Broadway

Broadway The Complete Text:
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NO SHOW
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1

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2

CONTENTS Vol. 42 June/July 2022

15 NO SHOW

If a global pandemic
means we can’t
have theatre until we can
gather
again safely, what are U.S.
theatres
going to do in the
meantime, and
after?
By Rob Weinert-Kendt

THE ZOOM WHERE IT
HAPPENS

Academic theatre
programs quickly

12 adjust to remote learning in

the age
of COVID-19
By Allison Considine

Director André
Gregory

(The Designated Mourner,
Uncle Vanya, The Master
Builder)

19
9

Departments

3 Editor’s Note

6 Awards & Prizes

8 MTeerremncoeriMacmNally, Julia Miles

1 0 Role Call

People to Watch

12 No Shows

18 OwiftfhsAtandgrée Gregory

Editor’s Letter

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF THE MAGAZINE YOU’RE this virus’s spiritual devastation,
Christopher Gnanam HOLDING IN YOUR HANDS and who will collect any
MANAGING EDITOR MAY NOT feel lighter than unexpected, hard-won gifts of
Wishnuendran Balan usual, but it is glaringly insight and clarity this worldwide
SENIOR EDITOR missing one key element: several crisis may bring us. Artists may
Allison Considine pages of listings of theatre also find dramatic inspiration in
PHOTO EDITOR productions in nearly every state an excruciating irony: that the
Caitlyn Halvorsen of the U.S. that have appeared in world is at last sharing a common
EDITORIAL INTERNS the back of every issue of American experience with the potential to
Alex Durham Theatre for decades now. That is bind us into broad sympathy and
Caroline Meredith because, as you will hardly need a sense of common purpose, at
CREATIVE DIRECTOR to be reminded, there are no the same time we are asked to
Kitty Suen Spennato productionson stages in the U.S. stay warily apart from each other,
GRAPHIC DESIGNER now, nor in the foreseeable future. to suffer this frightful uncertainty
Dedra Bailey Thanks to the deadly spread of more or less physically alone. This
PLAYSCRIPT DIRECTOR the novel coronavirus disease is the stuff of Beckett or the Book
Kathy Sova christened COVID-19, our lives of Job. What, then, will American
DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING as citizens, consumers, workers, Theatre write about when there
Carol Van Keuren and artists have been irrevocably is no American theatre? In fact
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING overturned, and theatre is there is no shortage of things to
Erica Lauren Ortiz just one among many social write about now, in our painfully if
CIRCULATION MANAGER practices abruptly halted by the temporarily dormant field. In the
Carissa Cordes mandate for social distancing. weeks since the country’s theatres
PUBLISHER There is, at press time, no clear shut down in mid-March, the staff
Terence Nemeth end in sight. Even if the curve of of both American Theatre and
FOUNDING EDITOR infectionscan be flattened, as it Theatre Communications Group
Jim O’Quinn has been in many countries and have been as busy as ever, keeping
some U.S. states, reports from up with and disseminating news
those areas describe tentative, about the fortunes and futures
halting steps in the direction of of America’s theatrical and
“normal,” not full-blown or roaring educational institutions.. Some
recovery. Less easy to assess will of those stories are represented
be the damage to our souls and in this issue, and you can expect
to our ways of relating to each to read many more, both here in
other. We are irreducibly social print and at AmericanTheatre.
creatures, even those among us org. We plan to be here as long
who count ourselves introverts as there are theatre artists and
or misanthropes. Like it or not, audiences who yearn to gather
we thrive on connection and for an ancient ritual that has
community. And theatre has long survived natural disasters, wars,
been among our preeminent and, yes, plagues. And we plan to
practices for sharing, examining, meet you here on the other side of
and affirming our common this crisis. Till then, you might think
humanity, in spaces we share with of this unwelcome interregnum
others, often many others, usually as a pause, a rest, even a kind
strangers. That public communion of sleep. And in that sleep, what
is on pause, obviously. But artists dreams may come?
never stop their work, even in
winter or wartime. And it is artists, - Christopher Gnanam
theatremakers among them, who
will be our best guides through

o fR E S O U R C E S T H E AT RES

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5

AWARD & PRIZES

with an open call for
additional associates
to be announced. The
confirmed associates
will help shape Park
Square’s programming
in 2022. The new cohort
will replace Flordelino
Lagundino, whose artistic
director position was
eliminated in late January.

Oregon Children’s Stephanie Grassi the leaves the organization The Lark in New
Theatre has promoted organization’s new general after serving as general York City has announced
associate artistic director counsel. Previously, counsel since 1981. that Stacy Waring
Marcella Crowson to be Grassi was an associate will assume the role of
artistic director, effective with O’Melveny & Myers Park Square Theatre executive director for the
immediately. Crowson, LLP since 2014 and, in St. Paul, Minn., has organization. Waring
who originally joined prior to that, she served as instated a cohort of joined The Lark in 2015 as
the company in 2006, the LORT management artistic associates as a the organization’s general
succeeds Stan Foote, the associate. Grassi began collective replacement manager before moving
company’s first artistic on March 16, succeeding for the position of artistic to director of operations
director. Harry H. Weintraub, who director. Rick Shiomi, in 2017. Waring will work
will stay on until Aug. Ellen Fenster, and Kim in a leadership capacity
The League of Resident 31 to ensure a smooth Vasquez are the first three alongside artistic director
Theatres has named transition. Weintraub confirmed associates, John Clinton Eisner.

