Is local non-profit theater over? In crisis? In decline? About to pivot? On the verge of a massive shift? Funding is down down down. Ticket sales too. Was the pandemic the cause? Or did it hasten changes already in the works pre-pandemic? What are the remedies? My feed is full of dire threats and serious recommendations. I’ve been collecting these and am sharing some … [Read more...] about Now What? Celebrate Relevance.
This is Reading
Civics is How We Take Care of the Space Between People
The most important thing I learned in a glorious Humana Festival weekend of theater — six new American plays and a lot of theater geeks—was not in a play at all. Anne Bogart gave a talk at the Festival. I recommend it to you. If you too are a contemporary American theater geek, you probably already know her name. As a mere lover of new plays, she was new to me when I … [Read more...] about Civics is How We Take Care of the Space Between People
What We Liked in 2017
When Doug McLennan asked me to write a description for my blog that ArtsJournal would begin hosting in 2017, I thought about the topics which move me to spend time writing—the things that I feel sufficient passion to write about without compensation. There’s no employer, no client, no contract, and no deadline. Looking at the writing I’d been doing for my own blog at … [Read more...] about What We Liked in 2017
This is Reading—Artists Make Magic
In mid-July, I traveled to Pennsylvania to see a show. It was straight-up MAGIC. I can’t stop thinking about it. This is Reading is a transmedia production about the people and times of Reading, Pennsylvania. Reading has been through the boom and the bust. It’s the city that gave the name to Reading Railroad—of Monopoly fame, yes. The Reading Company was the biggest … [Read more...] about This is Reading—Artists Make Magic