Welcome
John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC
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A flimsy excuse to mention that I have three pear trees on my property and the local deer and fox are grateful
RENÉ MAGRITTE UNTITLED 1968
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*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
BREAK A LEG PRODUCTIONS Seeking Submissions for Love Fest – two days of short
plays celebrating Valentine's Day. Three plays performed Friday, February 9th
and three plays performed Saturday, February 10th. Please submit one acts up to
30 pages with the theme of LOVE.
***
A Call to Conscience Interactive Theatre for Social Change in collaboration
with Bread & Roses Missouri is seeking submissions for “Social Justice
Shorts” a one-act play festival on April 18 -20, 2024, venue TBD.
The company is seeking 10-minute short plays and 30-minute or less one-acts
plays centered around the following themes:
LGBTQIA+ & Transgender Issues
Mental Health
Economic Justice/Workers’ Rights
Police Brutality/Gun Violence
Health Disparity
Immigrant/Refugee Struggles
Homeless/Unhoused Issues
Racial Justice
***
San Francisco-based independent theater company La Lengua Teatro en Español is
commissioning two to three plays, centering the voices of Black, Indigenous,
Latinx, and Queer playwrights.
We are looking to commission one-act plays that center on stories of Puerto
Rico and/or its people and the complex relationship with the United States. We
are seeking out playwrights with the desire to share stories of resistance,
celebration, and truth-telling.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** FREE PLAYS AT THE INTERNET ARCHIVE ***
The Internet Archive has a collection of books which may be borrowed an hour at
a time, or 14 days at a time. Sign-up for a free account to borrow. https://archive.org/account/signup
Available plays include...
Tom Stoppard: Plays 5 - ARCADIA, THE REAL THING, NIGHT AND DAY, INDIAN INK,
HAPGOOD
https://archive.org/details/tomstoppardplays0000stop/page/n5/mode/2up
***
I adore B&W photos
Karol Kállay. Filled with Light, New York. 1965
Ray K. Metzker. Valencia, 1961.
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Broom Street Theater in Madison, Wisconsin is working on a multi-year short
play project to try and make sense of states. Every summer for the next
several years, we're going to run a short play festival based on the states.
Our inaugural festival was in 2023.
Here's how it works:
You're from a state. You passed through a state. You left a state. You love a
state. A state left its mark on you.
Write us a short play. Something to do with that state.
This summer, we're looking East. We're accepting plays about these states, and
especially looking for plays by denizens (or former denizens) of these states:
Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
***
The Centenary Stage Company, a professional theatre in residence on the campus
of Centenary University in Hackettstown, NJ is accepting submissions for the
Women Playwrights Series (WPS) and Susan Glaspell Contest.
The WPS is a developmental program dedicated to providing a working forum for
the unique and under-served voice of women writing for the theatre today. Each
season 3 new plays are selected for a collaborative workshop process, with a
professional director and actors, which takes place in a brief rehearsal period
of approximately 1 week, allowing time for the playwright to hear and adapt
their work with other professionals. The process culminates in a presentation
of the work for the general public as part of the series, giving CSC audiences
larger exposure to new work, as well as offering the playwright an opportunity
to get feedback from the audience during the development process.
***
The 2024 WATERWORKS Festival is now accepting submissions
~ CATEGORIES ~
EMERGING ARTISTS
For writers and writing teams 16 to 25 years old
DEBUT ARTISTS
For writers and writing teams over 50 years old.
UNSTAGED WORKS
No age restrictions for writers or writing teams.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** WHY MUSICALS? ***
In the fall of 2015, the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An
American Musical was released. This was the first ever broadway recording to
reach the top 100 on the Billboard rap charts. It was a success that was
unheard of for any musical.
With this success, musicals have become central figures in our culture.
Hamilton has become the catalyst that blew them into the limelight. They
have become entertainment for people of all ages as they have become more
accessible with cast recordings becoming available via streaming services and
recordings being published.
