American Theatre Archives
All articles that have appeared online since January of 2000 are listed below in reverse chronological order.
April 2009
Work in Progress: The Future by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
AT25: An Eye on the Future
The American theatre's next 25 years, as envisioned by the forward-thinking artists who will accompany us there
By the Editors
Michael John LaChiusa Is Messing with Texas
For his new musical, the prolific writer-composer is thinking bigger than ever
By Celia Wren
March 2009
Conference Calling by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Songs for the Way We Live Now
Where's the next great composer/lyricist team destined to revivify the American musical? Maybe right here
By Terry Berliner
February 2009
My Neighborhood in Cyberspace by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Gentrification Blues
Danny Hoch’s Taking Over exposes the fault lines in urban America’s economic and cultural flux
by David Freedlander
Extreme O'Neill
At a Chicago fest, 6 directors reanimate his dramas for a faster, harsher century
Moderated with an introduction by Richard Isackes
January 2009
New Year, New Models by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Case for Live Movies
The training of new-media projection designers will mean new aesthetics, new audiences
by Kirby Malone and Gail Scott White
The Design Dilemma
With so many academic programs cranking out new designers, what exactly are we training them for—and how?
Moderated with an introduction by Richard Isackes
December 2008
Thinking About Tomorrow by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Electronic Campers
The Builders Association signals through the flames with messages for a hyper-mediated world
by Randy Gener
McBurney Meets Miller
The acclaimed British experimentalist stretches an American classic to new dimensions
By Carol Rocamora
November 2008
That Was Then, This Is Now by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
This New Eurafrique Magic
Global influences and Ivorian perosnal reinvention meet in the ferocious theatre of Koffi Kwahulé
by Randy Gener
Glamming It Up with Taylor Mac
A drag performer and playwright fiercely embodies his own speculations about beauty and imperfection
by Caridad Svitch
October 2008
How Theatre Saved America, Part 2 by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Blow Me Up, Lay Me Down Sheila Callaghan writes plays with one finger on the fast-forward button.
By Sarah Hart
No Place Like Home Quiara Alegría Hudes tells a Philadelphia story all her own.
By Alexis Greene
Let the Games Begin Itamar Moses's textual acrobatics take aim at the unsayable
By Mark Blankenship
The Season’s Top 10 Doubt and The Santaland Diaries are the most-produced plays of 2008-09. Plus, get Top 10 lists for previous seasons.
September 2008
Democracy in Action by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Up from the Mississippi Delta The brutal 1955 murder of Emmett Till, which helped spark the Civil Rights Movement, casts long, dark shadows on three new
theatre works
By Carl Hancock Rux
Dream Team of DisciplinesCan NPAC's ambitious agenda for action make a difference? That all depends on a less-than-perfect union of performing arts constituencies
By Jim O'Quinn
July/August 2008
How Theatre Saved America, Part 1 by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Martin Chronicles Williamstown's new honcho, Nicholas Martin, is as theatre-besotted at 70 as he was at 9.
by Frank Rizzo
Looking both ways Gina Gionfriddo, Rolin Jones and Adam Rapp on traveling the two-way street between theatre and screen
Moderated by Sarah Hart
The Innovation Imperative TCG's fall forum zeroes in on how theatres bring new ideas to life
By Tara Bracco
May/June 2008
Speed Dating in Bogotá by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
See Under: Homeland On U.S. stages, Israeli and American artists espouse humanism in a world of violence
By Randy Gener
Welcome Back to Grover's CornersOur Town never left the stage, but this season's productions are finding sharp new angles
By Lori Ann Laster
Armageddon in BostonAn artistic director recalls how an iconoclastic theatre took root in recalcitrant soil
By Robert Brustein
12 Positions on Cultural SanctionsTheatre practitioners offer their views on a call to boycott Israel
Compiled by Randy Gener
April 2008
Come Together, Right Now by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Playwright Nobody (and Everybody) Knows -
The face and the voice are ubiquitous. Wallace Shawn's plays are another matter.
By Don Shewey
The Monte SpinA stone's throw from NYC, audiences line up to see her irreverent stagings of the classics
By Charles Ney
March 2008
Come Together, Right Now by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Communing with the Vampire -
The seductive works of Jessica Hagedorn—including a hot-button new musical about celebrity murder—teem with mythic and real-life monsters.
By Randy Gener
The Search for a SITIstate When Anne Bogart secures the right base for her company's work, on whose hill will this SITI be shining?
By Porter Anderson
February 2008
This Art Is Mine by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
What Women Want - Women's Project is
off life support and reenergized—but has all the persistence and
the passion added up to real change for women in the American theatre?
