SDC Journal Spring 2019 by SDC Journal

SPRING 2019

BARBARA GAINES

Discovering the World Through

SHAKESPEARE’S SOUL RON OJ PARSON It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint MY HOPE IS...

A Roundtable Moderated by Chay Yew

MAKING MUSICAL THEATRE IN CHICAGO

Lili-Anne Brown, Linda Fortunato + Elizabeth Margolius

OFFICERS

Pam MacKinnon PRESIDENT

John Rando EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Michael John Garcés FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Michael Wilson TREASURER

Evan Yionoulis SECRETARY

Seret Scott SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

Leigh Silverman THIRD VICE PRESIDENT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Laura Penn COUNSEL

Ronald H. Shechtman HONORARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Karen Azenberg Pamela Berlin Julianne Boyd Marshall W. Mason Ted Pappas Susan H. Schulman

SDC EXECUTIVE BOARD

SDC JOURNAL

MEMBERS OF BOARD

MANAGING EDITOR

Saheem Ali Christopher Ashley Melia Bensussen Walter Bobbie Anne Bogart Jo Bonney Mark Brokaw Rachel Chavkin Desdemona Chiang Liz Diamond Marcia Milgrom Dodge Sheldon Epps Liza Gennaro Joseph Haj Linda Hartzell Anne Kauffman Dan Knechtges Mark Lamos Kathleen Marshall Meredith McDonough Sharon Ott Lisa Portes Lonny Price Ruben Santiago-Hudson Bartlett Sher Casey Stangl Eric Ting

Kate Chisholm FEATURES EDITOR

Molly Marinik GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Dominic Grijalva EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Jo Bonney Graciela Daniele Sheldon Epps Liza Gennaro Thomas Kail Robert O'Hara Ann M. Shanahan Leigh Silverman Evan Yionoulis SDC JOURNAL PEER-REVIEWED SECTION EDITORIAL BOARD

SPRING 2019 CONTRIBUTORS

Jo Bonney DIRECTOR

Wardell Julius Clark DIRECTOR + ACTOR

Chris Coleman DIRECTOR

Mark Cuddy DIRECTOR

Ellie Handel ACTOR + WRITER

Ameenah Kaplan DIRECTOR + CHOREOGRAPHER

Sade Lythcott CEO, NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE

Molly Marinik DRAMATURG

Jonathan McCrory

SDCJ-PRS CO-EDITORS

DIRECTOR

David Callaghan Ann M. Shanahan

Gregg Mozgala

SDCJ-PRS BOOK REVIEW EDITOR

Tyrone Phillips

Kathleen M. McGeever SDCJ-PRS ASSOCIATE BOOK REVIEW EDITOR

Emily A. Rollie

ACTOR

DIRECTOR + ACTOR

Olga Sanchez Saltveit DIRECTOR

SDCJ-PRS SENIOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Chay Yew

Anne Bogart Anne Fliotsos Joan Herrington James Peck

DIRECTOR

SDCJ-PRS PEER REVIEWERS

Donald Byrd Jonathan Cole Thomas Costello Kathryn Ervin Liza Gennaro Travis Malone Sam O’Connell Ruth Pe Palileo Scot Reese Stephen A. Schrum

SPRING 2019 SDCJ-PRS CONTRIBUTORS

Amy Lynn Budd PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Monica White Ndounou DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Nicole Hodges Persley THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

SDC JOURNAL is published quarterly by Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, located at 321 W. 44th Street, Suite 804, New York, NY 10036. ISSN 2576-6899 © 2019 Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. All rights reserved. SDC JOURNAL is a registered trademark of SDC. SUBSCRIPTIONS + ADVERTISEMENTS Call 212.391.1070 or visit www.SDCweb.org. Annual SDC Membership dues include a $5 allocation for a 1-year subscription to SDC JOURNAL. Non-Members may purchase an annual subscription for $36 (domestic), $72 (foreign); single copies cost $10 each (domestic), $20 (foreign). Purchase online at www.SDCweb.org. POSTMASTER Send address changes to SDC JOURNAL, SDC, 321 W. 44th Street, Suite 804, New York, NY 10036. PRINTED BY Sterling Printing

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

SPRING CONTENTS Volume 7 | No. 2

FEATURES 17 I t’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

AN INTERVIEW WITH RON OJ PARSON BY WARDELL

JULIUS CLARK

22 M y Hope Is...

Community, Representation + the Changing Chicago Aesthetic AN SDC ROUNDTABLE MODERATED BY CHAY

YEW

29 COVER

Discovering the World Through Shakespeare’s Soul AN INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA GAINES BY

TYRONE PHILLIPS

36 Making Musical Theatre in Chicago A CONVERSATION WITH LILI-ANNE BROWN, LINDA FORTUNATO + ELIZABETH MARGOLIUS MODERATED BY

MOLLY MARINIK

PEER-REVIEWED SECTION

Play by Play of the International A Black Theatre Summit: Breaking New Ground Where We Stand, the 20th Anniversary of “On Golden Pond” at Dartmouth College BY NICOLE

HODGES PERSLEY +

MONICA WHITE NDOUNOU

The Girl in the Train, Chicago Folks Operetta, directed by Elizabeth Margolius PHOTO Chicago Folks Operetta COVER

Barbara Gaines PHOTO Liz Lauren SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

FROM THE PRESIDENT BY PAM MACKINNON

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BY LAURA PENN

IN YOUR WORDS

What I Learned...

