Every other week, the editors of American Theatre curate a free-ranging discussion about the lively arts in our Offscript podcast.
This week, editors Rob Weinert-Kendt, Suzy Evans, and Diep Tran discuss the Tony nominations, including surprises and snubs, and how too many plays on Broadway may not be a good thing. Then we also talk about theatre in China, the topic of our annual May/June ’17 issue on international theatre.
Our guest this week is playwright and poet Theatre @ Boston Court Dan O’Brien, whose newest play The House in Scarsdale is currently playing at the in Los Angeles through June 4. He discusses writing memoir plays, why he turns himself into a character in his plays, and recovering from cancer.
Download the episode here. Subscribe via RSS, iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
To commemorate the work of Linda Winer, who recently retired from Newsday, Rob recommends watching her interviews with women in theatre, as part of a series that you can find on YouTube on the cunytv75 channel. Highlights include: Jeanine Tesori, Ellen Stewart, and Suzan-Lori Parks.
Suzy recommends Annie Baker’s newest play The Antipodes, currently playing at Signature Theatre, if you’re a fan of workplace dramas. She also recommends A Doll’s House, Part II by Lucas Hnath, a refreshing antidote if you, like Suzy, have always been frustrated by the misogyny in Ibsen’s original Doll’s House. Hnath’s sequel, which premiered at South Coast Rep, is currently running on Broadway.
Diep recently saw Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s musical Pacific Overtures for the first time, in a production directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company. She admired the musical for not treaing Japan and its people as exotic, instead telling the story through their eyes, minus a white or Western point of view.
