Here at OnStage Blog, we spend months compiling, researching and comparing college theatre programs to come up with what we feel are the very best colleges in the country. While names like Tisch, Juilliard, Emerson and Baldwin Wallace get plenty of attention, there are a ton of schools out there with incredible programs that deserve more. 

If you know me or read my pieces, you know I do very little in terms of straight plays. What can I say? I love randomly bursting into song and dance. I kind of wish real life was like that sometimes. However, the few plays I’ve done (2 exactly) have resonated with me and been tremendous experiences. Hmm… maybe I should do more plays? Anyway.

Storytelling might seem like something meant for a child at bedtime. But over the years, storytelling has gained a following as a way for people to share real-life events, and for an audience to compassionately listen to the person at the mic. It’s a different type of stage. It’s not theatre, it’s not film. It’s everyday people telling their own stories.

Awards season always brings out the best of us. The day following nominations for all the major awards shows comes the ‘snubs’ lists. The Oscars, Emmys, Grammy and Tonys all have one thing in common – all nominations are subjective.

All of us have seen the list of nominees and weren’t happy at some point. We didn’t like that movie/show/actor/song. On the flip side, we wanted to see that movie/show/actor/song that we liked nominated.

This space is normally devoted to critical looks at the dramaturgy of plays and musicals currently playing in New York, but after only two columns I’m already breaking the pattern. It’s for two good reasons. First, I recently listened to the world’s first podcast musical, 36 Questions, written and composed by Ellen Winter and Chris Littler. 36 Questions is not only an exciting idea, it’s also a cunningly written piece, as finely crafted as it is cutting edge. Second, I have the great good fortune to know Ellen Winter, who was a student of mine at Sarah Lawrence College where she studied theatre history and playwriting with me. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak to her and her collaborator, Chris Littler, about the show and how they put it together … bit by bit, piece by piece …

I have a confession to make.

I call non-Theatre people muggles.

Yes, those muggles – from Harry Potter. The name for non-magical people. I picked the habit up from a wonderful, lovely individual who is no longer in my life. Regardless of how it happened, though, I have gotten more than my share of weird look after saying that I don’t really listen to ‘muggle music’ or that ‘muggles are weird’. So allow me to explain, because I honestly think it’s something that every performer/technician should consider.

If you’re a playwright and you’ve been trying to get your plays produced for at least a few years now, you’re probably well aware that it’s not easy to get your play produced by a major theatre company. Even if you wrote a fantastic play, it takes months and months to even hear back from the theater after you submit to them, and even then, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get a response saying that they want to produce your work. Often, if it ever gets produced by a theatre company at all, it might take a few times submitting to different companies before to hear back from one that says “yes”.

I was scanning through adverts for jobs in the theatre and I came across a post for Front of House staff at a big regional theatre in the UK. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it. It took me through to a listing on the theatre’s website. The job was paid at minimum wage (£7.50 in the UK) and was on a zero hours contract. No guarantee of shifts but the possibility of two per week. I was quite shocked by this and took to Facebook to vent which led to a massive debate about pay in the industry, what level the jobs were within the organisation, the responsibilities etc and it started to get quite heated. So I thought I would write a quick blog post to share some of the views expressed and my thoughts on the whole situation.

Recently Torn Out Theatre presented an all male production of Hamlet in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Here’s the kicker, this all male production performed the show naked! Yup, Naked Shakespeare in the park! You’re probably thinking one of two or three things, “what the hell is the world coming to?” “That’s a whole lot of dick!” Or “Yasssss show me the D.” 

I had the lovely chance to talk with Marcus Stewart who plays Ophelia. I asked him about stereotypes, and being naked… duh. 

The first time I saw Shakespeare, I fell asleep.

My high school theater class had just spent the whole day driving from Portland to Ashland (home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and then gone directly into a very long production of “Richard III”, and…. Okay, I don’t have an excuse. I have no doubt it was an excellent production. But I fell asleep. Afterwards, my teacher asked me how I liked the show. I avoided eye contact and mumbled something about the battle scenes (didn’t sleep through them—too loud).