BY MARK

CUDDY

Why I Made That Choice BY JO BONNEY + GREGG MOZGALA

SDC FOUNDATION

THE SOCIETY PAGES

The Inaugural Gordon Davidson Award

Annual Membership Meeting

2018 Barrymore Awards

The Zelda Fichandler Award Acceptance Remarks

IN MEMORIAM

The Gordon Davidson Award Acceptance Remarks BY OSKAR

EUSTIS

Joe Mantello Inducted into Theater Hall of Fame

Broadway Salutes

The 2018 SDC Foundation Awards

LA Associate Member Event

BY ELLIE

Broadway Associate/Resident Rally

John Rando Receives William Finn

HANDEL

BY LORETTA

GRECO

Award

Evan Yionoulis Yale School of Drama

Farewell

Kennedy Center Honors

Remembering Cliff Fannin Baker

Holiday Open House

Minneapolis Member Night

Step Forward

Boston Member Night Out

BY AMEENAH

MACE Winter Wonderland Workshop

Chicago Member Night Out

Pre-Show/Post-Show

BY OLGA

SANCHEZ SALTVEIT

KAPLAN

BY CHRIS

COLEMAN

20 Questions

Broadway Choreographersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Roundtable

DREAMING FEARLESSLY: JONATHAN McCRORY + SADE LYTHCOTT ON THE NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE

Laura Penn Speaks at Yale

LA Annual Membership Meeting

Ovation Awards

SDCJ-PRS BOOK REVIEW

Seattle Member Breakfast

Disability Theatre and Modern Drama: Recasting Modernism

UK Member Gathering

SDC LEGACY

BY KIRSTY

JOHNSTON LYNN BUDD

REVIEW BY AMY

SDC SDC JOURNAL JOURNAL || SPRING SPRING 2019 2019

Sheldon Patinkin

Ian McDiarmid in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, directed by Barbara Gaines PHOTO Liz Lauren

FROM THE PRESIDENT It has been quite a season for me as I’ve stepped into my role as Artistic Director while also continuing my artistic relationships and commitments outside American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). One such commitment this past season was at Steppenwolf with one of my dearest friends, Bruce Norris, and that felt very homey. Even so, life in strange beige apartments, and with a couple of suitcases in tow, it’s hard. It feels like time traveling back a decade. I am also hopping from apartment to apartment in San Francisco, as we sort through where to live in this beautiful and mysterious city. I have a portable spice kit that I pull out to cook, as cooking lets me daydream about projects and next steps. While in Chicago, I slipped into a couple of dress rehearsals of colleagues. Robert Falls’ work on David Cale’s chilling show, We’re Only Alive for a Short Time, was a wonder. It was fun to be in someone else’s rehearsal en route. I caught up with Lisa Portes, whom I’ve known for more than 25 years as a friend, an academic, a leader with Latinx Theatre Commons, and an advocate for women writers. I was also able to welcome Lisa to the SDC Executive Board as she was newly elected, along with Saheem Ali, last fall. We held a Membership Meeting and SDC Member Night Out at Steppenwolf in September and it was exciting to see a critical mass of Members ready to engage with your Union. We have started to host Night Out events around the country and they are growing in popularity. SDC staff help us coordinate but these are really Member-driven gatherings, small and large, where directors and choreographers meet to see a colleague’s work, often with a social hour before or afterwards. Keep an eye out in the e-news and on social media for an event in your community. Or better yet—maybe you’d like to host a Member Night Out. Barbara Wolkoff, Director of Member Services would be happy to hear from you. Back to Chicago. In the past three years alone, we have seen significant growth. During 2015–2018, SDC Members in the greater Chicago area have filed contracts with over 50 employers (including large- and mediumsized institutional not-for-profits, storefront theatres, and commercial producers). Chicago area Membership has grown by 21 percent and Associate Membership by 81 percent during that same period. True to our word, SDC continues to increase Union strength and presence in Chicagoland. I was back in New York City in time for our Annual Membership Meeting in November, where nearly 100 Members RSVP’d to stream-in with a standing room only crowd at IATSE Wardrobe Local 764 for a full agenda that included positive year-end financial projections and a hint at what lies ahead for SDC’s 60th anniversary. I was thrilled to announce election results: in addition to Saheem and Lisa joining the Executive Board as our newest at-large members, John Rando and Michael Wilson were re-elected as Executive Vice President and Treasurer, and Seret Scott and Leigh Silverman were elected as Second Vice President and Third Vice President, respectively. This illustrious group joins Officers Michael John Garcés, First Vice President, and Evan Yionoulis, Secretary, to round out the Union’s Executive Committee. And now, I am back in San Francisco, happy to be in rehearsal at A.C.T., my new home—but still living out of two suitcases and a box, like a lot of our Members around the country. In Solidarity,

