This is usually a time where college seems to be on everyone's mind. Whether it's incoming freshmen getting ready to move into their residence halls or high school seniors preparing their applications, college is a constant discussion. 

For theatre students, where you attend can certainly have an impact on your career with the type of training you receive. It's also important to note that while each school listed here is excellent, a college degree doesn't guarantee success nor is one required to become successful in this industry. 

It’s only fair to allow actors to do the same without demanding that they come visit fans when they have no energy to do so. They need time to rest. Emotions are exhausting. Making sure that the actor recovers safely from their performance is also crucial – some actions and emotions that result from those actions can overwhelm the body, and the body doesn’t know the difference between an actor’s behavior as the person versus as the character. Making sure the body recovers and the actor is safe is important.

Walking through Times Square the other day, I saw the SpongeBob SquarePants signs on the marquee of the Palace Theatre, and I was reminded: oh, yeah, Nickelodeon is coming to Broadway. About bloody time. Now, while I wish SpongeBob luck, as I do any musical just starting out, if I’m honest, it’s not what I would have chosen for Nickelodeon’s Broadway debut. I grew up and did my Nickelodeon watching in the 1990s (the best time, in my opinion, to have been watching Nickelodeon), and while I caught the beginning of SpongeBob’s amazingly successful run, I was a bit too old to become the kind of fan I was of Nick’s other shows. This is why I have given some thought, of late, to which of those shows I think Nickelodeon should turn into musicals.

"I wrote For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday as a gift for my mother,” says playwright Sarah Ruhl in the program notes for the current production of For Peter Pan, currently playing at Playwright's Horizons. Later she mentions that Peter Pan author J.M Barrie wrote the classic book for the five children that inspired the story. The Peter Pan parallels begin in the program notes and continue all the way until the end of this 90-minute play.

Before I start, I want to make it clear that I do not believe these styles of playwrighting are either superior or inferior to more naturalistic or traditional styles. What I want to do is share the exciting aspects of some of the stylistic elements I have encountered and use in my own writing that I think are worth being used more widely. I shall list three in this first part, and then another four in the next. So here we go. 

Evita is rock opera of contradictory proportions: the music is a hypnotic collision of songs that range from intricate and soaring to just plain weird; it is hailed as one of the greatest woman-centric musicals of its generation, but upon closer examination, uses the male gaze to place its supposed heroine on a shallow pedestal; it introduces Americans to a blind spot in contemporary world history, but ultimately dilutes the political and social climate of 20th century Argentina down to a superficial Cinderella story. In short, it is the quintessential example of two white men putting their words into the mouths of marginalized historical figures, a colonized story camouflaged under a smattering of pretty dresses and songs.

With the rise in popularity of Hamilton and everything Lin-Manuel Miranda, it's no surprise that many theatre companies are rushing to perform his work as much as possible. In The Heights is easily one of the most produced musicals in the world. 

What makes this show such an obvious choice for many theatres is its name recognition but also that it provides an opportunity for performers of color to take center stage in a musical that celebrates the Latinx culture. While many theatres understand this and cast it right, many others fall short and cast white performers in the roles. This is a term we affectionally call, "whitewashing"

Last week Disney's mega-musical, Frozen, opened its out-of-town tryout in Denver. Gearing up for its eventual Broadway opening in March 2018, Frozen is by far one of the most anticipated musicals of the season. Given its following and the lackluster buzz of other new musicals(let's be honest), it's also favorited for a slew of Tony nominations. 

But following opening night, the reviews of the productions weren't exactly stellar. In fact, some could say they were quite worrisome. 

There are some musicals that I adore for obvious reasons. Whether it's their epic score, relatable plot, incredible choreography, I usually know what exactly drew me to each piece.

Then are some that keep me thinking. I know I love them, I just can't figure out why., so you keep thinking about it, listening to it and it draws you back to the theatre for repeat viewings. One of those shows is closing today, Groundhog Day.

I’ll start this post with a story.  The day that the post about the ad favoring Union Actors over Non-Union Actors got posted I had an audition. It was at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood so my boyfriend actually went with me because he was worried about me getting home safe.  After the audition, we were walking back to the bus stop and I started talking about the article.  In his innocence, my boyfriend took the mainstream audience point of view. Believing that union was better.