The Stage Door
Content for Fans, By Fans
5 Reasons We Miss "[title of show]"
Can you believe it's been 9 years since [title of show] opened on Broadway? This show will always have a special place in my heart, and I know I’m not the only theater lover to feel that way. Here’s a look at 5 reasons why.
Should we Teach or Perform Sexist Theatre?
Imagine, you’re sixteen years old and sitting in high school. The teacher is prattling on about a play some dead, white man wrote over a hundred years ago. Just when you feel yourself beginning to nod off, something strikes you: did the male protagonist really just treat a woman in that way? Is the teacher just going to act like this is okay? Many of the plays taught in schools, especially the “classics” have strong sexist commentaries. These messages are objectionable for many of us in a modern setting, so why are they still being taught? Why are they still being performed?
Wrong Time for 'Time and the Conways'
I love Rachel Taichman. I love Elizabeth McGovern. I think J.D. Salinger is a fine playwright. I think the acting, direction and design of the current production is good. But the Roundabout's of "Time and the Conways" is problematic. This play is one for the history books and doesn't have any business being staged in our current social, political and environmental climate.
“TARTUFFE” Opens at Phoenix Theatre Ensemble October 27
Phoenix Theatre Ensemble announces the opening of Moliere’s great comedy Tartuffe in the New York premiere of a sizzling adaptation by David Ball. Tartuffe will begin previews on October 21st and open on Friday, October 27st and will run for 22 performances only through November 12th at The Wild Project in NYC.
A Very, Very Late Farewell to the Union Square Theatre
There is so much to pay attention to in New York City that sometimes even the most important things can go completely unnoticed. I don’t walk through Union Square too terribly often, since I live 90 blocks north of it, but when I do, I have always tried to stop and look at the Union Square Theatre on East 17th Street, the first New York theatre I ever saw a show in. Apparently, I haven’t been paying as close attention to it as I thought, because walking past it the other day I noticed it’s not there anymore. Oh, the classic marble and red brick Tammany Hall façade remains, being a historic landmark and immune to demolition, but the building has been gutted, it is a hole in the ground. The theatre is gone and it is not coming back. What’s more, the process of its disappearance and the building’s reinvention has been going on for nearly two years. So I want to apologize to the Union Square Theatre for allowing this all to slip my notice and pay tribute to a building that was a key part of my theatre education.
RANKED: The Top 10 Worst Onstage Mishaps
We’ve all been there. Onstage, under the bright lights, with the eyes of a paying audience watching your every move. Daring you to make a mistake… Everything is going perfectly, when suddenly - disaster strikes and suddenly that scene becomes a game of "How much can I recover from what just happened before the audience catches on?" I’ll be taking you through the top 10, in a series of events I like to call ‘Those Moments’
The Reality of 'High' and 'Low' Art
To risk getting political straight away, although often it would be harder not to do so, many aspects of the modern world are becoming too polarised. Perhaps as a response to post-modernist ideas, or maybe just as a subconscious recognition that whether we like it or not, humans like to return to primal thoughts and emotions when we can; certain things have become disproportionately opposed. The apparently antithetical political parties (Republicans and Democrats) in America would probably be the most obvious example for this readership.
When Your Friends Become "Too Good" For You....
Imagine this: You and your friend start out in the theatre industry. You've worked together, struggled together, supported each other when no one else would.
Then, your friend lands the breakthrough role of a lifetime, and suddenly they ditch you for a more successful, high stature friendship circle. Your friend has become "too good" for you.
In Light of #MeToo, Is Broadway Going to Address Its Forgiveness of Their Current Phantom?
Someone who sexually abuses a teenage girl on multiple occasions should be in jail.
Someone who confesses to and is convicted of sexually abusing a teenage girl on multiple occasions should be registered as a sex offender.
Someone who is convicted of sexually abusing a teenage girl on multiple occasions, should not be allowed to return to the very place of work where they committed the crimes.
Seems pretty straightforward and reasonable right? Can we all agree? If that's the case then,
Someone who is convicted of sexually abusing a teenage girl on multiple occasions, should not be starring as the current Phantom of the Opera.
Can We Please Stop Judging Single Parents Who Want to do Community Theatre?
This past week I had one of the more infuriating encounters I've had in a while. I was standing among a group of theatre people when a certain actress' name came up in the discussion.
Rather than talk about her recent performances, members in this discussion began to comment on her parenting skills.