Pam MacKinnon Executive Board President

SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR We are on the eve of the 60th anniversary of SDC. I just imagined this issue of SDC Journal sitting on desks, on nightstands, and in pockets of airline seats. Someone may pick it up and turn to this page on April 24, exactly 60 years from the day the founders, led by the tireless Shepard Traube, signed the articles of incorporation for SDC. It would be three more long years before the Broadway League (at that time, the League of New York Theatres and Producers) would formally recognize the Society and Ezra Stone would send a Western Union telegram from Los Angeles to Sardi’s to be read that very evening: “Star calls for our President, Officers, Directors Council, staff, and especially Bob Fosse, our first man shot into the Great White Way. Fraternally, Ezra Stone.” Fosse had refused to go into rehearsal that February for Little Me, triggering recognition. So it all began on April 24, 1959. Yet, as we all know, what happens today very rarely, if ever, happens spontaneously. Movements build, evolve, adjust, clarify, and, yes, some even slip away. But always, something comes before right now that supports, informs, and guides our choices. The principles of SDC’s beginnings still resonate even as we work to be hyper-vigilant in responding to a world that many of our founders likely never imagined, from a laser-focused 12-block radius in midtown Manhattan to an organization that now represents some 4,000 Members and Associates across this vast, complex, and changing national arts landscape. Correction: not changing, but changed. Throughout the year, we will bring forward a series of events and initiatives as we honor the founders and the guiding principles that have brought us this far while looking toward the future and all the opportunities and challenges. This year’s “Mr. Abbott” Award celebration will lift the story of Agnes de Mille and the power of her leadership in the making of the Union. Even as we celebrate the story of a singular artist, we will embark on a yearlong quantifiable research project designed to present a clear and accurate picture of how directors and choreographers, at various points of their careers, survive (or don’t) in this highly competitive field. What does a map of the life of an SDC Member look like? What is the web that supports a Member’s life, and how do we focus our priorities and bring partners to the table to strengthen that web? We are planning a symposium in concert with other theatrical labor unions to share our histories and, in doing so, see how we can leverage our interconnections to provide better support to those who make the work. We will be redesigning this very publication—moving to full color. But I digress. There is much more, so stayed tuned. I have been thinking recently about the phenomenon of “split-screen consciousness.” Although I am one who can multitask with the best of them, I don’t want two screens at my desk or in my head (or three, as my iPhone XS is never far away). I wondered if I had already experienced the end of concentration, of thoughtful, focused deliberation. Then, as I read the final draft of this issue of SDC Journal, I realized how directors and choreographers must actually be masters of multiple consciousnesses. You must stay in a moment completely, fully—and yet always keep the horizon in your sights. What is likely sensory overload for many of us is the nature of your craft. In the agility with which you move among and between collaborators, you are a master watcher of the four corners of the room—with the ability to see around the corner at the same time. Listeners. Connectors. In fact, what might feel like disparate, sometimes conflicting and competing interests—humanity and pragmatism, producer to dresser, light to dark—is not split consciousness at all but rather focus. Focus on the end game. On what you give us. The opening, the story, the place where we can go and set aside our multitasking and take in a story. And now, Chicago theatre: For decades, many of us artists and theatregoers around the country have been trying to understand the essence of what it means to make theatre in the Windy City. In 2010, SDC held a panel discussion in Chicago. Steppenwolf hosted, and I eagerly anticipated meeting the legendary Sheldon Patinkin and hearing his views as a gathering of Chicago luminaries sought to articulate the Chicago aesthetics, including Seth Bockley, Timothy Douglas, Gary Griffin, Kimberly Senior, and Dennis Zacek. This wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time, anyone tried to answer that question. A few years after that panel, in the early years of SDC Journal, we featured a roundtable on “The Chicago Aesthetic,” moderated by Curt Columbus, now in Providence, of course, with Amy Morton, Ron OJ Parson, Henry Wishcamper, Rebecca Gilman, Zayd Dohrn, and Keith Huff. Fast-forward a few years, and here we are again—as interested as we have ever been about what makes this city tick and why it seems to own its aesthetic even as it is home to a diverse and varied group of artists. In this issue, Chay Yew, who is nearing the decade mark (he started in 2011) at Victory Gardens, explores issues of community, representation, and the changing Chicago aesthetic in a roundtable discussion with Devon de Mayo, Henry Godinez, Gary Griffin, Dado Gyure, Chika Ike, Halena Kays, and Gus Menary. In other features, Barbara Gaines tells us how Chicago Shakes (which has a landmark new home) came to be, and we hear from Ron OJ Parson, who has made an indelible mark on the city’s theatre landscape, directing dozens of productions across the Chicago area. A gifted group of young directors from diverse backgrounds, many of whom are women, are staging the plays and musicals in Chicago in ever-increasing numbers, including Lili-Anne Brown, Linda Fortunato, and Elizabeth Margolius. This issue provides a glimpse into the work—no split focus. And although my mind does bend backward to 2010 and listening to Sheldon, I know for Chicago his legacy continues to resonate even as the future is upon us. In Solidarity,