By Alexis Greene
The Critic as Thinker -How Bentley,
Brustein and Kauffmann reimagined American theatre criticism. A discussion
at the Philoctetes Center of New York City.
Moderated by Roger Copeland
January 2008
Actors and Money by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Albee Sizes Up the Dark Vast -
Older, wiser and as prolific as ever, the much-honored playwright still chooses his words with immaculate care.
An interview by Carol Rocamora
Shaping the Independent Actor - 8 master acting teachers investigate the crucial balance between classroom rigor and personal discovery.
Interviews by Ellen Orenstein
December 2007
Investment Counseling by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Conor McPherson Lifts the Veil -
His characters peer through drunkenness (which he's left behind) and existential dread (which he hasn't) for glimpses of truth.
By Cassandra Csencsitz
The Status of a Symbol -
A kaleidoscopic docudrama puts a human face on Little Rock's integration crisis—and gives voice to those who live its legacy 50 years later
By Nicole Estvanik
November 2007
The Message in the Numbers by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Epps Where He Belongs -
How the actor-turned-director found his niche at the once-troubled Pasadena Playhouse.
By Bob Verini
SPECIAL REPORT: THEATRE FACTS 2006 -
Watching the Fiscal Weather:
The forecast is neither foul nor fair—and theatres are planning accordingly.
By Celia Wren
October 2007
Something to Remember by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Cutting Loose with Adam Rapp - The playwright (who's also a director, a novelist, a musician and a basketball jock) has a brash and brooding side.
By David Ng
Inside the Mind of a Director:
The Season’s Top 10 - Doubt is the most-produced play of 2007-08. Plus, get Top 10 lists for previous seasons.
September 2007
The Márquez Factor by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Anchored in Artistry - The tide
turns toward theatremaking at TCG's 2007 National Conference
By Eliza Bent
All the World's a Pavilion - Scenic designs aren't the only constructs being exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial By Randy Gener
July/August 2007
Shakespeare in the Metaverse by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Awaken and Sing - How Wedekind’s
kindetragödie found its voice in a new century.
By Steven Sater
Acting in Good Faith - What business does an edgy New York company have getting intimate with Colorado Evangelicals? By Mark Blankenship
May/June 2007
On the 21st Century by Teresa Eyring
Managing Editor's Note from Sarah Hart
An Actor's Utopia - Behind the glittering surfaces of Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy, a cadre of actors is having the experience of a lifetime
By Jason Butler Harner
Special Section: Translation in Action - Speaking in Translated Tongues
April 2007
Memories in a Box by Teresa Eyring
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Mabou Mines: A Love Story - The black-sheep
troupe of the avant-garde is still going strong. So are Ruth and Lee.
By Randy Gener
Catching Up with Ntozake Shange - Her innovations in stage verse and movement have inspired a new generation. By Will Power
March 2007
Leaning Forward by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Portraits of Gotanda -In a cavalcade
of plays both intimate and epic, the playwright elucidates Asian-American
life.'
By
Terry Hong
Dan Sullivan's Travels -They've taken
him from acting to directing, from West Coast to East, from Shakespeare
to new plays—and now, at 66, to the top of his game
By Misha Berson
February 2007
Mission Considered by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Anatomy of a Stereotype -F. Murray
Abraham is devoting a season to exploring the 'stage Jew'
By Lori Ann Laster
Call and Response - Ten Thousand
Things speaks to nontraditional audiences—and they speak back
By Laura Butchy.
January 2007
Managing the Future by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Americanization of Yasmina Reza -The
work of translators—like David Ives for the upcoming A Spanish
Play—has kept her plays popular in the U.S.
By David Ng
The Management Puzzle - Learning
to keep theatre organizations robust and creative requires putting
together lots of disparate pieces.
A roundtable moderated by Joan Channick
December 2006
Wishing Well by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Drama on the Border - A feisty
Arizona theatre dives headlong into the immigration debate
By Kerri Allen
Can Gurney and Simpson Save Civilization?
- Maybe not, but for the playwright/director team, putting politics
on stage is a start
An interview by Laura Collins-Hughes
November 2006
The Artist's Voice: Endangered or Ascendant? by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
These Are the Days - Suzan-Lori Parks's
year of writing dangerously yields 365 plays
by Kathryn Walat
Special Report: 'Theatre Facts
2005' - The American theatre finds itself at the intersection
of optimism and uncertainty
by Celia Wren
October 2006
Dream to Action by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Bill Rauch’s Oregon Trail
- The next stop on the director’s journey into the heart of
America is the venerable OSF
by Rob Kendt
Actors with Roots - 7 great performers you’ll have to travel to see:
The Season’s Top 10 - I Am My Own Wife is the most-produced play of 2006-07. Plus, get Top 10 lists for previous seasons.
