Black Theater Matters

#Stageworthy News of the Week.
In the mere three weeks since George Floyd was killed, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has received intense attention and growing support. Calls for racial justice have spread beyond black lives to black livelihoods…including in the theater.

Tomorrow Samantha Williams (Caroline, or Change, Dear Evan Hansen) will be the host of a discussion called Black Theatre Matters  — the latest in a series of convenings (Broadway for Black Lives Matter Again), statements (We See You, White American Theater), essays (“We don’t want your statements of solidarity” by Kevin Dinkins, Jr and Al Heartley in HowlRound), interviews  (Wesley Morris with Adrienne Warren, Daniel J. Watts, Celia Rose Gooding and Kenny Leon at the beginning of the New York Times’ show Offstage: Opening Night),  and many social media posts, all expressing concern, pain and outrage over the treatment of African American theater artists.

Scraps for featured image

Black Lives Matter On Stage Relevant theater to watch online now.

Black Pain on Stage — in 2018!

 

The Week in Awards

65th Annual Drama Desk Award Winners

(Scroll to the bottom at the link to watch the entire hour-long ceremony.)

 

20 New Theater Books for Summer Reading 2020

It is the special strength of James Shapiro’s fascinating book..that the author employs even these entertaining details as a way into American history, in order to analyze long-standing tensions involving race, class, gender, immigration and other fault-lines in American culture.
…He looks at eight controversial events involving Shakespeare, which he calls “defining moments in American history.” Each chapter focuses on a specific year, a specific play by Shakespeare, and specific issues of the day — most of which continue in some form into the present.

My full review of Shakespeare in a Divided America

 The Week in Broadway Recalled and Recreated

The Week in Theater Now

How audio theater is thriving in the digital age
Just as the coronavirus crisis has stimulated a surge of digital theatre on our screens, it has also sparked a wave of theatre via our headphones, the latest, unexpected development in an audio drama landscape already undergoing seismic shifts.

Brain research shows the art promote mental health. Practicing the arts can be used to build capacity for managing one’s mental and emotional well-being.


Minneapolis theater community uses stagecraft skills to support businesses of color in the aftermath of protests

Many of those volunteering their time are furloughed theater workers whose summer productions were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

What’s Coming Up Online

Just announced: Tartuffe@MoliereBKPark LIVE & free online June 27th@RaulEEsparza, @SamiraWiley, @JenniferMudge et al star in Moliere’s timely satire about a pretend-pious crook, happy to use the Bible as a prop for personal gain (!)

Details:https://t.co/65vzcEtbYT pic.twitter.com/x1e6IrP10Y

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) June 11, 2020

Check out

June 2020 Online Theater Openings: Pride and Perseverance. What’s Streaming Day by Day

and

Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online, Old Favorites and New Experiments

Author: New York Theater

Jonathan Mandell is a 3rd generation NYC journalist, who sees shows, reads plays, writes reviews and sometimes talks with people.

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