Then, in 2016, the Hamilton Mixtape brought focus to the problems of modern day
America. Starting in December of 2017, Hamildrops, a service that provides new
Hamilton content every month, lead to 2018 being dubbed the “Year of Hamilton”
A song narrating Benjamin Franklin’s life, Ben Franklin’s Song, and a music
video for “Wrote My Way Out” from the mixtape were some of the popular early
releases from the content creators, who include the writer and original star of
the Broadway production, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
More...
https://standard.asl.org/10311/culture/impact-of-musicals-on-culture/
***
This, says Boag, is something that’s universally human. It’s why dance and
music can connect us when words alone can’t, or language barriers get in the
way. It speaks to us on a deeper level – and this ability to connect and
express emotionally through movement and music is something we develop as
children, long before we learn to intellectualise or articulate these things.
“Think of how we communicate with our children when they’re non-verbal, in a
sing-songy voice. And how we learn our ABCs: we sing them,” says Boag.
So, there you go; it makes sense that kids will sing songs from their favourite
musicals to within an inch of their life and watch those movies on repeat. I,
like many, haven’t grown out of it.
More...
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/linmanuel-miranda-birmingham-city-university-hamilton-broadway-elsa-b1875343.html
***
From The Beggar’s Opera to Avenue Q., musicals have commented on social issues
for as long as there has been musical theater in America.
People have always gone to the theater expecting to be entertained. What do you
find interesting about theater which talks about social and political issues as
entertainment? Why do you think we have such a long history of doing this? How
does this relate to our first amendment right of freedom of speech?
Avenue Q broke many barriers in terms of subject matter for musical theater.
Can you think of a subject matter that has not yet been addressed by musical
theater that now could be? Do you think there is a subject that might still
present challenges as a tale for a musical venue or that would still be
considered taboo for musical theater? How do you think we benefit by examining
these difficult subjects through the lens of story, song and dance?
There will always be issues of huge social importance to face; wars, poverty,
injustice to name a few. At the community level there are also always topics of
contention between people or groups like budget issues, environmental concerns,
bullying and the like. What do you think might happen if your school, or
community (or family) got together to put on a musical to deal with pressing
issues you are facing? Could this be a way to learn about and talk about a
difficult topic in a creative and maybe even a humorous or light hearted way?
More...
https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/theater/musical-theater-in-america/
***
As in many subcultures, musical theatre lovers have secret handshakes that allow
us to recognize each other. Say you are speaking to a group and out slips the
phrase, “And things being as they are…” If, before you can utter another
syllable, someone emphatically interjects, “The back of the police station is
out!”, you know you are with your people.
We are a relatively tiny group that glories in our smallness, who can recite in
our sleep every nuance of every lyric from every great cast album. Arcane
trivia spills from us like charm from Robert Preston. Kevin Daly, a theatre
connoisseur on Twitter, has become something of an artist in this form of
classic musical speak. He punctuates some of his funniest comments with, “This
is for about six of you” or, “I was very popular in high school, can you tell?”
He presides over a universe that worships lady deities of a certain age: Bea
Arthur, Dorothy Loudon, Barbara Harris, Barbra Streisand, Imelda Stanton, Chita
Rivera, and of course Angela Lansbury, the one and only Mame (Daly is still
incensed that the costumes weren’t acknowledged by the1966 Tony nominating
committee). One day he might observe, “Sigmund Romberg didn’t have to go that
hard when he composed the ‘French Military Marching Song’ for The Desert Song.
More...
https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/01/30/is-the-musical-progressive/
***
If you have never been or seen a Broadway musical show, then you don’t know
what you are missing. For those that haven’t, they may think that these events
are overrated or not for them. Others may feel as though nothing beats seeing a
movie. However, these 6 reasons why Broadway musicals are so great, may change
your mind.
Before you say “what’s so special about Broadway”? or “what makes a live
musical show so popular”,? there are few things you need to know. Do keep in
mind that if the show you want to see is very popular, you may have a hard time
getting a ticket. Most performances are sold out days or weeks in advance.
Also, Broadway shows can be expensive, depending on the seats and show you see.
Still, it is still an experience which can be worth it and will last a long
time. Although these are some of the top reasons why theater or Broadway shows
are so popular and great, there are many others.
More...
https://blog.ambient-mixer.com/benefits/6-reasons-why-broadway-musicals-are-great/
***
“Here Lies Love” is hardly the first musical to be rooted in dark history.
“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” looks at the life of the seventh US President,
satirically depicting his deadly campaign to drive Native Americans out of
their land.