Laura Penn Executive Director

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

IN YOUR WORDS What I Learned...

Mark Cuddy in Heartland, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh PHOTO Goat Factory Media Entertainment

Why I Made That Choice Pre-Show / Post-Show Step Forward 20 Questions CONTRIBUTE If you wish to contribute to IN YOUR WORDS, would like to respond to any of the articles, opinions, or views expressed in SDC Journal, or have an idea for an article, please email Letters@SDCweb.org. Include your full name, city + state. We regret that we are unable to respond to every letter.

EDITOR’S NOTE In response to the Fall 2018/Winter 2019 feature “Carrying on the Legacy: SDC Members Create New Black Arts Institute,” we heard from Member Adesola Osakalumi, who was one of the dance instructors in the program. He wrote, “It is a truly groundbreaking event and it’s these opportunities that allow me to share my experiences, insight, and further connect with a variety of artists so we can all sing our songs.” SDC Journal recognizes the community of collaborators it takes to pull off major initiatives such as this.

PHOTO Goat Factory Media Entertainment

MARK CUDDY has directed over 100 productions across the country, mostly for theatres he has led from Massachusetts to California over the past 40 years. Since 1995, he has been Artistic Director of Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY— one of the most subscribed regional theatres in the country. Some of his Geva productions include the world premieres of Convenience by Gregg Coffin, Famous Orpheus by OyamO with choreography by Garth Fagan, Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino, The Road to Where by Cass Morgan, Theophilus North by Matthew Burnett from Thornton Wilder (Arena Stage), and adaptations of Pride & Prejudice (coadaptor) and A Christmas Carol (adaptor). In 2017, seeing a need for mentorship in the field, he launched a counseling and coaching service for artistic and executive directors, as well as board chairs: www.TheaterLeader.com

WHAT I LEARNED… BY MARK

CUDDY

Though I started directing in college, like most of us I acted in plays as well. I even acted alongside John Goodman in the American premiere of a Brian Friel play, Volunteers, in 1982 in NYC—but that’s another story. (Oh, John was brilliant and we all knew it.) As my artistic director career grew, I found myself getting back on stage every five years or so to refresh my understanding of an actor’s process. This lasted until January 2000, when I chose to play Vladimir in Waiting for Godot as an attempt to grapple with my father’s recent death. Life happened after that: the complexities of raising a family and running a theatre took over, and I put acting aside. I honestly didn’t miss it. Two years ago, as I was reading Gabriel Jason Dean’s beautiful play about forgiveness set in Nebraska and Afghanistan, Heartland, I started voicing the character of its recently retired professor of comparative literature and Afghan studies, Harold. Director Pirronne Yousefzadeh had just given the play to us to consider, and it dawned on me that I was now able to play a whole new range of characters. I somehow convinced Pirronne that she’d have to trust me on this, and in March 2018, she directed me in the world premiere at Geva Theatre Center. After 18 years of exclusively directing, this is what I learned: Slipping into rehearsal mode as an actor wasn’t awkward. I’d always been able to “take direction,” and the camaraderie shown by the other two actors made it easy.

