Up Next: Teens & Theater

Teacups and Ghosts: Copied from Device, Paper Theatre’s online forum SARAH RUHL: ESSAYS I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:10:34 -0700

Teacups and Ghosts: Copied from Device, Paper Theatre’s online forum SARAH RUHL: ESSAYS I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE:

This is absolutely fantastic.

SARAH RUHL: ESSAYS I DON’T HAVE TIME TO WRITE (PART 1)

[This is the first in a series of Sarah Ruhl’s essaylets on theatre that DEVICE is publishing this fall.]

1. On Titles — Comedy and Tragedy
Tragedy is most often named for the tragic person; whereas the comedy appears to be named with…

Interesting Theater and Boring Theater

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 18:55:47 -0700

I’ve been telling my students lately that there are only two kinds of theater: interesting theater and boring theater.
There is no meaningful difference between Broadway theater and regional theater and community theater and university theater.
There’s interesting theater and boring theater.
And interesting theater is interested in me.
Me sitting there with other people watching and listening to it.
Interesting theater understands that my time is the most precious thing I have and the world is very, very interesting already, so it tries to be more interesting than the street outside.

- playwright John Clancy

"I’d wave the wand and [theater] would no longer be Serious and Important and it would be fun and..."

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 18:57:22 -0700

“I’d wave the wand and [theater] would no longer be Serious and Important and it would be fun and dangerous and sexy. It would be like punk rock or early hip-hop. We’d stop trying to write masterpieces and start writing love letters to each other and ransom notes to our enemies. It would be a lot faster and a little louder. It would be totally cool if your show didn’t actually, in the end, make sense.”

- playwright John Clancy

There's Room for All of Us in Theater

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:15:37 -0700

So excited Mixed Blood found this! We Up Next Bay Area teens LOVE Mixed Blood’s Radical Hospitality program (and we wish we lived closer so we could see more of Mixed Blood’s work). We’re also fans of the decision to livestream the MBT production On the Spectrum. Relevant, exciting, funny, true theater made accessible to the people who need to see it. YES. YESYESYES.

If you’re ever in MN, pay them a visit.

mixedbloodtheatre:

This quote explains why we do radical hospitality (giving away tickets for no charge). We want everyone to get a chance to experience theatre.

upnextbayarea:

“For all our ability to transform and transport audiences, theater artists lack a lot of basic social skills when the house lights rise. “Thanks for your $35, now get out.” Audiences and emerging artists desperately want in. Open a door or in the very least, open a window. There’s room for all of us.”

- Adrienne Dawes, playwright

Life-changing. (Quote via I Interview Playwrights.)

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 19:02:17 -0700

Life-changing.

(Quote via I Interview Playwrights.)

There's Room for All of Us in Theater

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:00:01 -0700

“For all our ability to transform and transport audiences, theater artists lack a lot of basic social skills when the house lights rise. “Thanks for your $35, now get out.” Audiences and emerging artists desperately want in. Open a door or in the very least, open a window. There’s room for all of us.”

- Adrienne Dawes, playwright

“I want to go home after a show and dream about it that...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:00:13 -0700

“I want to go home after a show and dream about it that night.”

On Exciting Theater

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:31:31 -0700

Theater that is magic.
That provokes and pushes boundaries.
That poses difficult questions.
That reflects the human condition.
That shows us how awful and beautiful we can be to one another …and that we have a choice in how we behave.
That uses powerful and provocative language.
That introduces us to interesting and compelling characters.
That is intimate, funny, honest, scary, ugly, messy, poetic, and beautiful.
Theater, that while ephemeral, remains with you forever.

- playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton

"As I writer I feel pressure to create what seems to sell, though it’s not my voice...."

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:06:44 -0700

“As I writer I feel pressure to create what seems to sell, though it’s not my voice. There’s the Political Consciousness play (Time: day of the fall of Berlin’s wall) , the Someone-Else’s Culture play (should I milk my Lithuanian ancestry though I know nothing about the place?) the Name Dropping play (Matisse, Marx and Magellan wait for a late bus) and the Lyrical Language drama (her metaphors were like coleslaw.) So much feels like formula-on-request.”

