Category: theatre

In Pandemic-Inspired Theatre, The Critic Can Also Be The Audience, And The Star

Says one critic of the Dutch Kills Theatre Company’s Temping: “‘Seen’ is wrong — there’s no audience, live or otherwise — but ‘done’ is right. The audience member does everything, including, if your brain works like mine does, thinking about what you’re going to wear on your first day.” – The New York Times

Turning The Kirk Douglas Theatre Into A Center For Filming Streaming Plays Wasn’t Easy

Just ask production manager Christopher Reardon, who worked with playwright Luis Alfaro and his retold/set in L.A. Greek trilogy of play to turn them into this stage-to-screen event. “As great as it was to return to the theater, it was scary, too. … Everybody is overjoyed, but in this weird mental place of always being on edge.” – Los Angeles Times

Theatres That Were Already Working On Flexibility Have The Advantage Now

As Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre director of development Jamie Clements notes, “Patrons tend to fall on a continuum between wanting fixed seats and wanting options; providing a flexible membership opened the door to those on the continuum looking for the ability to adjust.” And, obviously, 2020 demands the utmost flexibility from theatres and their patrons. – American Theatre

The Pandemic Has Leveled The Playing Field For Smaller Theatres

How did a theatre in West Yorkshire get Derek Jacobi, Stephen Fry, Alfred Enoch, Rebecca Front, Celia Imrie and Griff Rhys Jones? Well, streaming makes some things a little easier. It even snagged a review in The New York Times. And it’s not alone: “With live performances either difficult or impossible since March, many other agile theatre-makers have also been experimenting with recorded audio and video works that blur the traditional boundaries.” – BBC

How One Theatre Tried To Make Waiting In A Georgia Voting Line A Little More Fun

The theatre chosen as a polling place wanted to make sure first-time voters had a good time just the way they tried in non-Covid times to make sure first-time theatregoers enjoyed their time. So: Snacks, apolitical music, “line-warming” activities, a slideshow, and more. “One of the women working with me day of said, ‘More theaters should run voting. This is what the voting experience should be.'” – Slate

How London’s “Pleasure District” Became The West End And A Model For Theatre

It was the mid-19th century that really established the modern West End. The taverns around the Strand in the 1830s and 1840s helped develop the song and supper evenings that became Victorian music hall. The bazaars and arcades of the West End evolved into a distinctive form of retail: the department store. Shows at the theatres on Leicester Square, such as the Alhambra, became known for their exuberant spectacle. The West End was therefore a laboratory of mass entertainment that has shaped notions of luxury and fun ever since. It also confirmed London’s status as a capital city. – History Today

Despite The Pandemic, Steppenwolf Is Building An Entire New Theater

“In March of last year, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre officially announced its campus expansion: a new $54 million theater-in-the-round. Back then, theaters still staged live shows and cared not for streaming video. Zoom was a comic-book term.” Chris Jones goes on a hard-hat tour of the building-in-progress and talks with artistic director Anna D. Shapiro about the company’s multimillion-dollar bet that, soon, the show will go on like it did before. – Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)