September 2006
Considering the Moment by Gigi Bolt
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
In Cahoots with Tony Taccone -
The director has made playing well with others his specialty
by Ellen McLaughlin
Bringing Up the House - Audiences come into focus at the 2006
TCG conference.
by Nicole Estvanik
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Inside
the New Guthrie
by Joe Dowling
How to Dream a Man - Eight countries collaborate in the Philippines on the Borges Project
by Heather Cohn
July/August 2006
Final Things by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Irresistible Rise of Ethan
McSweeny - The director credits luck and timing for his eclectic
career
by Jaime Kleiman
Taymor Meets the Monster
- Assembling Grendel in Los Angeles has been a gargantuan
challenge
by Eileen Blumenthal
Gigi Bolt: In the Eye of the Storm
- Her specialty has been negotiating the thickets of art and politics
by Celia Wren
Special Report: Conversations
in the Field - TCG calls together theatre pros to take the
pulse of the American theatre
by Ben Pesner
WEB EXCLUSIVE:
Possible Worlds - Humana's new-play docket was rife with muscular
ideas and imaginative fervor
by Randy Gener
May/June 2006
Censorship or Delay? by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Outside Man - Once wary
of musical theatre, recording artist Duncan Sheik is doing his
part to expand to form
by Nicole Estvanik
Against Populism
- Some observations about art, politics and the pointlessness
of being defined based on nationalism
by Jan Lauwers
April 2006
Author! Author? by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
- Commercial Producing
- The Not-for-Profit Musical Factory
- The Rise of Festivals
- The University Route
- How to Survive the Workshop Syndrome
- What Directors of New Musicals Need to Know
- WEB EXCLUSIVE: Advice from the Trenches
A Game of Love and Chance - A 6-part study of musical-theatre development by Terry Berliner
March 2006
Is It Time to Stop? by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Hip-Hop Visions of an Ancient World
- Will Power and company turn Aeschylus every way but loose
An interview by Charles Mee
The Importance of Being Lisa Kron
- In Well, she plays herself writing a play about herself.
Will Broadway get it?
An interview by Wendy Weisman
February 2006
Behind the Boardroom Door by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Greenberg Juggernaut -
This is the season when everyone wants a piece of Richard the
Prolific
An interview by Terry Hong
Breaking the Sound Barrier -
Composers parlay their experience as sound designers into new
musical forms
by Mark Blankenship
January
2006
The Essentials by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
One on One, Face to Face - As mentoring
gains fresh currency, new programs inside and outside the academy
are redefining its mission and roles
by Randy Gener
Karen Zacarías: A Writer's
Tightrope - She's in the family business, but goes about it
her own way
An interview by Caridad Svich
December 2005
Free Again by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
6 Design Virtuosos You Need to Know
Gary C. Hoff, David Korins, Stephanie Nelson, Emilio Sosa, Ben Stanton and Christal Weatherly
November 2005
In the Age of Wilson by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Light in August - An African
spiritual strength born of adversity undergirds August Wilson's
10-play cycle
An interview by Suzan-Lori Parks
Aunt Ester's Children: A Century on Stage by August Wilson
Special Report: A Digest of Theatre Facts 2004 by Ben Pesner
October 2005
I'm Free. Are You? by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Conjurer of Worlds - From richly
imagined epochs to unsparing satires, Lynn Nottage's roving imagination
channels history's discards into drama
by Randy Gener
A Date With Theresa Rebeck - An
evening with her plays may make you laugh or shudder (or both)—or
see the human condition with fresh eyes
by Sarah Hart
The Golden Ruhl - There's a mix
of the mythic, the metaphysical and the mundane in the audacious
plays of Sarah Ruhl
by Celia Wren
September 2005
A Strategic Alliance by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Essential Bartlett Sher - The
key questions, says Intiman's ascendant A.D., are: Who's doing
it? and What makes it great?
An interview by Steven Drukman
Unto the Breach - Conferencegoers
debate art's role in a divided culture
by Nicole Estvanik
July/August 2005
The Eye of the Critic by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Real Thing - Identity and
cultural authenticity are dramatic fodder for William S. Yellow
Robe Jr.