- Susan Goodell

This theater does awesome, important work, y’all. Help...

Wed, 30 May 2012 23:19:32 -0700

This theater does awesome, important work, y’all. Help ‘em out.

playwrightshorizons:

Playwrights Horizons is one of the country’s most important incubators of new plays and musicals. “LIKE” PH on Facebook NOW, and help us earn a donation of $10K when we reach 10,000 likes. Provide an e-mail address and be entered to win a $250 gift certificate from The Apple Store. Enter now: http://goo.gl/51g3T And thank you!

What female playwrights do you love?

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:13:34 -0700

What female playwrights do you love?:

Read this, and then read through the comments too. So many fantastic female writers and artists weighing in, from the Bay Area and beyond!

"When I was a teenager, my mother took me to the theater a lot, especially in Philly. One show called..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:01:12 -0700

“When I was a teenager, my mother took me to the theater a lot, especially in Philly. One show called “Terra Nova” by Ted Tally really stuck with me. It is about Robert Falcon Scott’s journey to Antarctica. I loved the history—the truth is stranger than fiction aspect of the play. As I vaguely recall, the play flits back and forth between the Pole and the United States; the stage is all white, mostly empty. At one point, Scott and his men are sitting at a dinner table in a fancy restaurant. Suddenly, one of the men yanks the bare white tablecloth off and its whiteness becomes part of the South Pole itself; the men, on an otherwise barren stage, are now hunkered down and freezing, fighting for their lives. In that moment—that instantaneous transformation in space and time—my love of theater and my love of history merged. I haven’t been the same since.”

- playwright David Robson

Teens + Bay Area Theatre = Something 'Hella' Cool!

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:51:00 -0700

Teens + Bay Area Theatre = Something 'Hella' Cool!:

Teens see theater. ‘Cause we’re awesome like that.

Liz Duffy Adams quote via “I Interview Playwrights”.

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:01:21 -0700

Liz Duffy Adams quote via “I Interview Playwrights”.

"I’m a big fan of the unsung heroes - the stage managers, techies, production managers,..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:02:51 -0700

“I’m a big fan of the unsung heroes - the stage managers, techies, production managers, rehearsal studio staff, ushers, box office staff - the people who make the entire magical process run smoothly, efficiently, and comfortably for the rest of us - and who make our audiences feel comfortable so they can more fully absorb what we’re trying to say.”

- playwright Jennie Contuzzi

"Subjects that make me want to laugh, cry, dry heave, clench my fists, and stand up & make..."

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:03:04 -0700

“Subjects that make me want to laugh, cry, dry heave, clench my fists, and stand up & make something out of my life are always winners in my book.”

- playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza

“I really wish more people who know nobody involved in the...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:29:15 -0700

“I really wish more people who know nobody involved in the production - or theatre in general- could be in the seats (and I’m not talking about Broadway)…but again, there’s much blame to go around for this…unless I’m just wrong.” - Marc Palmieri

Theater and family, via post on Howlround.

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:01:44 -0700

Theater and family, via post on Howlround.

A Boy in a Man’s Theater by Polly Carl

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:45:57 -0700

A Boy in a Man’s Theater by Polly Carl:

fuckyeahgreatplays:

“Joe Dowling, in defending the almost entirely white male season at the Guthrie, said on a public television program, that complaints about his manly white plays are “self-serving.” And I couldn’t agree with him more. For those of us passing in a man’s world, we’re exhausted from serving the man. I am anyway. Everyday I serve the worldviews of others.

Art rises from the unknown and the undiscovered. Sometimes different is better if only because it makes us stop and consider languages and cultures and ideas not our own. It forces us to engage the act of translation in the encounter with unfamiliar stories. I don’t think we shell out big money to see plays only to be comforted by stories we already know—I’ve met very few audiences who would articulate this as their reason for attending theater. If it’s self-serving to crave surprise, if it’s selfish to seek the new and the undiscovered, then I embrace my self-serving nature for the sake of the future relevance of the theater.”

We love this post from Polly Carl — beautiful, brave, raw, and TRUE.

Where home is. In Search of the Artistic Home on Howlround.

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:03:22 -0700

Where home is.

In Search of the Artistic Home on Howlround.