“Cabaret” is set in Weimar Berlin, on the eve of the rise of Hitler, and more
recent productions feature heart-stopping visual references to the concentration
camps where 6 million Jews were systematically murdered. “The Sound of Music”
is about a family’s flight from Austria ahead of its annexation by the Third
Reich.
“Allegiance” highlights the experience of Japanese Americans who were
unconstitutionally uprooted from their homes and incarcerated in camps during
World War II. And in “Assassins,” Stephen Sondheim manages to upstage his
earlier “Sweeney Todd” by making a musical focused on real-life murderers and
attempted murderers of American presidents.
Each of these, like “Here Lies Love” and “Evita,” have also been accused of
insensitivity and bad taste for turning tragic events into hummable,
choreographed spectacles. Each has been attacked for simplifying, romanticizing
or outright misrepresenting facts in their efforts to make history into
entertainment.
And yet, there’s also the reality that these entertainments often push
audiences with limited awareness of these real-world events to become
interested in them and investigate them further.
More...
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/opinions/here-lies-love-philippines-marcos-broadway-yang/index.html
***
There
is nothing…and I mean NOTHING like a song that you can sing along with at a
full belt, no matter how bad a singer you are. Broadway songs are mostly built
for this kind of thing. It all began with Ethel Merman, balls afire, sending
that big sound (sans microphone) over an entire orchestra of musicians. We all
want to be Merman. We want to be heard. How many of you have belted “Defying
Gravity” and were so caught up in the belting that you were pretty sure you
would fly at the end of the song? Deny it if you like, but your rubber ducky
audience and shampoo bottle microphone tell us otherwise!
More...
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*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Now in its 35th year, NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals is the cornerstone of
NAMT’s mission to be a catalyst for nurturing musical theatre development and
production. Every year, we feature eight musicals in short presentations for an
audience of over 700 industry professionals. We look for new musicals at all
stages of development from the broadest possible range of voices.
***
SheNYC is the City’s premier festival showcasing new, original works by
gender-marginalized writers, composers, & directors.
Musicals – musicals of any size, shape, and form are welcome to apply. Just
keep in mind that 2-hour run time limit. You can submit a show that runs longer
than that in its current form, as long as you’re okay with making some trims
for the festival.
Plays – again, plays of any size, shape, and form are welcome to apply!
***
great weather for MEDIA seeks flash fiction, short stories, dramatic
monologues, and creative nonfiction for our annual print anthology. One prose /
creative nonfiction piece, two if both under 500 words. Maximum word count:
2,500. Please include the word count on the first page.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** CATHARSIS ***
The goal, the telos, of theater, as set out in Aristotle’s Poetics, is
catharsis. Aristotle emphasizes this point in his summarizing section, “What
has been said” at the beginning of Poetics. As Belfiore states, “The definition
of tragedy, the conclusion… include[s] the final cause (telos) of tragedy, and
Aristotle’s phrasing, ‘Accomplishing katharsis,” suggests that Katharsis is
this final cause’”(158). In his definition of tragedy, which he considered the
only worthy form of performance, Aristotle stated that tragedy would “Effect
through pity and fear, the purification of such emotions” (23). Acknowledging
that catharsis is the goal of theater demands that we interrogate the term,
which has been contested and debated by scholars since Poetics was rediscovered
in the Renaissance. For a proper evaluation of the ways in which The Theater of
Cruelty as laid out by Artaud shares this desired effect, we must come to an
understanding of what Aristotle actually meant by a cathartic theater.
More...
https://bostonexperimentaltheatre.com/artauds-aristotelian-overture/
***
Aristotle. He knows a lot, right? And if you choose to believe Aristotle, then
you must believe all the mechanics of tragedy that Mike is about to lay on you.
This week, we're looking at Aristotle's rules for the basic elements of
theater, and how those can be used to bring about catharsis, the emotional release
triggered by onstage trauma. You know you love the catharsis.
VIDEO:
https://pbswisconsin.org/watch/crash-course-theater/tragedy-lessons-from-aristotle-wviqal/
***
As a performer turned director, Mitchell recalls the first time he felt a
calling to be on stage. He was in eighth grade and touring Scotland as a member
of his middle school’s production of Cole Porter’s "Ain't
Misbehavin’." The experience was mind-opening and solidified in him the
desire to pursue a career in musical theater.
