***
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Suits and Sage Magazine open for submissions
Looking for plays and monologues 15 page or less: no excerpts
To be published in the November issue of the bimonthly virtual publication
***
The Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) is seeking theatrical works (plays,
musicals, and solo performances) for its 21st season to be held in Spring 2023
in New York City.
DUAF supports diverse, new, and emerging voices from America’s burgeoning
multicultural landscape. Over 200 playwrights have participated in DUAF and
some have gone on to greater success on Broadway and have claimed top prizes
such as Pulitizer, Tony, and Obie awards and nominations.
Submission Categories:
Short-length play (under 45 minutes)
Full-length play (not exceeding 70 minutes)
***
Women Playwrights Series (WPS)
Plays presented in the developmental WPS program are finalists in the Susan
Glaspell Award Competition, and are under consideration for full production in
a subsequent season at the Centenary Stage Company, the professional theatre in
residence on the campus of Centenary University. Due to COVID-19, this
opportunity may be delayed.
Playwrights selected for the workshop process will receive a $200 honorarium.
Additional funds for travel and housing is available for one playwright each
season.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** THE LIFE & TIMES OF THEATER CRITICS ***
Modern tradition mandates that theater critics attend a specific performance
set aside for press invitations. On and off Broadway, the nights for review are
usually a few of the final preview performances, before opening night. As I
often explain, opening night is virtually never the production’s first
performance; some shows on Broadway run in previews for a month or more before
inviting critics. In Washington, owing to the relative brevity of most
engagements, the convention varies from company to company, but the “press
night” and opening night — a designated evening after only a few previews —
often coincide.
Most of the time, the powers that be leave a critic to his or her own devices.
But on some rare, misguided occasions, I’m aware of overeager attendees who
have somehow managed to secure seats all around me. Guffaws at every punchline
and standing ovations that start before the chorus comes on for its curtain
call are their tells.
More...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/i-watch-plays-for-a-living-the-most-dramatic-moments-arent-always-onstage/2019/04/17/bce54ed0-5f94-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60_story.html
***
I went to see a play for the second time recently and changed my mind about it.
If that sounds like an innocent statement in itself, it is surely a mea culpa
for a critic who delivered a damning star-rated judgment the first time around.
Or is it? The production was Ryan Calais Cameron’s For Black Boys Who Have
Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, which is currently at the Royal
Court. I reviewed it in October 2021, when it was first mounted at the New
Diorama theatre, and I was unequivocally disappointed. All the more so because
I was sure I was going to like it, having been blown away by Cameron’s previous
drama, Typical, streamed during lockdown. That play drew on the last day in the
life of Christopher Alder, and I was so moved by its story, so exhilarated by
its language, that it took me several cups of tea to calm down afterwards.
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/03/theatre-criticism-views-change-and-so-do-plays
***
Making people happy... being a positive influence... that’s the mentality that
I brought to the table when I began writing entertainment reviews for Chicago’s
Northwest Herald in 2017. I set out to be a champion of the arts. I set out to
celebrate the people involved in putting on a show while providing an
informational service to the people reading the reviews to see if they want to
buy tickets.
Honesty is important. So, I vowed that I would never lie and say a bad
production was good or a terrible performer was great. However, that doesn’t
mean I need to concentrate so much on flaws.
Sure, there may be some questionable casting or a less than magnificent set. If
it needs to be pointed out, I will – but politely.
Actors, directors, set designers, costumers – all the people involved in
putting on a play – are just that: people. They have feelings. It is not my job
to hurt their feelings. Even criticism can be done in a way that doesn’t
emotionally injure anyone.
More...
https://lifeandtimesofrikkileetravolta.wordpress.com/2022/04/25/anatomy-of-a-theatrical-review-does-a-theatre-critic-have-to-criticize/
***
When does criticism become a form of verbal abuse?
