The description of “The Method Gun” on the ontheboards website reads as follows: “The Method Gun explores the life and techniques of Stella Burden, the actor-training guru of the 60s and 70s and creator of “The Approach” (referred to as “the most dangerous acting technique in the world”), which fused Western acting methods with risk-based […]
Earlier in the year we talked about the Production of “Gershwin’s” Porgy and Bess on Broadway. Adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks and jazz composer Diedre L. Murray, the production was chopped down to 2 1/2 hours, and featured many changes including a happy ending. There was widespread controversy over the new version; Stephen Sondheim, wrote a […]
April 24, 2012 at 10:00 am
I saw Café Variations on Sunday at Arts Emerson. Directed by Anne Bogart, with Music and Lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and words from Charles Mee, this musical is both full of heart and completely heartbreaking. The set is beautiful- a shimmering silver curtain hides the orchestra and the paneled ceiling changes colors […]
April 11, 2012 at 3:53 pm
I didn’t know what to expect going into “Hookman”- the only thing I knew to expect in great abundance was the blood. What I didn’t realize was that there were so many similarities between Hookman and my upcoming thesis, “The Cracking Hour” written by Jahna Ferron-Smith. Both plays are written by young women playwrights and […]
March 27, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Sunday night I had the pleasure of watching the 24 hour play project, which was really quite fantastic and inspiring. That being said, I did find it very interesting that within the first three ten minute plays, a vast majority of the characters were female (as picked out of a hat), and contained nearly every […]
February 29, 2012 at 3:38 pm
When US researcher Emily Glassberg Sands sent out identical scripts to theatres in the US in 2009, half with a male name and half with a female name, she found that those believed to have been written by women were rated significantly worse by artistic directors and literary managers than those written by men. This […]
February 21, 2012 at 11:54 pm
As a kid I was an avid reader and Roald Dahl was always one of my favorites. His books had a way of keeping me thoroughly entertained by the whimsical plot lines, but I also felt sort of adult reading them. I never felt like Roald Dahl was talking down to me. As a reader […]
February 13, 2012 at 11:08 pm
The most recent Cottmail I received included several articles about theater companies providing live broadcasts of shows- some in cinemas and some online. My immediate reaction is skeptical… Isn’t part of the definition of theater that it is live? That there is no removal of a screen? What about the communal experience? The human experience […]
February 2, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Last week Ilana mentioned (or was it the week before?) a play being performed in Taxis for an audience of one or two people, which I thought was super cool, but I didn’t realize until I heard this story that Intimate Theater was like a “thing”! I stumbled upon this article and adjoining audio story […]
January 26, 2012 at 1:55 pm
As most of you probably know, this quarter Elaine Vaan Hogue is directing a play by Emily Mann called Execution of Justice. Most of the script is comprised of the trial of the People vs. Dan White. White assassinated San Francisco mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk in November 1978. I’m […]
