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Aesthetics

In this section, dive into conversations focused on beauty, taste, and the artistic choices made while creating performance. Check out Brendan McCall’s Beyond Ibsen series, which features contemporary Norwegian theatremakers, and Jonathan Mandell’s essay “Pandemic Theatre Aesthetic,” which discusses the immediate artistic responses of theatremakers in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

The Latest

The Amateur Botanist Talks Merrily Into the Night: Some Notes on Neurodivergent Performance (and How to Make It)
Essay
The Amateur Botanist Talks Merrily Into the Night: Some Notes on Neurodivergent Performance (and How to Make It)
by Rob Onorato
12 December 2023
Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog
Podcast
Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog
by Leticia Ridley, Jordan Ealey
15 November 2023
Scattered, but Not Apart: A Two-Sided Story
Essay
Scattered, but Not Apart: A Two-Sided Story
by Carl(os) Roa, Rula(s) A. Muñoz
26 October 2023
performers onstage
Towards a Sustainable Aesthetic Theory
Essay

Towards a Sustainable Aesthetic Theory

Climate and Rasa

26 March 2019

Erin B. Mee examines how using the Sanskrit aesthetic theory of rasa—rather than the aesthetic theory of catharsis—is a necessary step when it comes to creating sustainable theatre.

The Art Part: A Two-Person Theatre Conference
Video

The Art Part: A Two-Person Theatre Conference

with Todd London and Mark Valdez

Thursday 14 February 2019
New York City

Mark Valdez and Todd London created a two-person, livestreaming theatre conference that took place on Valentine’s Day to talk about the love of theatre, the art of the ensemble, the art of the playwright, the art of civic engagement, and the ways we carry artistic lineage and legacy into the future.

This was a way to explore questions they’ve been posing to each other over the years as colleagues and friends, questions not about survival or problems in the theatre, but questions about the art itself. This “conference,” then, is meant as a call to conversation, theirs and, we hope, yours, about the artform we love.

Mark and Todd issued a challenge to all listeners to hold artistic conversations of their own, large or small, public or private, before 1 May 2019.  Please let us know if you’re taking the challenge and let us know when you’ve had your conversation.  Write us as theartpart@howlround.com.

The Emergence of Neuro-Theatre
Essay

The Emergence of Neuro-Theatre

6 February 2019

Edward Einhorn looks at the innovation inherent to neuro-theatre and how various artists have creatively presented the neurological conditions their plays explore.

a man holding a TV frame on his head
Against the New Play
Essay

Against the New Play

(or, What Is Theatre For?)

3 December 2018

Rob Onorato talks about boredom as an audience member, the uninspired play, what film has going for it that theatre does not, and more.

a group of people on stage
ConeXión and Aesthetic Resistance at the 2018 Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval
Essay

ConeXión and Aesthetic Resistance at the 2018 Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval

6 August 2018

Regan Postma-Montaño reports on the 2018 Latinx Theatre Commons' Carnaval of New Latinx Work, which took place on 19-21 July in Chicago, Illinois.

Eating the Rich
Essay

Eating the Rich

Sweeney Todd’s Vicious Capitalism

18 June 2018

Cassidy Dawn Graves writes about the anti-capitalist narrative present in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the significance of producing the musical in 2018.

Symphonie Fantastique and the Triumph and Trap of Puppetry
Essay

Symphonie Fantastique and the Triumph and Trap of Puppetry

5 April 2018

Jonathan Mandell reflects on the twentieth anniversary production of Basil Twist's Symphonie Fastastique at HERE Arts Center in New York City.

A Day with Meredith Monk
Video

A Day with Meredith Monk

Monday 2 April 2018

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented A Day with Meredith Monk livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 2 April at 5:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 4:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 2:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco). Follow @HowlRound on Twitter for updates, and use #howlround.

In Kraków, Good Ghosts and Bad at the 2017 Divine Comedy Festival
Essay

In Kraków, Good Ghosts and Bad at the 2017 Divine Comedy Festival

13 March 2018

Robert Duffley reflects on four shows from the 2017 Divine Theatre Comedy Festival in Kraków, Poland.

Cripping the Crip—Is It Time to Reclaim Richard III?
Essay

Cripping the Crip—Is It Time to Reclaim Richard III?

21 February 2018

Kaite O’Reilly considers how Richard III has been portrayed on stage, the alignment of atypical embodiment with evil and suffering, and her inspiration with The Llanarth Group to create a new staging of Richard III.

Building Worlds and Breaking Meaning in Enda Walsh’s Work
Essay

Building Worlds and Breaking Meaning in Enda Walsh’s Work

13 February 2018

Jen Gushue reflects on the visceral work of Irish playwright Enda Walsh. 

