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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
Illuminated Histories and Imagined Futures
Essay

Illuminated Histories and Imagined Futures

The 2016 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa

9 September 2016

Paul Adolphsen on the 2016 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa.

Stretching the Canvas in Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho
Essay

Stretching the Canvas in Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho

6 September 2016

Ethan Lipton discusses making music, making theatre, and combining the two in his full-length play-with-music Tumacho at Clubbed Thumb.

Picture from Pryor Truth.
Black Fringe
Essay

Black Fringe

1 September 2016

Jonathan Mandell on the wealth of offerings of African-American theatre at the twentieth New York International Fringe Festival. 

The Brutal Made Beautiful
Essay

The Brutal Made Beautiful

Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed

25 August 2016

David Bruin on the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, futurist puppet plays by Fortunato Depero, translated, designed, and directed by Dan Hurlin at Bard SummerScape.

Bored with the Well-Made Play
Essay

Bored with the Well-Made Play

Jordan Tannahill’s Theatre of the Unimpressed

22 August 2016

Sam Weisberg and Rob Onorato review Jordan Tannahill’s book Theatre of the Unimpressed, which discusses the well-made play and the idea of failing in theatre.

Desire Multiplied
Essay

Desire Multiplied

The Caregiver’s Desire—“I want something good for you.”

19 August 2016

In this installment, Irene Loy discusses the Caregiver character, who genuinely wants what’s best for other (often the main) characters.

Anywhere and Everywhere
Essay

Anywhere and Everywhere

Orientalism in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

3 August 2016

Matt DiCintio explores the orientalism in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The Adaptor as Director
Essay

The Adaptor as Director

26 July 2016

Edward Einhorn describes his experiences as a director, adaptor, and translator, and the similarities and differences between them.

Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future
Essay

Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future

22 July 2016

Researcher and lecturer Joris Weijdom of HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Netherlands on what the Internet of things, transmedia, and mixed reality might mean for theatremakers and theatremaking. 

The Open Constellation
Essay

The Open Constellation

Tackling Polyphonic Drama that Resists Resolution

17 July 2016

Chicago-based theatre practitioner, Amber Robinson, reflects on the polyphonic nature of The Goodman Theatre’s adaption of Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666 and other multi-narrative theatrical works.

Runaways by Elizabeth Swados Four Decades Later
Essay

Runaways by Elizabeth Swados Four Decades Later

7 July 2016

Jonathan Mandell looks at the new production of Runaways, thirty-eight years after the first, and asks: Should a work of theatre allow us to escape from, or force us to engage in, the world?

A Man For This Season
Essay

A Man For This Season

On Ben Foster’s Monstrous Stanley Kowalski

23 June 2016

Manuel Betancourt on the Young Vic’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams at St. Ann’s Warehouse.

Shared Vocabulary and Puppetry in Ramesh Meyyappan’s Butterfly
Essay

Shared Vocabulary and Puppetry in Ramesh Meyyappan’s Butterfly

21 June 2016

Ramesh Meyyappan and Gavin Glover discuss their wordless adaptation of Madame Butterfly, replete with kites and puppets, and their hopes for hyphenate theatremakers.

The Art of Change
Essay

The Art of Change

REMAP Bay Area and Future Aesthetics

18 June 2016

Laura Brueckner reports on the recent Arts in a Changing America’s REMAP Bay Area convening.

Parsing Love
Essay

Parsing Love

Furthering the Conversation about Blackbird

11 June 2016

Judith Jerome discusses the recent Broadway production of Blackbird by David Harrower.

Sung-Through
Essay

Sung-Through

Real American Musicals or Concerts with Benefits?

2 June 2016

Jonathan Mandell on the recent spate of sung through musicals, including HadestownThe Total BentEvening 1910, and Hamilton.

Sans Everything but the Essential
Essay

Sans Everything but the Essential

Shakespeare, Space Suits, and the Power of the Human

31 May 2016

Shari Caplan on Sans Everything by Strange Attractor Theatre at the Charlestown Working Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Flying Solo in a Cage
Essay

Flying Solo in a Cage

Reflecting on Hyena

26 May 2016

Actress/Playwright Romana Soutus shares her process and experience performing her solo show Hyena.

WOW Café Theatre
Essay

WOW Café Theatre

Celebrating the Beginnings of a Historic Women’s Theatre

24 May 2016

Playwright Kathleen Warnock reports on WOW Café Theatre’s reunion and book launch for Memories of the Revolution, which chronicles the first ten years of WOW Café.

The 2016 Network of Ensemble Theaters Intersection: Ensembles + Universities Symposium
Video

The 2016 Network of Ensemble Theaters Intersection: Ensembles + Universities Symposium

20 - 22 May 2016
Chicago, IL, United States

The Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), in association with Columbia College of Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres, presented the second event in our multi-year series of national symposia that brings together ensemble artists, practitioners, and educators. This event is livestreamed from Chicago, Illinois on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on 20-22 May. In Twitter, use #howlround and follow @NETEnsembles.

Bootycandy by Robert O’Hara at SpeakEasy Stage Company
Essay

Bootycandy by Robert O’Hara at SpeakEasy Stage Company

19 May 2016

Josh Platt reflects on Boston-based director Summer Williams’ interpretation of Bootycandy by Robert O’Hara, in light of her recent direction of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Comparing Notes with Noel Katz
Essay

Comparing Notes with Noel Katz

17 May 2016

In this installment, Donald Sanborn interviews Composer and Lyricist Noel Katz about his career and process.

The Devotional Re-Creation of Tragedy in Spades
Essay

The Devotional Re-Creation of Tragedy in Spades

Towards A New Stagecraft for Nostalgia

17 May 2016

Jess Barbagallo on Tragedy of Spades by Liza Birkenmeier, directed by Katherine Brook at University Settlement in New York City.

Desire Multiplied
Essay

Desire Multiplied

Rethinking Desire in Dramatic Writing

12 May 2016

In this first installment, Playwright Irene Loy discusses how the Hero’s Journey traditionally exists in Western dramatic form and advocates alternative ways of portraying heroes.

A New Hope for Wayang Kulit
Essay

A New Hope for Wayang Kulit

Peperangan Bintang Re-Awakens Tradition

9 May 2016

Jenna Gerdsen on a reinvention of wayang kulit—the ancient Southeast Asian puppet theatre form.