6

AWARD & PRIZES AWARD & PRIZES

Constable, and Scott her play What to Send Up at Williamstown Theatre
When It Goes Down. Festival, optional publication
C. Parker. Joe Klug will by Samuel French,
and the $10,000 Jay Harris
receive the annual Rising Commission to write a
new play.
Star Award. The Young American Shakespeare

Designers, Managers, and Center in Staunton, Va.,

Technicians Awards will has announced that L M

go to Dashiell Menard, Feldman is the winner

Yaro Yarashevich, Brook of the third cycle of the The Old Globe in San

Nicole Kesler, Afsaneh Shakespeare’s Love as New Diego has announced

Aayani, Jasmine Lesane, Contemporaries project for Meg DeBoard, Manoel

Jeff Sherwood, Brett Sellitti, her play Thrive, or What Felciano, Lavina Jadhwani,

Yue Shi, and William Young. You Will. Feldman will receive and Edward Torres

American Blues Theater Other award winners a $25,000 award and her as the second cohort
in Chicago has named
Andrea Stolowitz the include Dan Ozminkowski play will be produced of directing fellows for its
winner of the 2020 Blue Ink
Playwriting Award Stolowitz (USITT Member International as part of ASC’s 2020-21 Classical Directing
will receive a $1,250 cash
prize and a staged reading Travel Award), Susan Hilferty national tour alongside Fellowships program. The
of her winning play, Recent
Unsettling Events, as part (USITT Award), Alexandra Shakespeare’s Twelfth fellowship is led by the
of the Blue Ink Playwriting
Festival. Finalists, who will Bonds and Patricia MacKay Night. Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi
also have their work
featured during the festival, (Joel E. Rubin Founder’s artistic director Barry
are Football Football
Football Football (or I Love Award), Eileen Morris The Dramatists Guild Edelstein who will present
Lave Dash) by Kristoffer Diaz, of America has named
The Mermaids’ Parade by (Thomas DeGaetani Award), Madhuri Shekar the a series of workshops on
Gina Femia, and Crying recipient of the 2020 Lanford
on Television by R. Eric William Byrnes (Honorary Wilson Award. Shekar’s Shakespeare’s text.
Thomas. plays include In Love
Lifetime Membership and Warcraft, A Nice
Indian Boy, Queen, House
Award), and Kathy Perkins of Joy, and Dhaba on Devon PlayGround Company
Avenue. in San Francisco has
(Wally Russell Professional announced the first class
of a new producer fellowship
Mentoring Award). program, where parttime
paid fellows will each
The United States Institute Oklahoma City University focus on different
has appointed alum Kristin aspects of the production
for Theatre Technology Chenoweth as artist in process. The inaugural
residence of the Wanda fellows are Chris Steele
has announced their 2020 L. Bass School of Music at (communications), Lana
Oklahoma City University. Richards (development),
award winners. Alexandra Chenoweth will be in Donny Goglio (artistic), and
residence at east once Edna Mira Raia (theatre
every semester, beginning management).
in April, teaching master
Bonds will receive the classes and workshops, The Windham-Campbell
in addition to leading
Oscar G. Brockett Golden The 2020 Susan Smith conversations with OCU Prize, administered by Yale
Blackburn Prize has been students about the business
Pen Award for her book awarded to Lucy Prebble of Broadway and Hollywood. University and honoring
for her play A Very
Beijing Opera Costumes: Expensive Poison. Prebble English-language writers
was awarded a cash prize
The Visual Communication of $25,000 and a signed all over the world, has
limited-edition print by
of Character and Culture. Willem de Kooning at a announced the 2020
March 2 ceremony in New
Caitlyn Garrity will receive York City. Additionally, honorees, including
Aleshea Harris received
the Herbert D. Greggs award, a Special Commendation Williamstown Theatre playwrights Julia Cho and
award of $10,000 for Festival has announced
while John Huntington and that Sanaz Toossi has Aleshea Harris. The prize,
been awarded the L.
Sandra Goldmark will Arnold Weissberger New which goes to eight winners
Play Award for her play
Receive Herbert D. English. Toossi will receive in four categories including
a $10,000 award, a reading
Greggs Merit Awards. The poetry, fiction, non-fiction,

Distinguished Achievement and drama, bestows a total

Award winners are Deena of $1.32 million with each

Kaye, Elaine J. McCarthy, honoree receiving $165,000.