Since then, he attended Florida A&M University, performed in powerful plays
like author Alice Walker’s stage adaptation of "The Color Purple,"
and ultimately received a Bachelor of Arts in theater. Shortly after, he began
teaching elementary school theater and directing throughout Tallahassee. The
journey he took his first time directing helped to shape his approach to arts
education.
Although he was only 28 while directing high school students in the production
of playwright Samm-Art Williams' "Home," he knew he could tell
stories through theater. “I’m a teacher. I tell people I'm not training actors.
I’m not training technicians. I’m training another generation of theater
appreciators,” says Mitchell. Currently, he teaches kindergarten to 5th-grade
musical theater at Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts.
Mitchell’s process is one that values the actor. He likes to think of himself
as an “actor’s director” whose primary goal is guiding actors toward
discovering their character and story. The catharsis chased by actors and
audiences alike is one Mitchell relies on to help push the story forward.
For Mitchell, the intimacy shared between the audience and the actors leads to
such a catharsis, and as a director, he feels honored to share in such a
moment.
More...
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/entertainment/things-to-do/2023/07/21/director-chases-catharsis-with-james-baldwins-the-amen-corner/70440340007/
***
As I watched Broken Theater unfold, all of these emotions felt almost too
accessible. Waves of anxiety, love, and bitterness crashed over me. I thought
it was all going to fall apart. It never did. The stakes among the creators are
high, personal but shared. Broken Theater is a gift that the actors, musicians,
and dancers gave each other under the watchful eye of Smith, who for the past
decade has forged a reputation for creating rich tents for others. Watching
Broken Theater, I felt wrung out by some ancient ocean. Catharsis is a rare
medicine. I swam out of the theater bathed in it—smiling like a maniac baptized
in love.
More...
https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2023/06/13/broken-theater-american-modern-opera
***
When I go to the theater, the search for catharsis is the same, but the result
is more discouraging. I find even less catharsis at the theater than I do
online. And this time, the problem isn’t me. The Internet is flooded with
cathartic content and can deliver it in an instant. Anyone with a smartphone
carries catharsis in their pocket. It has theatre hopelessly outmatched.
As such, the best shows that I have seen in Chicago no longer focus on enacting
a private catharsis. They’ve gotten out of that game altogether. Instead, they
seek to create a communal catharsis, one in which the barrier between the actor
and the audience is broken down, and the experience is shared freely, back and
forth between them. It’s something that can only be created IRL, the one place
the Internet still can’t quite reach.
More...
https://magazine.art21.org/2015/10/13/long-live-catharsis/
***
The purpose of catharsis can be transformational, or its purpose can be to
reconcile the individual to the status quo, the consensus view of reality.
That’s why Brecht wanted his audiences to experience the Verfremdungseffekt
instead of catharsis. He wanted them to look askance at the consensus view of
reality, the status quo, and ask why it was like that.
Some rituals are intended to be transformational. Their purpose may be to
accustom the participant to their new status in life (which is the case with
rites of passage), or it may be to awaken them to new ways of looking at the
world, in which case it is more like the Verfremdungseffekt (distancing
effect), which provides a new perspective on life.
More...
https://dowsingfordivinity.com/2020/05/18/theatre-and-ritual/
***
An act performed on stage is not that straightforward. Though the protagonist
may resolve their problems by the end of the play and vent all their negative
emotions during the process, there is an audience that can feel them too. The
theatre is a curious place. The stage and the seats represent two complementary
worlds: fiction and reality.
Catharsis is a process which connects the two. It is a wave
of emotion that spreads across the audience. The term means ‘purification’ or
‘purgation’, and refers primarily to pity and fear. Aristotle was the first to
mention it in his acclaimed work Poetics, and believed that if the audience
could actually release all the negativity along with the character, they would
be able to cope better with similar situations in life. Since Aristotle did not
provide any definition of the term catharsis or describe it in detail, we may
come up with our own explanation. We could possibly conclude that the portrayal
of a character then was not so much about the narration of a story as it was
about imparting a lesson to the spectators. They were to actually feel
catharsis in its true sense, for the actor was feeling it intentionally all the
while.