An interview by David Rooks
Alaska Is in the Heart - How
a new musical and a community-based drama vie to capture the frontier
lives and immigrant dreams of Filipino Alaskans
by Randy Gener
May/June 2005
The Artist as Cultural Diplomat by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Chekhov: Shorter, Faster, Funnier
and Uncut - A translator susses out the true Chekhov—with
some surprising results
by Tom Donaghy
Out of East Africa - The show
must go on for Uganda orphans and Batwa pygmies, in the wake of
cross-border violence, civil wars, disease and devastatio
by Lynn Nottage
April 2005
Systems and Survival by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Iraq Through the Eyes of Its Women
- Actor-playwright Heather Raffo introduces you to a family
you didn't know you had
by Pamela Renner
Force of Will - Tickets are
selling like hotcakes at America's festival theatres—whose
leaders, it turns out, are counting on our love affair with W.S.
to last indefinitely.
Article and interviews by Charles Ney
On the Scene: Cleveland - In
a city of contradictions, the only constant for theatre artists
is change
by Christopher Johnston
March 2005
More than Meets the Eye by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Authors! Authors! - Increasingly,
American stages are rife with collaborative plays authored by
a motley of writers
by Jonathan Shandell
Andre Gregory Sees the Light
- At 70, he's hitching his lifelong quest for insight and illumination
to theatre for the few
by Todd London
February 2005
How to Pack the House (or Not) by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
She's In Over Her Head - Ferocity,
thy name is Elizabeth Marvel
by Kathryn Walat
Operation Macbeth -
How the Alabama Shakespeare Festival took the front line into
a new cultural campaign
by Kent Thompson
Tour of Duty - ASF's Lady Macbeth
and company bring Shakespeare's soldiers to life for the U.S.
military
by Kathleen McCall
January 2005
Talk to Me by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Lying Game - So you want to
be an actor? The first step is figuring out why in the world you'd
do such a thing.
by Zelda Fichandler
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Conversations with six actors who teach.
by David Byron
Special Report: New Generations Program, Future Audiences by Suzanne M. Sato [PDF]
December 2004
Auld Lang Zeisler by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Hot, Hip and on the Verge - A dozen young companies you need to know
- Bedlam Theatre, Minneapolis
- Black Dahlia, Los Angeles
- BlueForms Theatre Group, Columbus, Ohio
- Charter Theatre, Washington, D.C.
- The Civilians, New York City
- Defunkt, Portland, Ore.
- The Dirigo Group, Austin
- Flaneur Productions, Minneapolis
- Mad Dog, Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Out of Hand Theatre, Atlanta
- Silk Road Theatre Project, Chicago
- Son of Semele Ensemble, Los Angeles
Here We Go, Yo ... - A manifesto for a new hip-hop arts movement by Danny Hoch
On the Scene: Brooklyn - Brooklyn's
exploding theatre and arts scene is powered by economics and history
by John Istel
November 2004
The Entrepreneur's Lament by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Evolution of John Patrick Shanley
- From Danny to Doubt, the Bronx to Brooklyn
Heights, the playwright contemplates a fate he never envisioned
An interview by Robert Coe
Saffron Nightmares - In Gujarat,
Indian theatre artists face death threats, house arrest and violence.
South Asians in the U.S. are feeling the heat of anti-Muslim fundamentalism,
too.
by Mira Kamdar, with testimony by Mallika Sarabhai
Special Report: A Digest of Theatre
Facts 2003 - Theatres respond to uncertain weather with
bright new ideas
by Ben Pesner
October 2004
Creative Abrasion - by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note - from Jim O'Quinn
It's a Mean, Mean, Mean, Mean World
- Molière's cynical classic The Miser rides
the line between hilarity and tragedy
by Karen Campbell
The Spell of History - How Shakespeare's
war-soaked 'tetralogies'—in 3 epic stagings—are shedding
new light on our troubled times.
Stephen Nunns interviews Scott Kaiser, Libby Appel, Barbara Gaines
and Oscar Eustis
Special Report: New Generations Program, Future Leaders by Suzanne M. Sato [PDF]
September 2004
Partisan Politics by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Truly, Madly, Intimately - Viola
Davis breaks free from the tragic characters she is often corseted
in
by Pamela Renner
Days of Our Lives - In a season
of decision, artists and their companies grapple with issues
Compiled by Celia Wren
On the Scene: Kansas City - Its
active theatre scene may well be one of the jewels in Kansas City's
crown
by Derek McCracken
July/August 2004
The Art and Education Conundrum by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
A Rage in Harlem - Is the
Classical Theatre of Harlem a black theatre company? Does it matter?
by Carl Hancock Rux
Found in Translation
- Hip-hop theatre fuses the thought and the word
by Eisa Davis
Bling, or Revolution - A roundtable discussion with Daniel Banks, Chadwick Boseman, Gamal Abdel Chasten, Gwendolen Hardwick, Danny Hoch, Baraka Sele, Marla Teyolia, Clyde Valentin and Raphael Xavier
May/June 2004
Global Viewpoints by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Saints, Sin and Erik Ehn - Mysticism
ignites the plays—and theories—of a theatrical visionary
by Celia Wren
Are We Dancing to Our Own Beat?