Jeffrey Lieder, Jerry Gorrell,

Kevin Rigdon, Paule

7

IN MEMORIUM

Terrence McNally: 1938-2020

BY JEREMY O. HARRIS

Playwright Terrence McNally TERRENCE McNALLY you brave enough to write white straight man’s theatre,
(Master Class, Love! made no insistence on something like Slave Play? had the gall to start
Valour! Compassion!) died his significance. If there Were you scared?” It’s their career, not end it, as a
on March 24. He was 81. were only one thing to be a question that I always homosexual writing about
gleaned from the litany of shy away from, yet one homosexuals? This was
speeches, interviews, and I so desperately want to before Stonewall. Before
works of his I have read ask McNally myself now. AIDS. Before it felt like
since his passing, it seems “How were you brave there was a movement and
to be that for Terrence enough to write something forward momentum upon
the most significant like And Things That which to hitch your identity.
thing was theatre itself, Go Bump in the Night or This was when the
not the building but the something like Next? Were safest thing to be was a
institution, and the charge you scared?” Because he straight white man, or if
of his life’s work to be should’ve been. Both of you were neither of those
worthy of it. For a young these plays with gay men at things, a silent one. Yet
playwright, there could be their center told the world he chose to be the opposite
no greater lesson to learn. something new about who because he chose to be
The question most a gay man was on the stage himself.
young playwrights have and in the world. Who To transgress in plain
asked me is, “How were before Terrence, in the sight is no easy feat, made

Julia Miles: 1930-2020

BY LISA MCNULTY

the heart of the burgeoning upending sexist bias theatre she loved so much,
wherever she saw it. She
Off-Broadway movement. made a stage for hundreds and so she dedicated
of women, most of whom
She was producing met Julia at the beginnings her life to making a place
of their careers, with little to
premieres by Sam Shepard, recommend them but their where playwrights, actors,
drive, and many of whom
Jules Feiffer, Steve Tesich, who would go on to win producers, directors,
Tony Awards, MacArthur
and more, and could “Genius” Grants, Pulitzer designers, musicians,
Prizes, and every other
have climbed the ladder award that you can think lighting technicians— you
of. With her invincible mix
to success wherever she of Southern elegance and name it, Julia always found
grit, shrewd experience,
chose. Instead, she took a enviable connections, and the most brilliant young
artistic eye, she made space
hard look at the inequity in for women from all makers, gave them their
backgrounds to break
her own profession, noting through in a field that first opportunities, and sent
dismissed and ignored
that only eight of the them. Julia had the them on to huge careers in
revolutionary idea that
72 plays produced by the women deserved a voice in theatres. Since her death,
the the
American Place were by I’ve heard from so many of

women, and that the track those artists that Julia threw

record of the field overall doors open for, women we

Julia Miles, who founded was even worse. Never one now consider the lifeblood
WP Theater (formerly
Women’s to sit back when there was of the American theatre.
Project Theater), died on
March 18. She was 90. something to be done, Julia I was particularly struck

IN 1978, JULIA MILES decided to take the matter by Carey Perloff’s tale of
WAS Wynn Handman’s
right hand at the American into her own hands. meeting Julia at 21 years
Place Theater, directly in
Julia started old, in her third week in New

Women’s Project in 1978 York City, with no contacts

and spent the next 25 years or training. Julia introduced

never taking no for an her to

answer and

8

Awards & Prizes

no easier by the fact that imagine and build words I hope even more is spilled belovedly built a canon of
many of those who never both near and far from his about how his tenacious gay characters who were
dare to transgress or disrupt own, filled with a level of appetite for the theatre no melodrama-suffering
in public are so consistently genuine verisimilitude that led him, at various points in gay bodies but simply gay
and so richly is dizzying to witness, as his career, to create genre- bodies that had suffered,
rewarded. Yet from the in his Tony-winning play defining works in the space could suffer, but whose
minute New York met Master Class. There has of not only theatre but in existence didn’t necessitate
Terrence and will be much ink spilled forms it birthed: musicals, suffering? Who before
McNally, he sought introducing McNally to the television, and the opera. Terrence did it in so public
not to transgress but to canon of playwrights past McNally taught the young a fashion? Some in other
be what every good disciple as “a chronicler of gay life in playwright, and the gay mediums and other forms,
attempts to be: honest the 20th century,” because playwright, that to love but few if any in ours. Yet
at the foot of that which it’s true: One can read his the thing you do is to love even so, what I feel I’ve
they worship. Dishonesty prolific body of work and every form it takes. It is learned from Terrence is
was the only thing witness the gay psyche quite easy, with the privilege that the important thing is
that made Jesus look down evolve through civil rights, of hindsight, to articulate less the fact that he blazed
at one of his disciples; Stonewall, disco, Cats, the a litany of the ways the a trail, but who was able to
McNally knew that, but HIV epidemic, the rise of work of McNally lay the follow. For what’s a trail if
McNally knew so many prestige TV, the Obama foundations upon which the it’s not tread upon?
things. Transgression is years, and the start of the work of myself and many of
only possible when there’s Trump era. Yet as someone my cohort have sometimes Jeremy O. Harris is the
some armor for defense, who sees in McNally a blithely built upon. Who author of Slave Play and
and McNally’s was always disciple of theatre first and before Terrence so diligently “Daddy.”
a boundless intellect. That foremost and
intellect allowed him to