I completely trusted Pirronne to let me know if I was terrible. That was actually my biggest worry: that being a guest director, she’d defer to the AD. She was kind but firm. The natural relationship of director/actor was upheld. I could use the playwright, Gabe, as a sounding board when appropriate (with the director’s permission)—especially with “why” questions and Harold’s medical condition. And then there were the lines. I’m not a slow study, but over the course of the play’s action Harold loses both his ability to form sentences and some of his memory because of glioblastoma: a brain tumor. It was challenging and terrifying. (I also had to speak some Dari!) As an actor, I needed to inhabit Harold’s deteriorating brain but couldn’t leave my actor brain until rewrites stopped—which didn’t happen until the day before opening. So this was the biggest lesson: when the playwright is in residence, there has to be a time when the emphasis shifts from developing the play to rehearsing the play. Gabe, Pirronne, and I had a good discussion about it after we opened—I love them both—and they both agreed that there wasn’t a set plan. As an older actor in that particular role—and with plenty at stake being the Artistic Director—I felt that we could have been in trouble if another actor wasn’t quite as committed. The other two talented actors in Heartland were in their twenties and were annoyingly quick studies! I’ll take these lessons into my next new play. SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

Gregg Mozgala + Jolly Abraham in Cost of Living directed by Jo Bonney PHOTO Joan Marcus

WHY I MADE

THAT CHOICE A CONVERSATION WITH

JO BONNEY + GREGG MOZGALA

Director Jo Bonney and actor Gregg Mozgala worked together on the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Martyna Majok’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Cost of Living, a play about parallel relationships between characters with disabilities and potential romantic partners. Bonney and Mozgala met after the production to discuss breaking down barriers to the casting of actors with disabilities, in both disabled and nondisabled roles. This is an excerpt of that conversation.

GREGG MOZGALA | I’m always aware of it, I’m always conscious of it, but I don’t spend my days talking about my disability. JO BONNEY | Nor does your family, your friends, or your work colleagues. That seems to be huge in terms of how we integrate this storytelling into... GREGG | The cultural fabric of our lives. JO | Exactly. Maybe that’s how, in terms of choreographers and directors, we can approach this. How we can get over, somehow, the hump, the sort of abstract obstacle of introducing disability into a cast? GREGG | I don’t necessarily know if abstract is the right term because I feel like in some way, shape, or form, I’m having to explain my existence in myriad ways, big and small, to people who see me or are curious. You transfer that into this professional world, which is very surface, based on image. This doesn’t necessarily fit an ideal, right? The same issues apply, I think. But where I am now is why I’m looking for specifically—for lack of a better term—disability narratives. It’s because I feel until we’re seen and feel like we can own our own disabilities as part of our humanity, then we won’t be seen as people. We have to be seen as disabled people before we can be seen as people in a larger context.

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

JO | Do you think that stops us from being able to tell these stories now if we’re not being specific to that concern? GREGG | I think the directors have the power to say, “I want this person.” If they see the actor and say, “I want this person in my show” or “That’s important to me.” From my own experience, in audition scenarios, that hasn’t translated to work in existing works in the canon where the character is not written as disabled. JO | And why didn’t that happen? GREGG | Because I think, “I would never be cast as Biff from Death of a Salesman,” right? Regardless of whether I’m the right type or not, let’s say I was. It’s just a question. Biff was a former athlete and football star. JO | But couldn’t you be cast as Bernard, the neighbor who becomes a successful lawyer in Washington? If it were a non-athletic character who is viewed as smart but not appreciated in this physical environment. GREGG | You could do that, as long as it does something to illuminate the story. I think you just have to watch out for it being a gimmick. JO | It’s almost like that’s something you have to crash through, the idea that it’s a gimmick.

Because it is a gimmick as long as it’s so rare that it pulls attention to itself. But if it becomes more common, then it’s simply representing the broader society. As you said, then we’re sitting here just watching people. GREGG | Yeah, even with Cost of Living, which was specifically written with disabled characters, look at the media response. It was so foreign or new to people that a lot of the news coverage was that this unheard-of, unseen, rare white buffalo of a thing was happening, and that’s because it just doesn’t happen. So people weren’t talking necessarily about the play or the issues raised in the play or the incredible intersectionality of that play, the economics, whatever. They were focused on “There’s a woman with no leg and...” JO | Bodies on stage. GREGG | Right. That’s a huge part of the story too, but that play was about the people in relationship with other people and negotiating bodies of all different kinds, but that was somehow lost in translation. I think because it is such a new idea, people don’t know how to talk about it. JO | People tippy-toe around this subject. But if we could move past that... Because I remember, at one point, you said, “We will have really made it when we get a bad review in terms of an actor in a body you’re not used to seeing on stage,

that we’re not even going to consider that as a part of our conversation. We’re going to assess...” GREGG | Just the work.

interested in all that that means, and be willing to take all of that on. JO | I think that’s the big issue. If a director or choreographer has a vision like that for a production, then we find ourselves in the position of asking “What are we willing to take on?” If we can bring all our collaborators on board then there should be nothing that stops us.