How hip-hop theatre conforms to catgories—including race
by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
April
2004
School Dazed by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Rock-and-roll Jesus with a Cowboy Mouth
(Revisited) - Sam Shepard gets personal with American
Theatre once again—20 years later
by Don Shewey
The 5th Element - Hip-hop culture
confronts the theatre and asks, "Where to go, beyond the
borders of outreach and audience-development?"
by Roberta Uno
March
2004
Compounding Diversity by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
A Midsummer Quartet - Anne Bogart, Martha Clarke, Edward Hall and Mark Lamos enter the visual world of Shakespeare's most fanciful comedy
The Tresnjak Touch - Drawing
on myth and fable, a much-in-demand director sets his imprint
on neglected treasures
by Edward Karam
Special Report: The Future for Theatres of Color by Suzanne M. Sato
February 2004
Inside Out by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
What's This Puppet Doing in My Play? - Playwrights Erik Ehn, Kira Obolensky, Crystal Skillman, Octavio Solis and Paula Vogel compare notes on writing for objects brought to life Moderated by Gretchen Van Lente
Looking at Light and Shadow -
The embrace of artifice in film and puppet theatre paves the way
for creation of ephemeral attractions
by Janie Geiser
Blow Up - In Atlanta, an experimental
puppetry program explodes the boundaries of subject and technique
by Jon Ludwig
Puppet Rites - A Minneapolis-based
theatre reaches back to the ritual power of puppets for healing
and community building
by Sandra Spieler
The Thing Happens - A third-generation
puppeteer aims to create the puppetry equivalent of abstract painting
by Basil Twist
January 2004
Cultural Citizenship by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Adam Guettel Faces the Music
- Will his lushly romantic new musical win him mainstream audiences?
by David Savran
North from Mexico - An armada
of new Mexican writing looks poised to invade the U.S.—and
bust cultural misconceptions
by Aaron Mack Schloff
December 2003
An Anti-Annual Report by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Lynne Meadow's Next Stage - Tempering
passion with practicality, she steers Manhattan Theatre Club to
a Broadway berth
by Randy Gener
Angels Takes Flight as Film - HBO's blockbuster miniseries of Angels in America arrives—and American Theatre interviews 22 people whose lives and careers have been touched by Tony Kushner's play
November 2003
Reading the Box Scores by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Jeffrey Hatcher Can't Dance -
But who cares? He's adding a Jerome Kern musical to his résumé
anyway
by Toby Zinman
An American Revolution - The
75-year-old Berkshire Theatre Festival looks to its star-spangled
past to inspire a still-fermenting future
by Sarah Hart
Special Report: A Digest of Theatre Facts 2002 by Ben Pesner
October
2003
The Secret Life of Lists by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
No More Clowning Around - For vaudeville
clown and mime artist Bill Irwin, writing serious plays means
reaching into a new bag of tricks
by Stuart Miller
Winner Takes All - An actress rides
shotgun on the rough-and-tumble development of David Edgar's epic
Continental Divide
by Lorri Holt
Plus, Elizabeth Kaiden on Edgar's theatrical balancing act
September 2003
A Time of Reinvention by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Dreamer from Cuba - For Pulitzer-winner
Nilo Cruz, exile is a window into hothouse landscapes of the imagination
by Randy Gener
Shape-Shifting for a Viable Future
- TCG's National Conference connects theatre to a world in transition
by Sarah Hart
July/August 2003
Facing the Unknown by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
A Show of Hands - Deaf West sings
and signs its Big River to Broadway
by Karen Wada
The Young Man from Atlanta - Chris
Coleman went west, all right—and shouldered the job of transforming
Portland's flagship theatre.