Although the term ‘catharsis’ has been defined many times over the centuries,
it seems that catharsis is, till date, viewed by most as a process experienced
during a performance, a play or dance, or even while watching a movie. The
COVID-19 pandemic witnessed a novel kind of catharsis - a purgation of the
negativity that had bottled-up during the lockdown. A study shed light on a
trend that gathered pace during the pandemic. People preferred to watch films
or TV series that dealt with epidemics, contagions, or viruses. It is somewhat
counterintuitive that individuals chose to watch movies or TV series that
discussed the very pain they were going through themselves. But viewing a similar
situation on screen served as a means of an emotional release for the growing
audience. The spectators could project their fears and uncertainties onto the
movies or TV series which not only depicted but also suggested possible
solutions to the situation they had to face in real life, albeit
unrealistically.
More...
https://www.monkprayogshala.in/blog/2022/6/3/catharsis-purgation-pleasure-or-a-precautionary-measure
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*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
PSA, the Journal of the Pirandello Society of America (www.pirandellosociety.org/psa-journal),
seeks submissions of short dramatic pieces (5 to 30 minutes of expected
performance time) inspired by Luigi Pirandello’s short stories, for publication
in the next or future issues.
Dramaturgies could take several shapes such as:
1. adaptations for the stage of a single short story
2. adaptations that combine two or three stories
3. dramatic development of a section of a short story
4. monologues/dialogues of characters who appear in the short stories
5. dramatic situations that entail the reading/recitation of passages from the
short stories
***
Live & In Color is looking for playwrights, composers, and lyricists of
color and/or other underrepresented communities interested in developing their
new musical in the Fall of 2024. The selected musical submission will have a
two-week workshop in the fall at The Bingham Camp in Salem, Connecticut
culminating in a staged presentation to an invited audience.
MUSICAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The musical must be performed:
- with 4 actors (or less)
All submissions should include:
- Single page synopsis
- Single page character breakdown
- Demo of score (2-3 songs)
- Sample of dialogue (~15 pages)
- Brief production/development history (properties with prior full
productions not accepted)
***
Voices of Women Theatre Festival 2024
Submit Your 10-Minute or 60-Minute Play
In conjunction with Women’s History Month, Powerstories Theatre is proud to
host the fourth annual international Voices of Women Theatre Festival live in
the USF College of the Arts and online, utilizing our season theme, “Critical
Issues Take Center Stage.”
As part of our 2024 Season, we will be doing a hybrid program – a combination
of in-theatre staged reading productions during the first week and digital,
view-on-demand performances in the second week. The international festival
offers an artistic platform empowering, encouraging, and enabling diverse
voices to inspire audiences worldwide through the gift of sharing strong voices
and meaningful stories. Powerstories is proud to provide opportunities for
artists and playwrights of all genres to share their original short and
full-length plays and musicals with our expanding community and audiences near
and far.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME ***
“What the Constitution Means to Me,” a challenging exploration of American
legal history sparked by a student oratory competition, will be the most
produced play at U.S. theaters this season, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
The play, written by Heidi Schreck, will have at least 16 productions around
the country, according to a count by American Theater magazine.
The magazine conducts an annual survey of theaters to determine which shows,
and which playwrights, are most popular. Productions of “A Christmas Carol” and
works by Shakespeare, which are always widely staged, are excluded. The survey
covers theaters that are members of the Theater Communications Group, the
national nonprofit organization that publishes the magazine.
“What the Constitution Means to Me” was staged on Broadway in 2019, with Schreck
starring, and it was filmed for Amazon. (The play has a three-person cast,
including a young person who debates the lead actress about the merits of the
Constitution.)
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/theater/what-the-constitution-means-to-me-most-staged-play.html
***
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
'What the Constitution Means to Me' playwright and star Heidi Schreck has a
long, personal relationship with the document that begins 'We the People.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjybjCD2a9k
***
Broadway's What the Constitution Means to Me | Talks at Google
Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Thursday Williams, and Rosdely Ciprian from the
Broadway production of What the Constitution Means to Me discuss their
groundbreaking play. The play was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for
Drama.
Direct from its revolutionary Off-Broadway run, "WHAT THE CONSTITUTION
MEANS TO ME" has arrived on Broadway for a limited engagement. This
boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how
it will shape the next generation of American women.
