Apr 14

SHADOW/LAND: A poetic force reckoning with the past

Presented by The Public Theater
Written by Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Directed by Candis C. Jones
Music composed by Delfeayo Marsalis
Sound design by Palmer Hefferan
Featuring Te’Era Coleman, Lizan Mitchell, Lance E. Nichols, Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Sunni Patterson, and Michelle Wilson.

The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
(at Astor Place)
New York, NY 10003
The Public Theater on Facebook 

Review by Afrikah Smith

PODCAST — Making its world premiere, SHADOW/LAND is a poetic force to be reckoned with. Mixing jazz and jook joint writing, Erika Dickerson-Despenza presents a vibrant play with a reckoning with the past. Continue reading

Mar 20

A Spanish/English Duel: “Romeo & Julieta”

The first kiss. Gorgeous artwork by Eric Davila.

ROMEO Y JULIETA
Presented by The Public Theater
By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Saheem Ali & Ricardo Pérez González
Based on the Spanish Translation by Alfredo Michel Modenessi
Directed by Saheem Ali
Bilingual podcast to be presented in partnership with WNYC Studios
Featuring Carlo Albán (Benvolio), Karina Arroyave (Apothecary), Erick Betancourt (Abram), Michael Braugher(Balthasar), Carlos Carrasco (Lord Montague), Juan Castano (Romeo), Ivonne Coll (Nurse), John J. Concado(Peter), Hiram Delgado (Tybalt), Guillermo Diaz (Gregory), Sarah Nina Hayon (Lady Montague), Kevin Herrera(Ensemble), Modesto Lacen (Prince Escalus/Capulet’s Cousin), Florencia Lozano (Capulet), Irene Sofia Lucio(Mercutio), Keren Lugo (Sister Joan), Benjamin Luis McCracken (Paris’s Page), Julio Monge (Friar Lawrence), Javier Muñoz (Paris), Lupita Nyong’o (Julieta), and David Zayas (Sampson).

Available to stream 
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
(at Astor Place)
New York, NY 10003
Public Theatre on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Disclaimer: Romeo Y Julieta is an audio recording. It does not include video.

PODCAST ETHER — There’s always one theatre company or other doing Shakespeare. Take your pick: community, fringe, professional – someone, somewhere is producing a four-hundred-year-old play for an audience absolutely arm-wavingly, script humpingly horny for The Bard. I don’t get it. 

I don’t hate Shakespeare but I don’t get the hype either. His plays are performed so often – as intended and in experimental styles. No matter how a theatre dresses them up, they’re still the same stories. I think it gets old. Others strongly disagree. 

What is it about this dead poetry dude who hasn’t had a new idea in centuries that appeals so strongly to my fellow theatre practitioners? I don’t have to understand Shakespeare-mania to critique Shakespeare’s plays but understanding the obsession helps me interact with that population. Understanding a creator’s intentions is part of a critic’s gig.   Continue reading

Sep 16

Have Pitch, Will Podcast: New Radio Drama for the Pandemic-Age

Orson Welles, 1938. Shown in rehearsal, standing, center background: director Orson Welles; seated, right: composer Bernard Herrmann NB: directing his Mercury Theatre of the Air troupe, such as created panic on the CBS radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, October 30, 1938

Article by Kitty Drexel

The pandemic has sparked a greater interest in radio drama.

In May, the New York Times shared a great article by Alexis Soloski that named multiple Broadway podcast radio shows called “For Your Ears Only: Broadway’s New Stage Is a Mic.” It references the Great Depression (as we head into another recession), quotes recording actors like James Monroe Iglehart, and then details their podcast projects.