An interview by Des McAnuff
Plus, Bob Hicks on Portland's personality
May/June 2003
Austerity Blues by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Salvation in the City of Bones -
Ma Rainey and Aunt Ester sing their own songs in August Wilson's
grand cycle of blues dramas
by Randy Gener
SPECIAL SECTION: On Art and Institutions
Art Will Out - Jaan Whitehead asks, can we put the art back in our arts institutions? (October 2002)
Is Art the Bottom Line? - Eight
theatre professionals consider the question. A roundtable with
Beth Emelson, Naomi Grabel, Irene Lewis, Michael Maso, Jonathan
Moscone, Jim Nicola, James Still and Paula Tomei
Moderated by Cynthia Mayeda
Whither (or Wither) Art? - Zelda Fichandler gauges the artistic pulse of the contemporary American theatre
April
2003
Recent Revelations by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Women in Flames - What disqualifies a woman in pursuit of passion? Age, of course, says playwright Tina Howe
Vox Eroticus - In singing the voice
erotic, a world-renowned voice teacher lays bare the anatomy of
theatre as a verbal art
by Kristin Linklater
On the Scene: Pittsburgh - Theatre
artists are turning Pittsburgh's conservatism into an asset
by Elizabeth Kaiden
March
2003
Too Much of a Good Thing? by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Pop Goes the Musical - Musical theatre
finally turns on to the tunes everybody in the world has been
listening to for years
by John Istel
Salman Rushdie and the Sea of Stories
- The world-famous fabulist speculates about the innate theatricality
of his richly imaginative novels
An interview with Davia Nelson
Plus, Shazia Ahmad on the Royal Shakespeare Company's dramatization
of Midnight's Children
February 2003
So, What's the Problem? by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Urinetown Confidential - Greg Kotis delivers the untold story of this unlikely musical
Fear of Flying - Peter Pan
flies on the dark side
by Celia Wren
January 2003
Training Wheels by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Designer As Thinker - Six
American designer-educators—Christopher Barreca, Ursula
Belden, Ralph Funicello, Susan Hilferty, Charles McClennahan and
Miguel Romero—wrestle with the diverse roles as stage designers
must play in a changing world
Moderated by Randy Gener
Stardust Melancholy - Does the
filming of Samuel Beckett's complete works compromise his theatrical
legacy?
by Jonathan Kalb
On the Scene: Dallas/Fort Worth
- A flourishing theatre scene strives for recognition deep in
the heart of Texas
by Sarah Hart
December 2002
Cheers by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Toward a Theatre of Action - The
grassroots theatre movement find savvy new ways to flourish, by
Moira Brennan. Plus, snapshots of Carpetbag Theatre Company, Jump-Start
Performance Co. and WagonBurner Theater Troop
by Linda Frye Burnham.
Who Will Speak for the Children?
- Peter Sellars's Children of Herakles gives theatrical
shelter to those lost in the system
by Randy Gener
November 2002
Picking Apples by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The Shape of Plays to Come - Our theatre is polarized into two cultures. Todd London asks, What will make it whole again?
Unstoppable Stoppard - Utopia
unattainable is the topic of his grand-scale new trilogy
by Matt Wolf
October
2002
Let Go of the Pole by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Greenberg's Got Game - Arts reporter and baseball fanatic Steven Drukman talks to playwright and baseball fanatic Richard Greenberg
Art Will Out - Can we put the art
back into our institutions?
by Jaan Whitehead
Seven Playwrights to Watch - Eric Coble, Karen Hartman, Javon Johnson, Rogelio Martinez, Adam Rapp, Alice Tuan and Annie Weisman discuss their busy schedules for the upcoming season
September 2002
When 9/11 Is History by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
The View From Here - 11 artists talk about the challenge of putting 9/11 on stage
Eyes Wide Shut - How a daring Houston
production evokes the way we were before 9/11
by Robert Faires
Set Your Watch To Now - LePage's Zulu
Time catalogs the A-B-C's of global travel
by Don Shewey
ITI News: Words from the Threshold - Martha Coigney offers some "last words" for the American theatre on the eve of her resignation from ITI
Special Report: A Digest of Theatre Facts 2001 by Stephen Nunns
July/August 2002
Side by Side by Side - Stephen Sondheim
candidly assesses his acomplishments—and confesses to some
aspirations unfulfilled
An interview by Frank Rich
The Education of Dael Orlandersmith
- At a turning point in her career, a poet-turned-playwright is
still learning from her past
by Stuart Miller
On the Scene: Nashville - Theatre
creates a niche for itself in the hometown of the Grand Ole Opry
by Trav S.D.