the women who would be I first nervously walked forward, I have been Central Park apartment to
her artistic family for the into Julia’s office in 1997 to an out-of-town playwright,
rest of her storied career. interview to be her literary especially inspired by Julia’s or hiring a nanny for a new
Emily Mann and I talked manager, and was struck mom in rehearsals. Julia
about Julia’s genius for by the elegant woman (she creative friendships and wanted artists to focus on
mentorship, and how was always the best the art, and did her best to
she passed that on to turnedout woman in every collaborations with Maria slay any dragons that might
everyone she touched. I room she entered—the get in the way. I can’t wait
think about that a lot— the shoes alone, people!) Irene Fornés and Billie to get back in Julia’s office
gift of mentorship. Julia behind the imposing to continue her work. I will
gave Carey and Emily wooden desk. Julia gave Allen, two women who look to her hard-nosed yet
and a thousand others— me my first paying job in the compassionate example
Eve Ensler, Anna Deavere theatre, and, like so many of helped make WP what it as we all work together
Smith, Mary McDonnell, my colleagues, launched a to overcome one of the
Melanie Joseph, Julianne career that would take me is today. Julia premiered biggest challenges this field
Boyd, Evan Yiounoulis— all the way to Broadway has ever faced. I’m grateful
their first opportunities, and and back again to run the six of Fornés’s plays over to have Julia guiding me
all of those women have theatre she created. Julia now—if she were here,
taken that gift forward showed me how to lead her career—I saw that she would roll up her
and mentored hundreds with both toughness and impeccably tailored sleeves
and hundreds of young love, and imbued me with extraordinary creative to face things head on. All
women in their part. it is no her ruthless drive for high of us who owe so much to
coincidence that so many standards, her fearless partnership in action Julia owe it to her to do the
of those women went on to determination that women same. Lisa McNulty is the
run theatres of their own— could demand an equal working on The Summer in producing artistic director
they were continuing that seat at the table, and her of WP Theater in New York
living chain of mentorship vision that successful Gossensass in 1998. Allen, City.and drama, bestows
that can theatre could be artist- a total of $1.32 million with
change an industry. driven. a founding member of WP, each honoree receiving
$165,000.
directed many projects

there and served as a

reliable sounding board

to Julia. Anyone who knew

Julia knows she didn’t suffer

fools—I’m quaking in my

boots writing this, because

she set a really high bar

Hand in hand with her

toughness and drive was

an uncommon personal

generosity. Julia could be

incredibly maternal toward

her artists: offering up her

9

ROLL CALL PEOPLE TO WATCH

BY JACQULINE VICTORIA AND CHEYENE

AYANNA BERKSHIRE in the states and abroad, and addressing the question of
Profession: Actor racial identity for theatre professionals of color.”
Hometown: San Juan Islands, Wash. WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL: “By measure of the volume and
Current home: Portland, Ore. KNOWN complexity of her roles in Portland, Ayanna Berkshire is one
FOR: Berkshire is a resident artist at of the most experienced and accomplished actors in the city,”
Portland’s Artists Repertory Theatre, effuses Dámaso Rodríguez, artistic director of Artists Rep. “I
where she’s played Esther in Intimate admire that she’s not only invested in her own development
Apparel, Shelley in Grand Concourse, and success as an artist—she passionately supports other
and Robin in the world premiere of artists and sincerely celebrates their achievements.”
Wolf Play, written by Hansol Jung. At THE ROLE RACE PLAYS: Berkshire is hopeful about her field.
Portland Center Stage she played “American theatre can continue to recognize how the needs
Judy in The Curious Incident of their theatre professionals of color may differ from those
WHAT SHE’S WORKING ON: With help from a 2020 TCG of their white counterparts, specifically in communities with
Fox Fellowship grant, Berkshire says she wants to make majority white audiences,” she says. “We are the dreamers,
her next season at Artists Rep all about “pushing the the leaders, the risk-takers and storytellers, so what can we
boundaries of my work and abilities through acting imagine for our ideal world and how can we continue to take
intensive workshops, both the steps to get us there? This is my pursuit.”

Exal Iraheta What makes him special: “I am a huge fan not only of Exal’s
Profession: Playwright and educator creative work but of the warm, generous spirit he brings to
Hometown: Houston every room he’s in,” says playwright and producer Adrienne
Current home: Chicago Dawes, who first met Iraheta in the 2018 Fornés Playwriting
Known for: Iraheta’s play They Could Workshop in Chicago. “Exal teaches us all how to explore rich
Give No Name was selected for the and complex emotional terrain, how to amplify voices rarely
2019 Ignition Festival, got a Relentless heard onstage, and how to move through this world as kind,
Award honorable mention, and was thoughtful, and caring humans.”
a finalist for the 2020 Judith Royer To superar with theatre: Playwriting has allowed Iraheta to
Excellence in Playwriting Award. heal, he says. “As a young queer boy, I took to the theatre
as an actor because it gave me an excuse to pretend to be
WHAT HE’S WORKING ON: He is currently in the early someone else or live in someone else’s skin,” he recalls. “Being
stages of two full-length plays, which he hopes of a Catholic Salvadorian family, exploring my identity wasn’t
to develop in residencies. One focuses on the without its guilt and shame. This anxiety manifested itself in
entrapment of three undocumented Salvadorian writing. What keeps me going is in a way both selfish and
women by an American family member, and the selfless. I really love surrounding myself with people who care
other explores the relationship among superstition, about the world. Everyone I’ve met is eager to explore and
queerness, and mental health in a Latinx family. represent. To give hope to others and to superar, to overcome.”