Kelli O’Hara, Annaleigh Ashford, Iglehart, and others answer pertinent questions such as “How do you develop a character using just your voice?” Their answers are excellent advice to actors making podcast theatre during the pandemic. It’s a good read. Continue reading

May 10

Geeks Nerds and Artists Episode 6: Spiro Veloudos

photo credit: Lyric Stage of Boston

Episode 6: Geeks, Nerds & Artists Podcast: Spiro Veloudos, Artistic Director of Lyric Stage Company of Boston and director of current production of Avenue Q

http://www.lyricstage.com/

Avenue Q: May 11-June 24, 2012 (it is selling out presently)

Spiro Veloudos is the Producing Artistic Director of The Lyric Stage Company. and has been honored with numerous awards and honors including The Elliot Norton Award and The Independent Reviews of New England (IRNE) Award. He has been personally honored with the 2006 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, Stage Source’s 2002 Theatre Hero Award and was cited as the city’s Best Artistic Director by Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston program in 1999. Continue reading

May 03

Geeks Nerds and Artists Episode 5: Meg Taintor

Episode 5:  Geeks, Nerds & Artists Podcast:  Meg Taintor, Artistic Director of Whistler in the Dark Theatre

http://www.whistlerinthedark.com/

Trojan Women:  May 18- June 2 at the Factory Theatre in Boston

Meg Taintor is the founding Artistic Director of Whistler in the Dark Theatre, for whom she has directed 13 productions. Also for Whistler, Meg produced three years of FeverFest, a new works festival dedicated to connecting adventurous audiences with young and vital theatre companies and artists in Boston. Meg has also directed for Mill6 Theatre and New Voices @ New Rep.

In 2009, Meg joined with other artists working in the small and fringe theatre scene to form the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston, where served for two years as President of the Board. She is now Chair of the Alliance Events Committee and a member of the Board for StageSource. Meg believes passionately in the necessity for a strong community of local artists supporting and challenging itself to do better and more exciting work.

Her regional theatre credits include the National Players, Rorschach Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, the Potomac Theatre Project and Washington Shakespeare Company. She holds a B.A. in Theatre and Women & Gender Studies from Middlebury College. (profile from website)

Apr 24

Episode 3 Geeks, Nerds & Artists

Episode 3:  Benjamin Zander Part 2

(recorded live) We discuss the Boston Philharmonic, arts organizations in general, and arts education
http://benjaminzander.com/

Boston Philharmonic Concert, http://www.bostonphil.org/,

MAHLER SYMPHONY No. 7

Thursday, April 26 @ 7:30pm
Discovery Series
Sanders Theatre

Saturday, April 28 @ 8pm
Pre-concert talk at 6:45pm
Jordan Hall

Sunday, April 29 @ 3pm
Pre-concert talk at 1:45pm
Sanders Theatre

Apr 24

Episode 2 Geeks, Nerds & Artists Benjamin Zander Part 1

Episode 2:  Benjamin Zander Part 1

(recorded live) Interview with conductor of the Boston Philharmonic.  Talks about Mahler 7th and how to get people more involved in the arts. http://benjaminzander.com/

Correction:  Mahler waited 6 months  to write the first movement, not 6 years.

Boston Philharmonic Concert, http://www.bostonphil.org/,

MAHLER SYMPHONY No. 7

Thursday, April 26 @ 7:30pm
Discovery Series
Sanders Theatre

Saturday, April 28 @ 8pm
Pre-concert talk at 6:45pm
Jordan Hall

Sunday, April 29 @ 3pm
Pre-concert talk at 1:45pm
Sanders Theatre

Apr 22

EPISODE 1 GEEKS, NERDS & ARTISTS Janie E. Howland

Episode 1:  Geeks, Nerds & Artists Podcast: Janie E. Howland 10 April 2012

Photos of designs are displayed in this Flickr photoset.

Interview with Boston based set designer Janie E. Howland.  http://www.janiehowland.com

Credits include: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (New Rep), The Miracle Worker (Wheelock Family Theatre), History Boys and 5 by Tenn (Speakeasy Stage), Big River (Lyric Stage Company), Tonya & Nancy (Oberon), Breaking the Code (Underground Railway), Spring Awakening and Little Women (Boston Children’s Theatre). Venues include: Weston Playhouse, NSMT, New Rep, ART Instit., Nora Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Seacoast Rep, Merrimack Repertory, Wheelock Family Theatre, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre Studio 210, Opera Boston, Emerson Stage, Barnstormers, Foothills Theatre. Founding member of CYCO SCENIC; MFA from Brandeis University; 2009, 2006 and 1997 winner of the Elliot Norton Award; 2007 & 2006 winner of the IRNE award; part time faculty at Wellesley College and Emerson College; USA local 829.