The news that Chicago is losing the American Theater Company–here’s the Chicago Tribune story–is stunning. Artistic Director Will Davis was let go, and the board has decided to fold the company. It’s the last paragraph that’s distressing. Under Davis, the theater took a more experimental turn, far from the pathway...
- March 16, 2018
Another Giving Tuesday, another day spent deleting emails unread and maybe unsubscribing from the places that send more than two in a day. And I work in the arts. But every year, it’s the same thing. An avalanche of emails, often from theatres and organizations I haven’t heard from most...
- November 28, 2017
Let’s posit two categories of theatre. To be dramatic (that’s what we do, right?) we’ll call the first category “Sit-down-and-shut-up” theatre, meaning theatrical productions in which the audience is fundamentally expected to watch attentively but take no action that might disrupt the flow of performances or distract other audience members....
- August 9, 2017
I often feel alone. My life experiences and the demands of my day-to-day are so specific to my life producing and performing in small budget theatre that it often feels that outside of rehearsal I can go for days without running into (a non-wife) someone who truly understands what I’m...
- March 22, 2017
There is good conversation and bad conversation. We’ve all been party to both. We’ve all had those talks that go late into the night and feel like you’re solving the world. Additive conversations where active listening provides the fuel for synthesis of new ideas better than the preconceived notions of...
- February 13, 2017
This past weekend on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Scott Simon talked with David Marcus, a senior contributor to The Federalist and the artistic director of a theater company in New York City, about defunding the National Endowment for the Arts. Go ahead and listen. I’ll wait. And if you’re angry by...
- February 12, 2017
It’s no accident that ancient and renaissance playwrights were drawn to write plays about heroes and nobles. Not only were they aspirational figures whose lives would be ripe for curiosity by potential patrons and audience members, heroes and nobles also made decisions that extensively affected the day to day experiences...
- February 3, 2017
I’m almost as busy as you are. In that rush of “on to the next thing” I currently get most of my news on the fly from my Twitter and Facebook feeds. On a quick scroll through Twitter I caught my friend Reina Hardy crowing about her pending crossing of the...
- June 29, 2016
After careful consideration and conversation, it’s time. The 2amt hashtag is shifting to #2thtr. This week’s events and hashtag fever have been catalysts, but we’ve been moving towards a second act for a while now. Some of those plans and ideas have been percolating for a while–stay tuned–and some spring...
- June 17, 2016