May/June 2002
Border Shenanigans by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Incident at Awassa - David Schein reports from Ethiopia on a life-changing production, AIDS Education Circus
Lights over Warsaw - Jim O'Quinn writes about a stellar new generation of Polish directors
ITI News: Memories of the Future - Martha Coigney envisions ITI's ongoing mission
The Puppet and the Fish - Jason Loewith visits Chicago's Redmoon Theater
Strike a Pose - Steven Drukman previews Richard Foreman's Maria del Bosco
Overtures from the Other Side of the Pacific - Hitomi Hagio prepares us for the New National Theater of Tokyo's visit to the Lincoln Center Festival
Racine Meets His Match - Elinor Fuchs on the Wooster Group's To You, the Birdie!
No Snoozing for the Avant-Garde - Roger Babb on Philadelphia's Pig Iron Theatre
Cleansed Meets Catharsis - Piotr Gruszczynski on the Polish production of Sarah Kane's Cleansed
April
2002
The Salient Issues by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Cutting Loose - Eric Bogosian describes how he first came to create the panalopy of characters for him he has become widely known
In Medea Res - An ancient Greek
femme fatale is the American Theatre's passion of the moment
by Celia Wren
March
2002
Room at the Top by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
Hailey's Comet - A visionary company—and
Hollywood star Bruce Willis—lure a reporter to Idaho's true
West
by Kara Manning
A Prophet in Our Time - Premonition
and reality in Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul
by James Reston Jr.
Febuary 2002
The Grantmaker's Dilemma by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
A Drum with a Difference
- David Henry Hwang repaves Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical
road to Chinatown
by Misha Berson
Who's Listening to Lloyd Webber? - Michael John LaChiusa reviews the five CD set Now and Forever
ITI News: End Cultural Imperialism
Now - The arts can bridge the chasms between nations, a director
argues
by Dudley Cocke
January 2002
Uncharted Waters by Ben Cameron
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
So You Want To Be A Director
- Liz Diamond, Jon Jory, Mel Shapiro and Hal Scott candidly discuss
the state of director training in America
Moderated by Michael Bloom
She Turns the Beat Around - Director
Diane Paulus taps the zeitgeist with a mixture of music, pop culture
and a little help from her friends
by Lenora Inez Brown
December 2001
Progress and Property by Joan Channick
Editor's Note from Jim O'Quinn
A Summer of Directing Dangerously - Outtakes from veteran director Gerald Freedman's diary, revealing his experiences as the first American to direct at London's Globe
The Hedda Syndrome - Three acclaimed
actresses peer into the psyche of Ibsen's "infinitely perverse"
heroine
by Martha Hostetter
November 2001
9/11: American's Theatres Respond
They've Got the Look - Misha Berson interviews designers Thomas Lynch, Martin Pakledinaz and Peter Kaczorowski
Design and the Bottom Line - Marjorie Bradley Kellogg examines the problematic cost of designing for a living
Designers and Money: A Different View - A response from Michael Maso, president of the League of Resident Theatres
On the Scene: Santa Fe - Theatre
is flourishing in a southwestern town with deep roots
by Moira Brennan
October 2001
We Can't Go Back by Ben Cameron
A Room of His Own - Roger Copeland takes us beyond Pinter 101.
Season Preview 2001-02 - Eavesdrop on eight provocative conversations:
September 2001
Future Shock by Ben Cameron
Brave New Worlds - Celia Wren sums up this year's TCG conference
The Critic in Your Head - Todd London makes the case that artists are their own hardest critics
Arts and the Media: A Strategic Complaint
- Why are the arts virtually tuned out of America's mass media?
by Frank Rich
Special Report: A Digest of Theatre Facts 2000 by Linda Geeson
July/August 2001
The First Forty Years by Ben Cameron
The Philadelphia Story - Julia Klein investigates Philadelphia's vibrant theatre community
Watching Kate Whoriskey - Tom Sellar gets to know one of the theatre's rising stars
40 Years of Passion - Texts from the TCG video oral history project, featuring nine of the past TCG board presidents:
May/June 2001
Border Crossings by Joan Channick
A Certain Path - Margaret Croyden's exclusive interview with director Peter Brook
The Year of the Hamlets - Matt
Wolf takes us to the Hamlet productions of Peter Brook,
John Caird and Peter Zadek
April
2001
Sharing the Spotlight by Ben Cameron
We Are Not a Metaphor - A roundtable
discussion on issues affecting disabled theatre artists today
with John Belluso, Rick Curry, Michael Ervin,Vicky Ann Lewis,
Joan Lipkin, Lynn Manning, Susan Nussbaum, Carrie Sandahl and
Cheryl Marie Wade.
