Process

Kaja Dunn reflects on how quickly the world turned upside down with COVID-19 and offers a simple idea before rushing into to creating new work: take a breath and allow for a moment to process all that is happening.

In this virtual keynote, Todd London reflects on the nature of new work and the social cooperation inherent to making theatre.

In the second half of this two-part deep dive, playwright John J King continues his exploration into self-producing, looking at the production phase and marketing.

In the first half of this two-part deep dive, playwright John J King looks at the world of self-producing, touching on building a mission statement, budget concerns, and the script development process.

Irina Kruzhilina discusses the importance of visuals as a means of expression in politically and socially engaged theatre.

Through the lens of developing his show Gasping Whiteness, Will MacAdams talks about the value of creating theatre in partnership with community organizers.

Holly L. Derr examines the history of the intimacy choreography movement in the United States and speaks to several of the artists behind it all.

Summer Robinson interviews playwright Lynden Harris about her work creating theatre with men on death row across the United States.

Madeleine George and Mike Lew talk about writing comedy for theatre, vulnerability as playwrights, working with different aesthetics, and more.

Carlos Murillo and Kira Obolensky talk about their National Playwright Residency Program residencies, creating work for a specific theatre’s audience, playwrights not being part of the sea change of artistic director turnover, and more.

Rehana Lew Mirza and Melinda Lopez talk being playwrights as well as actors and teachers, critiquing their own work, their individual work processes, and more.

Clare Hennessy discusses the challenges of developing a play that sheds light on eating disorders—depicting them accurately, avoiding triggers—and offers suggestions for other writers in a similar position.

Caridad Svich shares a correspondence she had with playwright and theatremaker Will Arbery, touching on topics of writing about bleakness and despair, a play’s relationship to breath, faith and faithlessness, and more.

Annalisa Dias and Ronee Penoi discuss decolonizing theatre, building trust and relationships across difference, and the act of witnessing.

Isaac Mafuel talks about Malawi’s most prevalent form of theatre, its history, and its impact and challenges.

Producer Tobi Kyeremateng and poet/writer Roger Robinson talk about Black writers in the UK, creative citizenship, activism in the arts, and more.

Caroline Reck, artistic director of Glass Half Full Theatre in Austin, Texas, talks about how her company uses clown and object theatre to engage people in the battle against climate change.

Playwright and professor Theresa May talks about creating a show about the planet, Sky Woman, and the Youth Climate Movement, and how collaborating with students enhanced the development process.

Zoë Svendsen discusses working with fellow theatremakers to build and present imagined realities of London and Oslo in post-capitalist and post-fossil-fuel cultures.

Choreographer Malik Nashad Sharpe and film & TV director Liza Johnson talk gravity, abstraction and risk, ethics, and more.

Black British writers Matilda Ibini and Oladipo (Dipo) Agboluaje talk about choosing to study theatre at school, crowdfunding, Afrofuturism, and more.

Demi Nandhra and Rajni Shah talk about their performance practices, social media, mental health, ego, and more.

Luis Alfaro and Herbert Sigüenza talk about their experience in the National Playwright Residency Program, learning about the inner workings of theatre companies, portraying Latinx people in a positive light, the importance of comedy, and more.