Exal Iraheta What makes her special: “Kristy is one of those special
Profession: Costume designer and collaborators who brings not only her expertise and research
professor into the room, but her genuine passion for historic detail and
Hometown: Skokie, Ill. for storytelling,” says Nick Sandys, artistic director of Remy
Current home: Columbia, S.C. Bumppo. “Her skills, which combine focus and diligence with
Known for: Hall has worked extensively a joyful flexibility, bring great energy to the process of making
in Chicago, most notably designing theatre, and inspire her collaborators to take similar acts of
costumes for Pygmalion and makeup adventure. What more can one ask for in a storyteller?”
for Frankenstein, both of which won Moving toward the future: “I am interested in finding a new
Joseph Jefferson Awards. and inventive narrative,” Hall says. “What keeps me going as
an artist is identifying pieces that hold meaning to the societal
WHAT SHE’S WORKING ON: “I will be designing a feature pulse of the moment and recount it in a way that hasn’t been
film this summer,” Hall says, “and gearing up for some seen before, therefore speaking to the zeitgeist of our growing
projects next season that are yet to be announced. generation.” Distilling stories’ essence and challenging their
Wish I could say more, because they are going to be visual interpretation “is the way that theatre is going,” she says.
very cool!”

10

JAMES ORTIZ in the states and abroad, and addressing the question of
Profession: Director, play deviser and racial identity for theatre professionals of color.”
designer WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL: Ortiz is “a hidden treasure of
Hometown: Born in Albany, N.Y.; raised the American theatre,” says director of Public Works Laurie
in Richardson, Texas Woolery, who worked with him on three world premieres.
Current home: New York City “James is a passionate and innovative theatremaker. He is the
KNOWN FOR: Ortiz’s puppetry design perfect collaborator because he possesses a reassuring
was featured in last summer’s Public ‘anything is possible’ attitude… coupled with the talent and
Works production of Hercules. “When ingenuity to turn a dream into reality.”
I’m not designing, however, I’m play- To superar with theatre: “Every success I’ve had can be
devising,” he says, mentioning his traced back to my love for puppetry,” Ortiz says. “It’s an old
Obie-winning play The Woodsman. stage magic trick that always works, and I think it’s because
theatre is an inherently imaginative space, representative of
WHAT HE’S WORKING ON: “I’ve been developing a new reality but not necessarily realistic. A group of actors breathing
puppet/ movement-based show that takes place in as one and making a piece of inanimate sculpture seem to
the world of The Woodsman, and I hope for it to come live is truly powerful, tear-inducing kind of stuff. When done
to fruition in coming years.” He says he’s also excited well, puppetry is transcendent, and it bowls me over every
about a high-concept production of Bernstein’s single time.”
Candide he’s directing and designing in Wisconsin.

LILY MOONEY WHAT SHE’S WORKING ON: “Surviving,” she says. “I had
Profession: Freelance writer and a play going up at the Magnetic Theatre in Asheville, N.C.,
educator which has been postponed. I am beginning a play (which now
Hometown: Born in New York City, may become video, or text, or who knows) about superstition,
raised in Boston surveillance/looking, and the ‘evil eye’ curse.”
Current home: Boston WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL: “Lily’s determination and smarts
Known For: From 2013 to 2019, Mooney as an ensemble member were gifts to [us],” says Neo-Futurist
was an ensemble member with the ensemble member Kurt Chiang. “Lily exemplifies the kind of
Neo-Futurists in Chicago. “I wrote, curious and multifaceted writer and artist that we need more
of. She isn’t afraid of taking on big ideas, and she goes about it
wrote, performed, and directed many, many two- with rigor, discipline, and a generous sense of collaboration.
minute plays in the company’s weekly late-night show Whatever her next work is, it will be entirely necessary and a
The Infinite Wrench,” she says. She co-created an breath of fresh air.”
experimental live reading show called The Arrow and FUELED BY SURPRISES: “I stumbled into making experimental
writes full-length plays, including the Neo-Futurists’ (and some traditional) theatre from writing and performing
Empty Threats, “a sort of mashup between Oleanna comedy,” Mooney says. “I respond to and am refueled
and Frankenstein.” Artists Rep all about “pushing the by theatre that emerges from surprising, weird, intimate,
boundaries of my work and abilities through acting otherworldly writing. I aspire toward performance that makes
intensive workshops itself very physical and very present.”

LISA MARIE ROLLINS residence, and I thrill every time I see her enlightening
Profession: Director and writer and enlivening our community with her voice and vision. She
Hometown: Tacoma, Wash. had important things to say and inspired ways to say them.”
(“Represent!”) THEATRE AFTER THE VIRUS: With a focus “providing space for
Current home: Oakland, Calif. Black, brown, and Asian artists to resist, create, and gloriously
KNOWN FOR: Rollins wears many hats, thrive both in and outside institutional settings,” Rollins now
calling herself “a Black diasporic looks to next steps as these institutions crumble. Her favorite
feminist educator, an AfroPinay, poet, theatre, she says, “has already considered the death of these
a playwright, director.” houses” and “looks to the ancestors for answers on how to
envision the future. Once we get rid of the idea of a return to
WHAT SHE’S WORKING ON: “Lisa Marie is a breathtaking normal, we’ll be able to see we were already at war. Our joyful
talent,” says playwright Lauren Gunderson, whose task now,” she says, is to foster “creative work that centers a
2017 HeLa at Berkeley’s Live Oak Theater featured love of humanity, and prioritizes safety and protection for us
dramaturgy by Rollins. “She is an inspired director, an all.”
unforgettable writer, and a generous and powerful
dramaturg. The Bay Area is lucky to have her in