MARCO: When the feedback is directed to the person and not about his/her work,
then it becomes a form of verbal abuse. The use of offensive language also
qualifies as abuse. It is important for directors, theater teachers, and artist
managers to give informed comments to help improve the work or challenge the
artists to grow, based on their expected output and not because of personal
prejudices. Equally important is the actors/artists’ maturity to listen and
accept feedback, dissect the motivation behind it, and see it as an opportunity
to improve.
TEETIN: When you can clearly see that the intention of the remark is not to
help someone improve on something, rather to intentionally inflict pain. More
often than not, it tends to be too personal or even below the belt. When you’re
a recipient of criticism, you are somehow pointed toward what is expected of you,
you get an idea of what you can work on. When you’re a victim of verbal abuse,
you don’t really get anything out of it other than trauma. You’re
directionless.
More...
https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/01/in-theater-when-does-criticism-become-too-much-to-a-point-that-it-is-verbal-abuse/
***
GREEN
Comedy is more personal than tragedy. I laughed and laughed — no doubt in part
because of the performances but also for the very reason you were disappointed:
It didn’t try to explain itself. Also, it gave us characters, most of them Black
and Latino, without a white filter, which for me was a pleasure and a relief.
Also a pleasure and a relief: The characters (spoiler alert) escaped their
purgatory. Which is not to say I don’t understand your criticisms; I find them
useful because one person can only absorb one idea of a play at a time. I
wonder if you feel the same way, or whether it’s just annoying when we
disagree?
PHILLIPS
What you say about comedy being more personal is exactly right. I had issues
with the allegory to begin with, and because it’s so prevalent, I was looking
for other dimensions or nuances to latch onto but was just left with the
element of the play — the main element — that I found unappealing.
But I never find our disagreements annoying! At first I found them unsettling.
I’m not sure if you still get the anxiety I do — that you’ve missed something
that your fellow critics haven’t, and that must be the root of the
disagreement, that you’re just wrong. Now I find our disagreements informative.
Like with your review of “Clyde’s,” you pointed out the same problems I had
with it, but while those issues couldn’t redeem the show for me, for you there
was more to it. What’s most important to me there was that we saw the same
things and just had different responses.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/theater/live-theater-critics-debate.html
***
It’s a warm Saturday evening sometime in the early 1990s.
I’m standing at the foot of that marble staircase in the lobby of Herberger
Theater Center, surrounded by other drama critics: Betty Webb from The
Scottsdale Progress, Chris Curcio of The Arizona Republic, the Mesa Tribune’s
Max McQueen, Phoenix Gazette columnist Christopher McPherson. It’s
intermission, and we’re talking about anything but the first act of the play
we’ve just seen – maybe something by August Wilson, or an umpteenth production
of Cabaret, or some kicky new musical from Actors Theatre. There’s an unspoken
rule among us: We don’t share notes at intermission. We chat instead about the
weather, groan about deadlines. We admire one another’s shoes.
Looking back, I wonder: Did we really work as full-time critics? Did people
actually care what we had to say?
More...
https://www.phoenixmag.com/2022/07/07/gone-critic-gone/
***
New York Magazine/Vulture Job Posting for a Theater Critic
WHAT YOU'LL DO
• Review approximately 120 to 150 shows a year
• See many more than that, to keep up
• Provide short recommendations of promising productions throughout the year,
especially for seasonal previews and the To Do pages of our biweekly print
magazine
• Offer suggestions for the Approval Matrix
• Join in planning for any theater-related coverage, both for Vulture and the
print magazine
WHO YOU ARE
Although we (obviously) are looking for someone who is passionate about
theater, and we expect (also obviously) that many applicants will have written
a lot about theater, we don't require that you have been a drama critic! If you
are a movies or TV or economics or food writer who is also an enthusiastic
theatergoer, let's hear from you. Ditto if you are a playwright or director who
cannot keep your opinions to yourself. The only unbreakable requirement is that
you live close enough and have enough schedule flexibility (not to mention
sitzfleisch) to be in a theater seat 200-plus nights per year.
More...
https://www.showbizjobs.com/jobs/new-york-magazine--theater-critic-new-york-magazine-and-vulture-in-new-york/jid-rze003
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