GREGG MOZGALA is a New York City-based actor who has appeared JO | Exactly. But that’s where we need to on stage at The Public Theater, New York encourage people to feel that this is not an Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, extraordinary choice to make. This is not Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ensemble Studio physically insurmountable. Theatre, and many others. For his work in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Cost of Living by Martyna GREGG | Insurmountable is a good Majok, he received a Drama Desk nomination, an word because the perception is that it is Outer Critics Circle nomination, and won a Lucille JO BONNEY has directed insurmountable. It does take more time to Lortel Award for Best Featured Actor. Gregg premieres of plays by Suzan-Lori have the conversation; it does take more is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Parks, Lynn Nottage, Danny Hoch, Diana work, depending on where you’re at. On Apothetae, a company dedicated to the Son, Anna Deveare Smith, Naomi Wallace, Eric a commercial level, it’s more time, and production of works that explore and Bogosian, Alan Ball, Hammad Chaudry, Culture time is money, and you’ve got all these illuminate the “Disabled Experience.” Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Neil LaBute, pressures. So I think that’s why it’s Warren Leight, Ione Lloyd, Martyna Majok, Dael easier to just not tell those stories or, Orlandersmith, Darci Picoult, Will Power, John Pollono, when those characters come up, to David Rabe, José Rivera, Universes, Michael Weller, and cast non-disabled actors in those roles Lisa Loomer. She is the recipient of an Obie Award for because, “Well, they’re a good actor Sustained Excellence of Direction; Lucille Lortel Awards for and we can put them in, and we don’t Best Musical and Best Revival; a Drama Desk nomination have to worry about...” and Lilly Award for Direction of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; and an AUDELCO Award for Father Comes Home JO | Their needs. from the Wars. She is the editor of Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from GREGG | Or getting that person up to the Twentieth Century speed, because access to training—and good (TCG). training—is also an issue. JO | You had such a history with the development of Cost of Living, but the search for the character of Ani was extensive and often frustrating (we solicited tapes from across America and I did auditions on the East and West Coasts). Finding Katy [Sullivan]—who took the opportunity to flex her muscles and grow to the next level as an actor—was incredibly rewarding. She was even more than we had hoped for. GREGG | Listen to Sam Gold talk about working with Madison [Ferris, in The Glass Menagerie] and all the battles that he alluded to—of talking to the producers, of saying, “No, this is my choice. This is going to work.” We have to have choreographers say yes to one person who is in a different body or has different access to their body than a trained, professional, non-disabled dancer. JO | Isn’t that where it becomes interesting? GREGG | Yes, but you have to be

Katy Sullivan + Victor Williams in Cost of Living directed by Jo Bonney PHOTO Joan Marcus

SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

PRE-SHOW / POST-SHOW WITH

OLGA SANCHE Z SALTVEIT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

What I love about theatre is...it’s holy, at its best. Cleansing, restorative, transcendent. And it’s risky. All the artists involved are vulnerable. They sacrifice all kinds of security, not the least of which is self-worth, for something more important than ego. For the alchemy that happens when performance meets public. For truth in representation. For catharsis. For the times when we feel so much better at 10 p.m. than we did at 7:30. I agree with the idea of the stage as an altar or the theatre as a crucible. I love its inherently collaborative nature. Most of the time, human beings need others to survive. That’s mirrored in theatremaking. An actor needs an audience. Performance needs to be watched. A circle of theatre-crafting needs to expand to include the audience, the final ingredient. We need each other in order to create and enjoy theatre. To dare to jump into the volcano together. It’s hot. I became a director because… I have feelings and thoughts about how it should be. You know when you’re in acting class, sitting in the back row next to your best friend—who’s a confirmed director—and while you’re watching somebody else’s scene, you lean over and whisper, “He should be standing,” and your best friend looks at you and whispers back, “You’re a director!” I believed her and registered for the next directing class. One of the actors from that class invited me to direct A Midsummer Night’s Dream the following summer. We worked in an outdoor amphitheatre with children and musicians and talented friends—it was wonderfully daunting. What a scary responsibility to envision and cocreate a world that transforms over time for public consumption. I was hooked. Someone who was instrumental in my artistic development was…Where to begin? I’ve been very fortunate to have spent time with wonderful artists, including Linda Hartzell, who infuses savvy artistic leadership with heart; Ruben Sierra (RIP), who bequeathed to me my commitment to Latinx theatre; Mark Lutwak, who never met an unlovable villain; Bartlett Sher, who preferred integrity of the scene over the cheap laugh; Mary Overlie, who broke open time and space; José Gonzalez, who never stops asking about art; Elizabeth Huffman, who reinforced the power of what happens outside of text; and Theresa J. May, who insists on presence and gratitude. I believe a good director must be able to…be as vulnerable as their actors. Crack open time. Say what the words aren’t saying. Find the

