NY’s January Festivals: Reunited, and It Feels So Different
Under the Radar, Exponential, and Prototype at last returned in person this year, and the pickings were as unexpected and various as ever.
All Stories About Public Theater
Jordan E. Cooper’s ‘Ain’t No Mo’’ Lands on Broadway After Regional Layover
What began as a dark thought experiment—what if Black folks just left America and its racist violence behind?—has grown into a scathing satire that speaks to something deep inside audiences.
Suzan-Lori Parks: Make Space for the Difficult Things
With 3 world premieres and a Broadway revival of her hit play ‘Topdog/Underdog,’ the prolific writer keeps singing her song in a variety of keys.
Robert O’Hara Puts Nothing on a Pedestal, Least of All the Canon
This busy writer-director, known for new works, is now staging ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ at the Public, but it’s more a case of continuing a legacy of Black iconoclasm than a new career phase.
Erika Dickerson-Despenza Crafts Ntozake Shange Social Justice Theatre Residency
Established to recognize a woman, femme, trans, or non-binary playwright of the African diaspora, the residency will provide a salary with benefits and full support to pursue creative work.
Why Keep Doing Shakespeare? Maybe That’s the Wrong Question
From the Public Works ‘As You Like It’ to upstart crow’s ‘King John’ at Oregon Shakes to ‘Mother Lear’ at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Bard remains powerful currency; it’s how it’s spent that matters.
Life During Wartime: The Backdrop of Kenny Leon’s ‘Much Ado’
How a Shakespeare in the Park production taught this designer that ‘political theatre’ could mean something different for Black and white Americans.
For Better or Worse, We Still Live in Joe Papp’s World
The Public Theater founder’s life and legacy, traced in a documentary on PBS, may be best understood, and built upon, as part of the U.S. regional theatre movement.
How Raja Feather Kelly Fuses Dance to Theatre, and Vice Versa
When this go-to choreographer is doing his storytelling job right, you may not even notice the dancing at all—but he’s got more moves in store.
OKC Rep’s Kelly Kerwin: Program Locally, Present Internationally
As this dramaturg/producer plans her first season at the theatre, she’s looking both outward and inward.