Fifteen-year-old Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional
debate competitions across the United States. Now, the Obie Award winner
recalls her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between
four generations of women in her own family and the founding document that
dictated their rights and citizenship. This hilarious, hopeful and
"achingly human" (Exeunt Magazine) exploration features Schreck
alongside Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian and Thursday Williams and is directed by
Obie Award winner Oliver Butler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Lok9jIfqc
***
After enjoying an acclaimed extended off-Broadway run, Heidi Schreck’s
elaborate public debate experiment, What the Constitution Means to Me, has
finally bowed on Broadway. The move to Broadway bestows a bit of pomp on the
proceedings that may be a little paradoxical. In fact, Schreck’s entire project
is to de-pompify the US Constitution — to remove some of its mystique and
attempt to reinvigorate the creaky living document.
Schreck does this primarily by enlisting that most energized and impassioned of
citizens to help her: the teenage girl. For most of the play, the teenager in
question is Schreck herself, bringing all the ebullience of a typical teen
girl, in her case one obsessed with witches, theater, and Patrick Swayze in
Dirty Dancing. For the final third, she debates one of two actual teenagers,
freshman Rosdely Ciprian and senior Thursday Williams. A champion debater in
high school, Schreck paid for her college tuition by debating the merits of the
Constitution through a string of American Legion competitions — a time she
clearly sees as a nostalgic moment when 15-year-old her began to own her ideas
and her self-expression.
Though Schreck is in some sense an unreliable narrator, we believe in the
portrait she presents of her younger, vibrant, and earnest self. By upfronting
her hardworking ability to pay her way through college, she deliberately frames
her younger counterpart as an idealized character, an emblem of the American
dream. Who better, then, she suggests, to guide us through a meditation on
democracy?
More...
https://www.vox.com/2019/4/17/18310288/what-the-constitution-means-to-me-review-heidi-schreck
***
On a recent Thursday, in a sunny rehearsal space downtown, the playwright,
actor, and TV writer Heidi Schreck stood near a lectern draped with
red-white-and-blue bunting. She was rehearsing a work in progress, “What the
Constitution Means to Me,” onstage now at the Wild Project, in Summerworks,
Clubbed Thumb’s annual festival of new plays. She spoke to the audience with
friendly authority. “When I was in high school, I earned all the money I
eventually used to pay for college by doing speeches about the Constitution
across the country,” she begins. “I would travel from American Legion hall to
American Legion hall, in big cities like Denver or Sacramento, to give speeches
about the Constitution, win the money, and put it in a safe-deposit box.” Her
competing in the American Legion’s lucrative annual competition was a scheme
cooked up by her parents, a high-school debate coach and a high-school history
teacher, to help her gain confidence and tuition money at once.
More...
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/sarah-larson/in-heidi-schrecks-new-play-teen-girls-talk-about-the-constitution
***
GO BEHIND THE CURTAIN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE US CONSTITUTION
The Gilder Lehrman Institute has collaborated with the producers of the
exciting new Broadway play What the Constitution Means to Me by playwright and
two-time Obie Award–winning actor Heidi Schreck, showing at the Helen Hayes
Theater, to reveal how the US Constitution came to be, how it has evolved, and
how it affects our lives every day. Explore the links below for Civil Rights,
Constitutional Convention and Ratification, Freedom of Speech and Assembly,
Impeachment, Women's Rights.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/curriculum/what-constitution-means-me
***
Does being an actress make you more cognizant of the female roles in your
plays?
Yes, absolutely. There are all kinds of terrific female roles out there. There
are also terrible female roles. And, when I was acting more often, I went and
auditioned for some of those terrible female roles, and it definitely ignited a
fire in me to write only the most interesting female roles I possibly could. I
like to write complicated, weird women because those are the kind of parts I
would want to play. That’s always very important to me. Especially since
there’s a surplus of incredible actresses in their 30s to early 40s. There are
so many brilliant women, and I just felt like there needed to be more parts for
these women because there’s not enough work for the amount of talent.
And you’re combining the acting and writing soon?
In January I’m doing this solo play that I wrote called What the Constitution
Means to Me. It’s an evening of me talking about the Constitution. I hope it’s
funny.
There’s a lot of comedy to be mined in the Constitution.
There’s a lot of comedy.
More...
https://www.theintervalny.com/interviews/2014/09/an-interview-with-heidi-schreck/
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Nina Leen
Nina Leen (died January 1, 1995) was a Russian-born American photographer, a constant contributor to Life. Leen emigrated to the United States in 1939, she had also lived in Italy and Switzerland. Her first photographs to be published in Life in April 1940 were of tortoises at the Bronx Zoo, taken with her Rolleiflex camera. While she never became a staff photographer at Life, she contributed as a contract photographer until the magazine closed in 1972.