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NO SHOW

“IT’S LIKE A GREEK PLAY,” CHAY YEW TOLD ME. director of artistic programs at the Public

I chuckled with shock at the matter-of-fact Theater in New York City, put the dilemma

severity of the analogy. The paralyzing global succinctly: “If we’re not gathering, who are

spread of COVID-19 has been compared we?” Choreographer Bill T. Jones, who leads

to zombie movies, the Great Depression, both an eponymous dance company and

World War II, and the socalled “Spanish” flu New York Live Arts, put it more personally:

of 1918 (which in fact originated in Kansas). “Sweat and breath in real time— is that a

(See p. 38.) But the Olympus-high stakes dimension I have to give up as an artist?

of Sophocles or Euripides? Sure. It sounded That shakes me to my core.” And Robert

grimly apt for a pandemic whose body Falls, artistic director of Chicago’s Goodman

count climbs toward an uncharted peak Theatre, compared the crisis to “an arrow

as I write, and whose effects on our social that has been shot in the heart of artists

and economic, not to mention our artistic who are all about gathering and sharing in

and spiritual lives, will be felt for at least a a room.”

generation. Yew, outgoing artistic director of Indeed. It was Barry Edelstein who,

Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater, is among later on the same day I spoke to Yew, stopped

a group of artistic directors, producers, and me in my tracks again. The artistic director

playwrights I spoke to in the weeks just after of San Diego’s Old Globe, Edelstein was

the metastasizing coronavirus outbreak describing a season that had been “firing

forced theatres from Broadway on down on all cylinders,” but is now gutted by the

to join most public businesses in the U.S. in coronavirusshutdown; he’s had to furlough

closing their doors until further notice. It was many workers, and is looking at projections

alternately harrowing and heartening to for the future in “60-day chunks.” At the time

talk with the makers and movers of an art we spoke, he and his team were still weighing

form at the very moment that art form faces a July start date; since then most theatres

an existential crisis the likes of which could have canceled their and laid off large

barely have beenimagined even a month percentages of their staff, as the prospect of

before, and is still hard for many of us to get social distancing measures stretched ahead

our heads around. Shanta Thake, senior months, not weeks. Edelstein mentioned

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IF WE CAN’T HAVE THEATRE UNTIL WE CAN GATHER AGAIN SAFELY,
WHAT ARE U.S. THEATRES AND ARTISTS GOING TO DO IN THE
MEANTIME, AND AFTER?

Shuttered theatres. Top row: The Marsh in San Francisco (photo by Sydney Albin); Shaw Festival in Ontario
(Mark Callan); Prima Theatre in Lancaster, Pa. (Marc Faubel, owner/photographer ERFotos); Village Theatre in
Everett, Wash. (Ann Reynolds); Smith Opera House in Geneva, N.Y. (Daril Corsner). Middle: Huntington Theatre
Company in Boston; American Conservatory Theater’s Geary Theater in San Francisco (Sean-Maurice Lynch);
Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg in Pennsylvania (Faubel); PURE Theatre in Charleston, S.C. (Sharon Graci);
BLUEBARN Theatre in Omaha, Neb. (Bill Kirby); Oyster Mill Playhouse in Camp Hill, Pa. (Faubel). Bottom: Dakota
Wesleyan University Theatre in Mitchell, S.D. (Daniel L. Miller); Atlantic Theater Company in New York City (Ian
Paul Guzzone); Hershey.

that a member of his theatre’s board THE POTENTIAL SCALE OF THE DAMAGE TO THEATRE
had died the previous day (not from the institutions and artists in the U.S. is no easier
coronavirus, he hastened to add). That to anticipate than is the unprecedented
board member, he said, will not have a wider shock of this unfolding crisis to our
funeral. I know it’s a medical reality—there is a general society and economy. The initial
refrigerator truck piled with plastic-wrapped bleeding was stanched at a few key exit
bodies a mere 15 minutes from where I write wounds, though it was unclear at press
this, in Queens, the fever-hot center of New time how long the bandages would hold.
York City’s coronavirus epicenter. But it took On Broadway, unions for performers and
Edelstein’s comment to make me feel the stagehands reached a deal with producers
depth of this crisis. When our most sacred to be paid through Easter, 31 days from the
rituals are forsaken, wwhen we cannot district’s shutdown on Thursday, March 12.
even gather to mourn or celebrate life and Since that holiday has passed, though, and
death, what hope can there be for theatre? Broadway is shuttered at least through June,
Has this ancient, stubbornly durable live art it’s unclear what the future holds, either
finally met a tragedy it can’t dramatize its forthose shows or their workers. Diego’s Old
way out of? Or, as playwright and director Globe, Edelstein was describing a season
Morgan Gould put it in a provocative post in that had been “firing on all cylinders,” but
a series of “Dispatches From Quarantine” for is now gutted by the coronavirusshutdown;
American Theatre online, “Will there even be he’s had to furlough many workers, and is
theatre six months from now?” looking at projections for the future.

