Monday, February 11, 2013

Worth a Look

Here are some articles from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time:

Female Directors More Prominent in New York

NYTimes.com: The old boys’ club of New York theater, for decades defined by the chummy relationships of producers and directors, is changing with the rise of female directors who are in demand by veteran playwrights as well as hot young writers.
 

The Guns in My Plays

HowlRound: After the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I felt like I’d felt after 9/11: grief stricken, traumatized and voiceless. In all the categories I fall in: woman, mother, playwright, human being, the events of that day, remain unbearable. The blessing and the curse of the writer is her imagination. At every mention and at random moments of every day in those first few weeks, I would begin to imagine what occurred in those classrooms, what was waiting for the first responders, and for those children’s parents. Even now, I have to harden my heart to put these words onto paper. While I avoided most of the news on cable, I did venture onto Facebook where I discovered some of my “friends” were anti gun control. I do not understand this position, so I started reading (and posting) all the articles I could find on gun legislation. I read some very cogent, practical and common sense articles like New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof’s, op-ed. Then I read Porochista Khakpour’s essay, “Why Did Nancy Lanza Love Guns?” In it, she describes her personal journey of love and obsession and ultimately rejection of guns: guns made her feel safe, guns made her feel powerful, guns were sexy, guns were fun.
 


Theater Education Programs Are in Demand for Workforce Creativity

www.huffingtonpost.com: Imagine a group comprised of accountants, tech executives, actors, corporate CEOs, playwrights and theater directors engaged in an urgent conversation. These rather divergent personalities are all discussing the state of theater education in America and its impact on our country's economy, culture and future. They all agree that our nation's future workforce can't afford a curtain call on creativity.
 


Space Invaders: Unorthodox Arts

livedesignonline.com: How important is a venue? Touring productions always have to adjust the show to the space, but designers often create in ways that make the show adaptable to anticipated venues. And scripts? They usually stay the same. Unorthodox Arts, based in Boston, is, well, unorthodox. For its first production, Dust and Shadows, rewriting the script to suit venues and respond to spectators was part of the plan. Company members created their own roles in a sketchy 20-page script for a murder mystery, staying ready to elaborate and revise. At some performances, particular props were used, at others they weren’t, and sometimes they were used in unanticipated ways.
 


Work Ethic

Tested: On this week's episode, the gang discusses the importance of work ethic and why the drudgery of hard work means so much when you're starting off in a new job or career. This even applies to kids and chores!

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