Leen was a prolific photographer of fashion for Life and was long married to the fashion photographer Serge Balkin. She was recognized with inclusion by Edward Steichen of two of her photographs in The Family of Man international touring exhibition; one a photograph of a child at a blackboard, the other, several generations of an Ozark farming family (later selected by Carl Sagan for the 12-inch Voyager golden records).
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists is a juried cash and
production grant given annually to support the early work and career of a
deserving musical theatre librettist.
The winner will receive $2,000 to help with cost-of-living expenses. The
winning musical will receive development assistance in the 2023 New Works
Development Program of Amas Musical Theatre, culminating in an Amas Lab
production with New York theatre professionals.
***
NEXT ACT!, now in its thirteenth year, is an expansion of Capital Repertory
Theatre’s (theREP) commitment to the development of new work. The multi-day
summit is also designed to complement the Upper Hudson Valley’s rich diverse
populations. NEXT ACT! New Play Summit 13 will take place in late April and
early May 2024 (exact dates coming soon) and will swirl around the theatre’s
World Premiere Production that came from the 2022 Summit. The annual summit
will feature readings of several never-before produced plays, with additional
events throughout the summit.
theREP is looking for scripts that use theatre to address injustices,
inequities, and cultural collisions, providing a voice for the unheard on
stage, in the workplace, the Capital Region and beyond. Specifically seeking
scripts with racial, ethnic, generational, religious and gender diversity.
Scripts that engage art and social justice.
***
Every month, Kumu Kahua’s artistic director Harry Wong III will select a
writing prompt on the first day of that month. We’re looking for 5-page
monologues or 10-page scenes based on that prompt. The prompt for the month of
October 2023 is:
A Trick or Treat prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene about a group of
kids who retaliate with a trick against a house and someone that didn't give
them a treat on Halloween night. As always, have fun with this. Act out your
childhood revenge fantasies, but don't forget about the consequences.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** ISRAEL & THEATER ***
My theater company in Needham was created by Jewish immigrants and refugees
from Eastern Europe. As a company, we stand with Israel. As an artist and a
human being, I stand with Israel. (Are we alone?)
Last Friday, Oct. 6, was our opening night for Arlekin’s production of
"Just Tell No One." Written by Natal’ya Vorozhbit and Oksana
Savchenko of the Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings, it premiered at Lincoln
Center last year with Bill Irwin and Jessica Hecht, as well as David Krumholtz
and Tedra Millan of Broadway’s "Leopoldstadt." "Just Tell No
One" is a play about the human consequences of war in Ukraine, my homeland
(is it?), which I fled as a Jewish refugee with my family when I was 11, seeking
refuge in the U.S. where we thought we’d be safe. Jewish relatives and friends
from that part of the world also fled, and many of them are now your neighbors
in the U.S.; a few even became a theater company. Others escaped to Israel, a
new homeland (is it?) for them, where they thought they would be safe.
More...
https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/10/13/arlekin-players-igor-golyak-israel
***
Despite being highly commercial and insufficiently subsidized, Israeli theatre
in the 2000s is nonetheless very much alive. On any given day, about half of
the plays showing in Israel are original Hebrew works. Foreign directors often
envy the brisk, interesting, and involved atmosphere on Israeli stages and in
rehearsal rooms. Each year, more theatre classes are given in Israeli high
schools and more theatre teachers are trained. Acting schools have to reject
growing numbers of theatre aspirants.
More...
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/israeli-theatre/
***
When Seattle-based playwright and theater director Lauren Goldman Marshall
first staged her original musical about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in
1991, she had recently embarked on a journey of self-discovery prompted by the
First Intifada. Working alongside Palestinian collaborators, she produced a
heartfelt show meant to celebrate “seeing the other.”
Thirty years later, that show, “Abraham’s Land,” has been revived for a new
generation. A new adaptation was staged in Seattle this summer (2021)...
But much has changed in the intervening decades, from the trajectory of peace
efforts to sentiments among American Jews to ideas in the theater world about
what constitutes meaningful representation on stage.