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

good. Do better. Hold the space sacred. Feel the whole. Keep space open for the collaboration. Incite the team to express their wild dreams. Champion humanity. Call out laziness. Condemn cruelty. I started teaching in the academy because… I want to bring Latinx theatre into the curriculum. I know the benefit of identity-based work. For Latinx, the work reflects our stories and history respectfully. It’s empowering. For non-Latinx, the work builds necessary bridges of understanding in a welcoming environment. It’s demystifying. Yet for years I have witnessed how Latinx theatremaking around the country is undervalued, under-resourced, and misrepresented. I believe that one solution to this problem is to strengthen the presence of Latinx theatre studies in the academy, and I have attached myself to that mission. As a director, I am drawn to scripts that… play with forms and words, and make the most of an actor’s tools: their voices, bodies, hearts, impulses, and skills. I’m a humanist, drawn to theatre about human impact on other humans, on selves, on the planet. What are the tools we have at our disposal to deflect (self-) destruction? What makes us grow? Some of the plays/musicals I would like to direct are… A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Márquez, adapted by Nilo Cruz; Plumas Negras by Juliette Carrillo; Sweep by Georgina Escobar; Yellow Eyes by Migdalia Cruz; Policarpa by Diana Burbano; Cloudlands by Octavio Solis; The Last Paving Stone by Y York; Pork Kidneys to Soothe Despair by Alejandro Ricaño; and soon, if possible, Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega, adapted by William S. Gregory and Daniel Jáquez, or Volpone by Ben Jonson… I think it is important for the American theatre to…dance more. Talk about how great we are at consuming and polluting. Acknowledge that America is hemispheric. Reflect on diminished power: when supremacy is lost, where do we find our value? I balance my work and creative life by… sleep and yoga. I’m a workaholic (like so many of us are!), driven by the joy of art-making, its relevance, and the possibility that my work might generate some happiness.

OLGA SANCHEZ SALTVEIT, PhD candidate, Theatre Arts, University of Oregon, is Artistic Director Emerita of Milagro, the Pacific Northwest’s premier Latino arts and culture organization. Actor, director, writer, and scholar-in-training, she most recently directed Como Agua Para Chocolate at Gala Hispanic Theatre, and Tricks to Inherit, her translation/ adaptation of Astucias por Heredar un Sobrino a un Tío by Fermín de Reygadas (1789) at the University of Oregon. She is a former TCG board member and serves on the Steering Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons. Her article “(Afro) Latinx Theatre: Embodiment and Articulation” is published in Label Me Latina/o.

STEP FORWARD BY AMEENAH

KAPLAN

“Are you a choreographer?” When I’m talking with a technical dancer about what I do, I never, ever say I’m a dancer. I always say, “I’m a choreographer with dance training.” Then I feel the need to break that down and say, “I’m a specialty choreographer. I do nontraditional stuff, you know, anything with an apparatus or a drum. I mean, I’ve choreographed straight musicals, but I thrive in nontraditional work that mixes styles. That’s my thing.” The dancer I’m talking to will either think that has value or not. A lot of times, they don’t know what I’m talking about. “If you’re not a dancer trained in ballet, modern, jazz, tap, or contemporary, then what kind of choreographer are you?” Good question. It’s taken me a long time to figure that out. See, I didn’t get to start “technical” dance when I was young. My parents didn’t get it and couldn’t have afforded it even if they did. Ballet was a luxury. The thing I could do, and always did, was play drums. Sinks and desktops are free to a kid, and that’s where I started my life in the arts. Soon, breakdancing came into the mix. And only in my teens did I get “technical” training on a regular basis. But according to my ballet teacher, I was “not a prima.” That still makes me laugh! It was at Tisch’s Experimental Theatre Wing that my concept of dance broadened beyond the typical definitions. There, my body learned Viewpoints, Contact Improv, The Grid, Alexander Technique, and so on. We were encouraged to use movement as a way to know self and to push boundaries. Later, as a performer in Stomp and a drum coach for Blue Man Group, I learned the power of rhythm, that theatre didn’t have to be anything like what we were taught, and that dance came in too many forms to name. All that said, I lucked into choreography. I was teaching a movement class for actors that involved a mix of techniques. Wendy McClellan Anderson, a directing colleague and current Disney Imagineering bigwig, took my class one night and asked me to choreograph a show she was directing. I told her I’d never choreographed for anyone else. At the time, I was just experimenting with my own ideas on dancer and actor friends. I told her it wouldn’t be “Broadway 5, 6, 7, 8.” She told me she wanted my weird stuff. I signed on. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but somehow, I put something together. Surely, everyone would see through to my lack of technique and call me out. Nope. I was nominated for an Ovation Award. I was mortified. That still makes me laugh too. I was so convinced by the dance community that anything other than technique was not legit that even though I continued choreographing all over LA, I felt like a fraud. I was winning choreography and fight choreography awards, but we all know how hard it can be to shake a bad idea that gets in your head when you’re too young to filter it out. It wasn’t until I saw a production of Altar Boyz that I choreographed in LA that I began to realize that I was, indeed, a choreographer. I’d been working as one for 10 years by that point, but I still didn’t believe. What I saw in Altar Boyz was that I was using my strengths as a drummer, actor, and physical theatre creator as a style. My choreography allowed the actors to tell stories. I’d give them a premise and then construct their improv into a dance. I was making up moves and using vocabulary learned in dance classes or on the street. And I always found a place for rhythm. It was a hodgepodge, but somehow, it worked.

