Posts by: Joseph

“I Know it’s a Theatre” Manifesto

“I know it’s a theatre. I know it’s a stage.” – Victor, House Yesterday I saw Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor’s play House over at Studio 210 and had a slightly-universe-rocking experience. I felt moved, affected deeply – at times in ways I could put my finger on and at times in ways that still escape my […]

Ending up a Dramaturg

Last night I was asked by our friend and classmate Stuart to come participate in the tech of a solo he is performing this weekend in BU’s Dance Theatre Group show “Origins.” I showed up and provided a body to see the lighting on, filmed a run, and gave comments. I’ve been helping Stuart out […]

Mining Mabou Mines

So it’s been a little while now since I saw the Mabou Mines production of “Dollhouse”. I am still trying to parse through what I felt. It breaks down, I think, into two sections. Visceral: Loved it. I was consistently surprised in a way that I rarely have been in the theatre. The set, the […]

Variatons on the Faun

L’Apres Midi d’un Faune is considered one of the great revolutionary ballets. Choreographed by the famous and infamous Vaslav Nijinsky, it is a ten-minute piece that required more than one hundred rehearsals. A faun encounters a nymph in the woods, and they court each other briefly. She leaves him, but forgets a scarf. The faun […]

Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

Want to learn to be more creative? Check out this talk. Daniel Pink, a social scientist, makes a case that the traditional idea of human motivation as being based on extrinsic rewards is not only ineffective, but actually harmful to creativity. The “carrot and stick” method, as he puts it, serves to narrow a persons […]

Invisible in Public

I stumbled across this article and was instantly intrigued. An artist, Liu Bolin, strategically places himself against backgrounds in the real world, then stands for hours on end as his assistants paint him into the background. The result is the stunningly invisible shape of a man just distinguishable in the picture above. The article states […]

When Pigs Fly

There are lots of staunch old regional theatres spinning their wheels in the mud — this much is true.  When I find myself contemplating that fact for too long, I start to get really upset about the plight of theatre in America.  Where are the young companies, the bright vibrant ideas? Are they nowhere to […]