More...
https://www.timesofisrael.com/30-year-old-play-about-israeli-palestinian-conflict-resurfaces-minus-palestinians/
***
Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre Co. produces plays that “provoke conversation”
about sensitive topics, according to a recent press release.
Beginning on April 1 (2022), it will take on perhaps the most difficult
conversation in Jewish life: the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“Settlements,” written by Seth Rozin, a Jewish playwright and InterAct’s
producing artistic director, is about “a resident theater at a Jewish Community
Center which finds itself pulled in conflicting directions when it commissions
a new play about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to a press
release detailing the show.
Rozin wrote the play over several years after reading a 2014 Washington Post
story about a similar incident, in which a Washington, D.C., theater director
was dismissed from his JCC home after commissioning a play about Israeli
soldiers killing Palestinians. Rozin said he feels it’s important to explore
not who’s right and who’s wrong in the conflict, but why it’s so difficult to
discuss.
More...
https://www.jewishexponent.com/new-play-explores-israel-palestine-conflict/
***
Contemporary resonances abound for the century-old play The Dybbuk by S.
An-sky, as a new collection of research articles implies. Israeli director
Diego Rotman, one of the contributors, even notes that in Hebrew letters, COVID
is dybbuk spelled backwards.
Similarly, the drama itself retains an eerie historical-contemporary echo. Its
plot tells of a young woman possessed by the spirit of her dead beloved in a
19th century shtetl in the Pale of Settlement, a western region of the Russian
Empire where permanent residency by Jews was allowed.
In Jewish folklore dating back at least to the 1500s, a dybbuk is the
dislocated soul of a dead person that occupies the body of someone still
living. In An-sky’s narrative (spoiler alert!) the young lovers wind up dead,
with even more lamenting and morbidity than Shakespeare’s ill-fated Romeo and
Juliet.
More...
https://forward.com/culture/563005/dybbuk-century-an-sky-caplan-moss-jewish-play/
***
iSRA-DRaMA:
International Exposure of Israeli Theatre
November 22-26, 2023
In light of recent events, we wish to address Israel’s current situation. As
you may be aware, Israel is currently facing a severe security crisis. In an
unprecedented act of war, Hamas launched a massive, brutal attack on Israeli
civilians. This attack has resulted in a significant number of casualties,
injuries, and the kidnapping of innocent civilians, including children and the
elderly.
It is a time of profound sadness and uncertainty for Israel, and regrettably, the
crisis is far from over, as a war looms on the horizon.
As for the Theater Exposure, we would like to ask for your patience, as the
situation is dynamic, and circumstances may change.
We will keep you updated and informed of any changes or adjustments.
Let us all hope for better times.
More...
https://exposure.dramaisrael.org/
Israeli
Dramatists Website
https://dramaisrael.org/en/
***
For the three weeks between the first day of Rosh Hashanah and the end of
Simchat Torah, it’s hard to get anything done in Israel. With so many holidays
in rapid succession, businesses open sporadically, bureaucratic necessities
remain pending and many cultural events are put on hold.
In New York, though, a community of Israeli artists is overflowing with
activity: Throughout the month of October, the Israeli Artists Project (IAP) is
hosting the Stav Festival: A Celebration of Israeli Arts and Culture at the
14th Street Y. Featuring dozens of artists working in an array of media,
festival events include performances by standup comics and musicians alongside
productions of award-winning Israeli plays. Artists will provide workshops on
everything from folk dancing or belly dancing to painting.
Named for the Hebrew word for autumn, the Stav Festival was originally slated
for May 2020, when it would have been the Aviv (or Spring) Festival, but the
COVID-19 pandemic meant that it had to be postponed. In his opening remarks at
last week’s kickoff event, IAP president Yoni Vendriger said that the more than
three-year delay may have been for the best. “We’ve had plenty of time to
curate a month of events that bring together artists from so many walks of
life,” he said.
Among the many and varied events is the New York debut of “The Holylanders,” an
original play by Moria Zrachia. Originally commissioned and presented by
Israel’s Cameri Theatre in Hebrew as “Shalom Lach Eretz,” this new,
English-language version was adapted and directed by her brother and longtime
collaborator, Matan Zrachia.
More...
https://www.jta.org/2023/10/04/ny/a-monthlong-celebration-of-israeli-arts-and-culture-comes-to-the-14th-street-y
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