Moderated by Kathleen Tolan
From Lip-reading Ants to Flying Over Cuckoo Nests - Deaf actor and playwright Willy Conley explores the significance of and obstacles to the translation and integration of the verbal and signed worlds
March
2001
Here's to Our Health by Ben Cameron
Elements of Style - Misha Berson profiles director Stephen Wadsworth, who stages the classics with a revelatory sense of style
To Have and Have Not - The dilemma
of the artist in a commercial society
by Jaan Whitehead
February 2001
The Merits of Mentorship by Joan Channick
You Can't Always Get What You Want - Kara Manning writes on the recent influx of rock musicians and rock musicals appearing on Broadway and around the nation
Five-Finger Exercise -
a survey of five new American musicals
by Lenora Inez Brown, Jana Monji, Jean Schiffman, Mark Dundas
Wood and Celia Wren
New Books: Where the Pavement Ends
by William S. Yellow Robe Jr. and Latino Plays from South
Coast Repertory: Hispanic Playwrights Project Anthology
by Tiffany Ana Lopez
January 2001
In the Most Unlikely Places by Ben Cameron
A Place at the Table - How to
become a theatre company's Practical Dreamer
by James Magruder
Where We Are Now - a report on
the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America
by Lynn M. Thomson
A Sampler of Dramaturgy Programs in the U.S.
You Can't Tell a Dramaturg by Her Title - interviews from dramaturgs around the country.
Balancing Acts - A debate between
Anne Bogart and Kristin Linklater on American-actor training
Moderated by David Diamond
December 2000
A Letter to the President by Ben Cameron
What the Dickens? - Turning Marley's
face into a door knob is just problem number one for Carol
adaptors
by Jerome Weeks
Who's Teaming Up in the Tug-of-War Among the Two Theatre Sectors, Pop Culture and the Press? by Michael Janeway
November 2000
The Board Bargain by Ben Cameron
Are We Not Jews? - Such questions
may still confound, but several new-generation theatre writers
have answers ready
by Kara Manning
Pilgrims' Progress - Christian
theatre artists seek excellence—and salvation—on stage.
by Celia Wren
October 2000
On Writers and Their Whereabouts by Ben Cameron
The Good Fight - Arena Stage goes
another round with, The Great White Hope , the heavyweight
drama that changed all the rules
by Nelson Pressley
The Possession of Suzan-Lori Parks
- By listening to "the figures that take up residence inside
me," the playwright resurrects a lost and dangerous history—and
dares audiences to venture with her into its depths.
by Shawn-Marie Garrett
September 2000
Holiday for Strings - When Canadians
talk about their major theatre artists, inevitably two names come
up: Robert Lepage and puppet artist Ronnie Burkett
by Stephen Nunns
A Lively Theatre - Does theatre
architecture really matter? To create a place of feeling, emotion
and participationin the 21st century, the architecture must play
a critical role— in a way that our ancestors took for granted.
by Richard Pilbrow
July/August 2000
The Perils of Polly Pen - An acclaimed
musical miniaturist shifts her time-traveling talents to a larger
canvas
by Shazia Ahmad
Star of India - Master director
Ratan Thiyam brings an eye-filling saga of good versus evil to
America
by Erin B. Mee
May/June 2000
Starting Afresh by Ben Cameron
Town in a Mirror - The Laramie
Project revisits an American tragedy
by Don Shewey
Into the West: An Exploration in Form - Playwright Moises Kaufman discusses the development of The Laramie Project
April 2000
Transformations by Ben Cameron
A Beginner's Guide to Rebecca Gilman
- Don’t let the gentle demeanor fool you. Her plays are
rife with murder and mayhem
by Chris Jones
Trumpet of the Swan - Two decades
ago, theatre for young people was just an ugly duckling. But look
at it now!
by Russell Scott Smith
March 2000
V.I.P. by Ben Cameron
Philadelphia's Freedom -
Deep community roots sustain an African-American theatre with
growing pains
by Julie M. Klein
The Stars of Bethlehem - A community
mourns the loss of "the steel" through a unique theatrical
event
by Jan Cohen-Cruz
February 2000
Do I Hear a Waltz? by Ben Cameron
The Smart Set - These brainy new
composers may be the hope of the American musical theatre.
by David Patrick Stearns
Mother Knows Best - A working actress
comes to grips with parenthood
by Caroline Nesbit
The Welfare of the Art - exerpted from Tom Hall's keynote speech at TCG's Fall Forum
January 2000
Mapping a New Landscape by Ben Cameron
Looking for Lecoq - A master's legacy
lives on
by Sara Brady
Worlds Apart - It was when he embraced his ethnicity, David Henry Hwang reveals, that he became the playwright we know
Special Report: The Field and Its Challenges
Reported by Stephanie Coen with Stephen C. Forman and Ben Cameron