 1. The adults keep brushing it off, but a group of boys (plus one underdeveloped female character who has 14 lines total) know better! It’s up to Our Young Heroes Who Are Mostly...
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Why Women Are So Angry with Sanders
Heath Mello. Source: Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald. You’ve seen it; I’ve seen it; we’ve all seen it. It goes something like this: Woman posts something irritated about Sanders’ support of...
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The Albee Controversy: Throwing the Baby Out With the Racist Bathwater
A young Edward Albee (1928 – 2016). Source: University of Houston Digital Library. For the, oh, seven of you out there who haven’t yet heard, the Albee estate denied the rights to a production of...
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Julius Caesar: Suddenly Controversial
A marble bust of Julius Caesar dating from the 1st century CE The Public Theatre is staging Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as part of its annual Shakespeare in the Park, and hauling out that most overdone...
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Do Black Lives Matter at Your Theatre? In Your Films?
Philando Castile in a yearbook photo. He worked as a nutrition services assistant for the Saint Paul Public School District. I had intended to write about the Philando Castile verdict. Philando Castile...
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Disability, Expectations, and Disruption in The Glass Menagerie
Phoebe Fico as Laura and Karen Aldridge as Amanda in Cal Shakes’ The Glass Menagerie. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs. It was an honor to be invited to view a rehearsal of California Shakespeare Theater’s...
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The “Playwright’s Intent” and the Dangers of the “Purist”
It’s always exasperating to see people scolding directors for “desecrating” a canonical play or a canonical playwright’s “intent” because they cast actors of color, cast a disabled actor, or removed...
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Robin Williams, the Genie, and the Power We Give White Men
The Genie in a still from Disney’s Aladdin, 1992 When I was young, I was so impressed by Robin Williams. He was the fey-touched improv golden boy, America’s trickster demigod, the wisest of all wise...
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Stop Using the Word “Distraction”
Connie Lim, composer of the song that became the unofficial anthem of the Women’s March, “I Can’t Keep Quiet,” photographed by Rachael Lee Stroud. I see a lot of confusion from white people about why...
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Fire-Breathing Dragon
This is on several wallpaper sites. I’d love to credit the original artist if anyone knows who it is. Recently I took down a blog post due to some threatening messages I received that, in part,...
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