Arabs and Muslims Onstage: Can We Unpack Our Baggage?
American theatres still have a habit of seeing Middle Eastern characters as embodying controversy rather than humanity.
Category Archives: Opinion
Shylock, Remade in the Venice Ghetto
What we learned about ‘Merchant of Venice’ by staging it in the city where it was set.
Administrators Can Be Visionaries Too
Artistry isn’t the only thing that makes theatre happen. We ignore that at our peril.
He Said, He Said, She Said: A Tale of 3 Hamlets
What a piece of work is ‘Hamlet,’ as sampled in London, New York, and Colorado.
Politics, Playmaking Collide at the Edinburgh Fringe
A dispatch from this year’s record-breaking festival, where 3,000 shows competed for theatregoers’ attention.
Succession and Diversity Must Go Hand in Hand
With 20 major American theatres facing leadership transitions, boards and search firms have to do better than the status quo.
Our Reflection Talks Back
In the digital post-truth era; theatre of the real doesn’t just dramatize change—in some case it embodies it.
14 Lessons in 14 Days at the National Critics Institute
What I learned at the O’Neill Theater Center’s annual July boot camp for arts journalists.
Improvise, Imitate, Formalize, Reject, Repeat: How the Wheel of Innovation Turns
A look at the cyclical nature of theatre architecture throughout history.
When Critics Don’t Like Their Reflection
Why my play ‘Pass Over’ inspired a whitelash—and a backlash against it from artists who felt targeted.