13

Meanwhile major nonprofit theatres around the Indeed, even when an “all clear” signal comes from
country, which mostly shuttered that same weekend on high (and provided we can trust it), how eager
(the ides of March, no less) and announced will theatregoers be to return in large numbers to
cancellations of the remainder of their spring seasons, tight spaces and literally breathe the same air— the
made similar provisions for contract workers hired for “magical substance,” as playwright Sarah Ruhl put
scotched shows, mostly per union agreement. On the it in a recent speech, “which makes theatre different
matter of staff, the nation’s theatres took diverging from books or films” but “is what we fear right now”?
paths: Many announced temporary layoffs, or Said Pam MacKinnon, artistic director of American
furloughs, of many or most employees, while others Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, “We think of
committed to paying their staff for months, many at ACT as an essential gathering place. But is ‘gathering’
reduced salaries but with full benefits. At press time going to be a bad word in a couple of years? Is it going
at least one, Houston’s Alley Theatre, had applied for to inspire people or make them nervous? After 9/11 in
and received a federal payroll protection loan that New York, there was a yearning for face-to-face. But
allowed them rehire laid off workers for a few months. this is a contagious and virulent virus.”
Short of this kind of intervention, countless Broadway producer Kevin McCollum, who had
theatres, big and small, do not have the resources to to postpone the openings of Six and Mrs. Doubtfire,
do much more than go dark and hope for leniency believes that theatre audiences are “pretty fearless.
from landlords, leaving thousands of freelance artists It’s not easy to see a show. You have to show up at
out of booked jobs—and health-qualifying work a certain time. It’s not a disposable item—you have
weeks—for the foreseeable future. While freelance to work really hard.” But while he’s hopeful that
theatre artists, along with all gig workers, are promised audiences will eventually return, he is in no rush. “We
a piece of the $2 trillion relief package recently need a safe environment to bring everyone back
passed by Congress and signed by the president, the together. We can’t be cavalier about the science just
financial forecast for this non-negligible segment of because we want to sell a few more theatre tickets.”
the American economy and its workers is bleak at Social aversion aside, the willingness or ability of
best. theatregoers to spend money at pre-COVID levels
Uncertainty is the slow-acting poison here. will be a big question mark. But the toll is not just easy.
Just how long will social distancing and “sheltering
in place” be required, or at least advised, to reduce
the spread of the disease? At press time, the advice
of medical professionals, reluctantly acceded to by
the president, was that these guidelines should stay
in place through April and even May. Beyond that, no
one knows what’s in store, and theatres have been
keeping options open. Joseph Haj, artistic director of
the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, said that he and
his board are “theorizing multiple scenarios: What if
we can’t start till fall? What if we can’t start until the
holidays? Okay, what if it’s not until the beginning
of the next calendar year? Each scenario looks very
different.”
At the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, artistic
director Hana S. Sharif says that while she’s operating
on the assumption that “this is going to be a couple of
months, not 18 months, we have daily conversations
that feel like playing craps. There’s so much unknown.
It’s a frightening time, but I haven’t allowed myself to
be frightened by what’s ahead—there’s so much work
to do. I’m feeling the energy of, we’ve got to find ways
to move forward.” Still, she spoke for many when she
added, “It all feels really fragile. Any little string could
make the whole thing completely unravel.”

14

Shuttered theatres across the U.S.: Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble in Pennsylvania; ArtsEmerson’s Majestic Theatre in Boston;
Huntington Theatre Company’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA and Huntington Avenue Theatre in Boston; Wetumpka Depot Players
in Alabama; and City Lights Theater Company in San Jose, Calif.

the belief that science will save us. I do think that

THEATRE HAS SURVIVED WORSE, EVEN IN ITS CRADLE. COVID is going to make us much more aware of
The plague of Athens killed some 25 percent of its
population in 430 BCE, and inspired the Theban community and of the necessity to be kind.
plague in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex. Shakespeare’s
career was famously interrupted by the Black For when science fails us, and it will, kindness
Plague, during which time, as Edelstein pointed out,
the Bard and his colleagues did three things: “They never will.” For now, such kindness must travel
made plans for what they were going to do when
theatres reopened. They toured the provinces, sold through virtual channels only, and the most loving
props, costumes, bundled plays and sold them—
that’s how the First Folio got made. And they went act now is to self-isolate. While some theatremakers
to the King and said, ‘Help.’” Another generation-
defining scourge is within the living memory of many are using this unplanned downtime to catch up on
still working today, one that inspired its own canon
of essential American plays even as it decimated work—Young Jean Lee quipped, “Playwrights are the
a generation. Said playwright and performer Taylor
Mac, who has lent talent and time to TrickleUp NYC, least interesting people to talk to about this, because
an online project designed to aid out-of-work indie
theatremakers, “I’m a child of the AIDS epidemic. we’re just going to stockpile scripts and catch up
People are like, ‘We’ve never lived through anything
like this,’ and I tell them, ‘You must be straight. I could on our commissions”—others are finding it hard to
tell you personally 100 people who died of AIDS.’ This
is not the worst thing that’s happened if you’re queer. concentrate. Said Nottage, who initially found that
Let’s keep things in perspective.”
“the pause in activity was welcome,” the space that

“has been cleared for rumination has been filled with

other anxieties” (not to mention childcare).