Photo from Blindfolded in the Bathroom with a Blood Orange.
Pop Theatre
Essay

Pop Theatre

Revitalizing and Reimagining a Dying Artform

12 February 2018

Zach Donovan addresses the shortcomings of nonprofit theatre, the glut of self production, and considers Pop Theatre as an alternative theatrical vehicle.

Do Words Matter on Stage?
Essay

Do Words Matter on Stage?

1 February 2018

Jonathan Mandell looks at six theatre pieces in January that used words in unorthodox ways—as gibberish, or out-of-sync with the action; some didn’t use words at all.

Questioning the Casting and the Hump
Essay

Questioning the Casting and the Hump

29 January 2018

Cassidy Dawn Graves writes about Thomas Ostermeier’s production of Richard III and questions why we still see able-bodied actors playing characters with disabilities.

“These are not natural events”
Essay

“These are not natural events”

Ariel’s Technodramaturgy in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Tempest

11 January 2018

Anchuli Felicia King explores use of motion capture and the construction of an embodied and artificial Ariel in the RSC’s version of The Tempest.

Tennessee Williams, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Cockroaches Glass Guignol
Essay

Tennessee Williams, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Cockroaches Glass Guignol

The Brother and Sister Play

7 December 2017

Jonathan Mandell gets a grip on Glass Guignol: The Brother and Sister Play, a mashup with Tennessee Williams, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and cockroaches—the debut production at the Mabou Mines Theater.

IETM Brussels Plenary Pluralist Populist Poetics
Video

IETM Brussels Plenary Pluralist Populist Poetics

Friday 24 November 2017
Brussels, Belgium

IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts presented a day opening plenary speech Pluralist Populist Poetics by Eleanor Bauer from the IETM Brussels Meeting 2017 livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 24 November at 10:00 - 10:45 CET (Brussels, UTC +1) / 4:00 a.m. - 4:45 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 11:00 - 11:45 EET (Bucharest, UTC +2) / 17:00 - 17:45 SGT (Singapore, UTC +8) / 8:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m. AEDT (Sydney, UTC +11). Share your thoughts on Twitter by using the hashtag #IETMBrussels. Follow @IETM and @HowlRound for news and updates.

IETM Brussels Opening Keynote Speech Art in the Age of Populism
Video

IETM Brussels Opening Keynote Speech Art in the Age of Populism

Thursday 23 November 2017
Brussels, Belgium

IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts presented the opening keynote speech Art in the Age of Populism by Eric Corijn from the IETM Brussels Plenary Meeting 2017 livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 23 November at 16:00 - 18:00 CET (Brussels, UTC +1) / 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 17:00 - 19:00 EET (Bucharest, UTC +2) / 23:00 - 01:00 AEST (Singapore, UTC +8). Share your thoughts on Twitter by using the hashtag #IETMBrussels. Follow @IETM and @HowlRound for news and updates.

Being Radical or Nothing! / La radicalité sinon rien !
Essay

Being Radical or Nothing! / La radicalité sinon rien !

21 November 2017

Sylvia Botella interviews Belgium-based theatre historian Olivier Neveux about his thoughts on populism, decomocratizing access to culture, and the political responsibility of the artist. / 

Sylvia Botella interview l’historien de théâtre belge à propos de ses pensées sur le populisme,

la démocratisation de l'accès à la culture et la responsabilité politique de l'artiste.

Theatre History Podcast #50
Podcast

Theatre History Podcast #50

Opening Up New Approaches to Acting with Dr. Sharrell D. Luckett

14 November 2017

Dr. Sharrell Luckett joins us to discuss her new book Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches.

Actors stand in front of a collage of faces along the back wall of a theatre
The Art of Listening Is Political
Essay

The Art of Listening Is Political

27 October 2017

In the fifth installment of this series, Brendan McCall reflects on the work of Norwegian American vocalist Kristin Norderval, and how her art transforms listening into a political act.

Bodies on the Edge
Essay

Bodies on the Edge

Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya’s Becoming Pentalogy

20 October 2017

Multidisciplinary artist and cultural producer Ivan Talijancic interviews New York based duo Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya about LEIMAY ensemble, their recent production Frantic Beauty, and the creation process for their five-part Becoming series.

Designer as Playwright, Images as Text
Essay

Designer as Playwright, Images as Text

Expanding Meanings and Breaking Boundaries with Deb Sivigny

9 October 2017

DC based playwright Annalisa Dias interviews fellow The Welders collective member Deb Sivigny on the world premiere of her new play, Hello My Name Is....

Caregivers on Stage
Essay

Caregivers on Stage

Mary Jane, The Treasurer, The Cost of Living

5 October 2017

Jonathan Mandell looks at three plays about caregiving on stage recently in New York.

The Art in the Room
Essay

The Art in the Room

P Carl Talks with Taylor Mac

24 September 2017

P Carl talks with Taylor Mac about drag, aesthetics, gender, performance, and politics.