So I’m sitting opposite one of my theatrical heroes, Richard Foreman, in his book-lined loft on Wooster Street in Soho. More than book-lined, actually: Books are everywhere. Shelves and shelves of them create a maze of corridors that recede into shadowy nooks and corners. The iconoclastic playwright/director/designer, characteristically casual and unkempt on this April Fools’ Day morning, has made himself available for an interview with American Theatre, one of the first in a new podcast series called AT OffScript, celebrating the 150 (and counting) playscripts published in the magazine since 1985. All it takes is a single question about The Gods Are Pounding My Head! (AKA Lumberjack Messiah), the classic Foreman text that anchored AT’s April ’05 issue, to set him off and running: “Like so many of my plays,” he ventures incisively, “this one was an attempt to nail down a moment of pure perception.”
My conversation with Foreman is one of three AT OffScript podcasts now available at www.tcg.org/publications/at/playindex.cfm (click on play titles linked in orange), along with Eliza Bent’s interview with Young Jean Lee, discussing (among other matters) Lee’s Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (Sept. ’07); and Diep Tran’s exchange with David Lindsay-Abaire, beginning with observations on his Fuddy Meers (July/Aug. ’00). Keep visiting the site as we regularly add up-to-the-minute commentary from our arsenal of top American playwrights.
In fact, in addition to the selected stories from our print edition that appear on the AT site each month, we’ve stepped up our offerings of web “exclusives”—with online-only text, audio and visuals elaborating on our stories. Examples:
- An extended Q&A with widely produced playwright Matthew Lopez, whose Somewhere was previewed in Front & Center (Feb. ’13);
- Audio slideshows created by staffer Diep Tran to complement Celia Wren’s design-focused feature “You’ve Been Steampunked” (Feb. ’13) and Frank Rizzo’s story on the musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (March ’13);
- Eight streamable songs featured in Rob Weinert-Kendt’s musical-theatre survey “It’s Better with a Band” (April ’13).
You can also explore much of our new audio content on the AT channels on SoundCloud and iTunes. And to be among the first to know about new multimedia content, connect with the magazine on Facebook and Twitter.
Meantime, whether there’s a paper edition in your hand or you’re reading AT digitally on your computer or tablet via Zinio, there’s a wealth of coverage in this month’s issue. A special international section, “Moving Forces,” views global developments through the eyes of four American theatrical ambassadors and three visionary U.S. companies (page 25). Reporters Jonathan Mandell and Chantal Bilodeau describe how new trends in technology for patrons with special communications needs (page 66) and fresh collaborations between scientists and artists (page 62) are impacting theatres. Growing pains, in Stuart Miller’s and Mark Armstrong’s accounts, lead to success for a pair of purposefully modest Manhattan companies (pages 50 and 70). Critic Molly Grogan explicates the complexities of Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s in-progress epic Life and Times (page 54). And this reporter checks in on the precarious situation of independent theatre folk in Hungary’s political quagmire (page 58). Here or abroad, in print or online, we’re nailing it down for you.