But many I spoke to have been following some

or all three elements of the Shakespeare sabbatical

outlined by Edelstein: planning for an eventual return,

finding alternative outlets in the meantime, and

making the case for government support. All three

mandates are spurring their share of creativity and

soul-searching. The first— plans for reopening—is the

most contingent on the progress of the virus, and

on the drastically altered landscape it may leave

behind.

And alternative avenues have not been in

short supply. Several theatres, from ACT to Syracuse

Stage to South Coast Repertory , were able to capture

shows in performance before they had to close, and

with Actors’ Equity Association they crafted contracts

so these shows could be broadcast online in return

for two weeks of actors’ pay. For a hot minute it looked

like this crisis might force a longoverdue conversation

about getting U.S. theatres set up with an equivalent

of Britain’s National Theatre Live. While that moment

may have passed—though every theatre worth its

salt is offering some online goodies, if only to maintain

their connection and brand awareness with patrons,

social distancing prevents any new productions from

being staged, let alone filmed and broadcast—the

talking points are in place for when it resumes.

Many folks I spoke to about the possibility of

more widely available filmed performances ranged

in their attitude from cautious to skeptical. Kathryn

M. Lipuma, executive director of Glencoe, Ill.’s Writers

Theatre, spoke for many when she said, “Film can’t do

what we do, and film people do what they do better

than we can. The collective spirit, being in a shared

experience in a room with people you don’t know 15

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found on the web at policies.usc.edu.

Amsterdam. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

16

17

OFFSTAGE

patient, the shark will rise to the surface. So if you can have
the courage to see your way through the boredom until the
new thing appears, you’ll have amazing surprises.

So how do you know when rehearsals have done their
work and a play is ready to show?
I just know. There comes a point where I just can tell that
anything fresh that’s going to come out of it will have to
come out in front of the audience. Although I have to add
that I’ve done four productions of Beckett’s Endgame, and
every time I returned to it I was a different André; I was
older, I’d experienced more and gone through so much.
The play changed. If I were to do Endgame today, it would
be about the coronavirus.

Director André Gregory (The Designated Mourner, So many interesting things have happened to you. Do
Uncle Vanya, The Master Builder) has lived a rich and you feel like you’re living in a story? And if so, who’s
peripatetic life onstage and off, much of it recounted the author?
in This Is Not My Memoir, written with Todd London, to I don’t know. I mean, who the hell was responsible for giving
be released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in November. me this amazing theatrical life? My part in that was,
whenever
—Rob Weinert-Kendtv I sniffed a fox, I jumped into the chase. I was always ready to
follow my nose. Spalding Gray once said to me, “If by nature
At one point in the book you say the theatre you’re a storyteller, if you just stand still in an aware state,
belongs on some level to the actors. So why is the
there a director? What do you add to the process? story will come to you.” But then there’s the whole question
Well, you know, in a lot of cases, I don’t think of determination, you know? I was determined to get a job
a director is really needed. I have found that in at the Phoenix Theatre in Philadelphia when I was a young
general actors seem to know a lot more than man. So I went after it and I kept knocking on the doors,
directors do. I do think I’m needed; they wouldn’t and
be able to do it without me. But I think in a lot I finally was offered a job as a stage manager.
of productions the director is not essential—the
actors left to themselves might do it better. I didn’t realize until I read the book how much regional
theatre you did: in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los
You’re known for yearslong rehearsal periods. Angeles. What was it like working in the regions back
Did you take this idea from troupes like the in the 1950s and early ‘60s?
Berliner Ensemble? You know, if you love to direct and be in the theatre the
I certainly saw the amazing results at the Berliner way I did, it didn’t matter where you did it. It was fun. It
Ensemble of working for a long time, and I saw it was great. It was exhilarating. The fact that New York critics
with Grotowski. I think there’s a very practical and audiences were probably not seeing it didn’t really
reason for it, which is that when you approach a make much difference to me.
play, either as a director or as an actor, you can’t
help but have preconceptions about what the You write about a long period where you felt like you
play is and who the characters are. But if you’re were washed up. Now that we’re all on lockdown,
dealing with Chekhov or Shawn, the plays have I wonder if you have any words of wisdom. What
so many mysteries under the surface that you sustained you through your fallow period?
have to be able to get the stereotypes out of your Faith, you know—a little bit of faith. My wife who passed
head. And time will do that. away, Chiquita, she was very close to the earth. She said,
“Great vegetables grow in manure.” So if you trust as an
Is there a danger that long rehearsals might artist
deaden or drain the spontaneity and surprise that you are always working—always, you can’t help it—
from a play? you may go through those long periods, and then it will pay
No. A long rehearsal is like a long marriage or off because of all you’ve been thinking and feeling. I mention
relationship, or a long therapy, right? You reach Eleanora Duse in the book, and her leaving the theatre
places where you literally get bored, and you for 12 years. All she did was garden. But when she came
think that there’s nothing else that can happen. back, Strasberg, who saw her perform, said it wasn’t like
Boredom, to me, is generally a sign that there’s watching a human being, it was watching beams of light.
a big shark swimming in the water, and if you’re
For a longer version of this interview, check out
BroadwayTheatre.org.

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20 RM27.95 www.broadwaytheatre.org