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Playwrights: Not Actually Slaves
This is a playwright. Playwrights are people. This particular playwright is the awesome Lauren Yee. Why are so many people surprised to discover that you ALWAYS have to secure the rights to perform a...
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The Problem with AEA
What I wish I had been able to do this week I haven’t posted in awhile because I’ve had a crazy busy week. Among a few other magical surprises, my company lost an actor, and it turned out that, because...
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In the Land of the “Color-Blind”
Jai Sahai as Spango Garnetkiller in Impact Theatre’s production of Of Dice and Men, by Cameron McNary. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs. In the Land of the “Color-Blind” I wrote the article linked above for...
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Defining “Professional”
It’s a question of lust; it’s a question of trust; it’s a question of– oh wait, no it’s just a question of money How we define who is and who is not a “professional” in the theatre community has always...
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Playwrights of Color
Lisa Kang and Dennis Yen in Impact Theatre’s production of Ching Chong Chinaman, by Lauren Yee, directed by Desdemona Chiang. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs. Like most producers, I’m looking for ways to...
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I Wrote a Letter and So Should You
Lexi Hart, as Cinderella, poses with a student from Malcom X Elementary. How many theatre companies give you the opportunity to meet CINDERELLA? All right then. The Bay Area’s awesome African-American...
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Get It Together and Hire a Fight Director
As many of you know by now, I’ve been teaching at the Berkeley Digital Film Institute since its founding. Many film directors have passed through my classes, and exactly . . . um, carry the two, OK,...
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How to Look Cooler Than You Are
Cheshire’s basic poster image for the world premiere of The Fisherman’s Wife, by Steve Yockey. You know what I hear ALL the time? “Your posters are amazing.” “Your production shots are incredible.”...
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Absolute Core Truths of Theatre Personnel Management
My husband and I out in front of our theatre. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs. This is something I wrote for Theatre Bay Area‘s Chatterbox blog in 2011. If you’re a Bay Area theatremaker or theatre company,...
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Skinny White Girls are Exhausting My Eyes
I have nothing against skinny white girls. I really, really do not. I know and love many of them. I cast them all the time, which is not surprising, since the nonunion acting pool anywhere in the US is...
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Why Cold Readings Are Almost Always Useless
My Troilus and Cressida auditions I’ve been steadily working on a post about auditions for directors and producers (what drives actors crazy, what they love, what works, what doesn’t) and I keep...
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What Actors Aren’t Telling You
Recently I posted on The Book of Faces that I was considering writing a post about audition tips for theatres, and I was deluged with responses from actors: horror stories, pet peeves, constant...
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Don’t You Want Me, Baby?
This is just here to amuse me. I’ve written before about playwrights and rejection. I think it’s difficult, though, to understand just HOW MUCH rejection we’re talking about here, and how insanely...
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What Theatre is For
Arisa Bega in Monica Byrne’s What Every Girl Should Know at Impact Theatre. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what theatre is and why we do it. It sounds like an easy...
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Stop Complaining that Young People Don’t Like Shakespeare
Jeanette Penley and Will Hand in Lauren Gunderson’s Toil and Trouble. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs. 2012. Once upon a time, I was ALL ABOUT the new plays. I wrote my dissertation on appropriating and...
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High School Yellowface
I’m not posting pictures of the actual minors in the show. Instead I’m choosing to post pictures from America’s vast yellowface past. This keeps the kids’ identities confidential while also providing...
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The Politics of Accents
This guy. While I could write plenty about nonsense like Asian actors being asked to do “the accent” in their audition for “Prostitute #3″ and “Kung Fu Master Criminal,” or Black actors being asked for...
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Six Things Playwrights Should Stop Doing
Because what says “HAPPY NEW YEAR” better than a judgmental listicle? One thing I want to say right at the start is that this is a list borne out of my own personal experience. These are things I...
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Directing, Creative Freedom, and Vandalism
From endlessorigami.com Once upon a time I worked at a theatre that received two cease-and-desist orders in two seasons– one for copying dialogue from a Disney film word-for-word and performing it...
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The Weapon of Invisibility
Jered McLenigan in Lantern Theater’s Julius Caesar. Photo by Mark Garvin. This is a piece about the Wooster Group’s production of Cry, Trojans!, Lantern Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar, the Lean...
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