I’m not saying I don’t get afraid every time I start a choreography job. I do. But after choreographing more than 30 shows, I’ve learned that we are all dancers. Some have “technique,” some dance cultural dances, some learn on the street, and some of us just boogie. AMEENAH KAPLAN is current Resident Director of Disney’s The Lion King and West Coast drum coach for Blue Man Group, and was in the original American cast of STOMP. Choreography credits include: The Wiz for First Stage; A Midsummer Night’s Dream for American Players Theatre; The Women of Brewster Place, Bash’d, and Altar Boyz for Celebration Theatre; The Royale for CTG; A Christmas Carol King, Santa Claus Is Coming to Motown, Hamlet, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince of Denmark, Jackson Frost, Alice in One-Hit Wonderland, and It’s a Stevie Wonderful Life for Troubadour Theatre Company; The Ballad of Emmett Till, In the Red and Brown Water, and The Brothers Size for The Fountain Theatre. Five NAACP, LA Weekly and Gregory Awards for Best Choreography and Fight Choreography. Richard E. Sherwood Award from Center Theater Group. LA Weekly Queen of Angels Award. Ovation Award: Best Choreography, The Royale. Ameenah originated the choreography for The Royale at CTG in LA and for The Dancing Granny at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. AAU Film School. Tisch School of the Arts, Experimental Theatre Wing.

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QUESTIONS DREAMING FEARLESSLY: JONATHAN McCRORY + SADE LYTHCOTT ON THE NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE As the National Black Theatre (NBT) celebrates its 50th season, SDC Journal spoke with Chief Executive �� Sade Lythcott and Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory to discuss NBT’s past, present, and dreams for the future in Harlem and beyond.

When the National Black Theatre was established in 1968, what was its mission? SADE LYTHCOTT | NBT’s mission then and now has always been to develop, train, and incubate black artists, from on stage to behind the scenes. We support artists not only in honing their skills but in the important healing work of cultural and spiritual liberation. My mother, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, the founder of the NBT, was frustrated by the linear definition of theatre from the Western perspective, its intrinsic marginalizing of people of color, and its limited approach to building community or connecting artists with audiences. So she designed NBT to come from a holistic space in which there was no division between community, audience, and actors. How has the theatre’s mission evolved over time? SADE | Our mission hasn’t necessarily evolved, but our approach to the work certainly has. We have worked to synthesize a lot of the pedagogy of Dr. Teer from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s into a very succinct way of producing, which we call holistic producing. The evolution of things that were done in the past are now producing an incredible body of contemporary work by African diaspora artists and playwrights.

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How has NBT turned its mission into action? SADE | We have made great investments in creating a safe, sacred space where artist and audience can be heard, be seen, and feel like they’re at their home away from home. We constantly ask ourselves: what is needed for an artist to feel like they’re home? What is needed to support our audiences, who are often watching new works that may agitate or cause discomfort, to feel like they’re safe at home in the midst of the experience? The way we curate our space, from the art on our walls (we have the largest collection of new sacred art in the Western hemisphere) to the way we greet people, it’s very important that when you walk through our doors, it feels transformational and loving. We are a laboratory for experimenting with voice, ritual, and modalities that link us back to our divine heritage, as opposed to our history in this country that begins with enslavement. How do we liberate past that moment when everyone thinks their history began? Curating NBT as a creative, generative lab becomes incredibly important to give artists this space to dream and imagine past our traditional lens. In what ways has NBT influenced the arts scene in Harlem?

JONATHAN McCRORY | NBT has been an anchor for human, cultural, and community liberation. It is a beacon, founded by a black woman, crafted and carved to be a vessel of healing. Our influence is that we are the presentpulse location for our community to heal, to see each other, and to fall in love with who they are and where they are currently. SADE | One of the most profound ways NBT has influenced the art scene in Harlem is that we own and operate our own space, and part of our mission is to be a hub for cultural creativity. We are very deliberate in subsidizing, donating, and renting space to individual artists, smaller theatre companies, and nonprofit organizations that share or overlap in mission and values. That becomes an incredible opportunity to help anchor culture and art in Harlem. And how has NBT influenced theatre beyond the local community? JONATHAN | National Black Theatre has been the match lighting the fires of global movements, whether inspiring the indigenous people in Australia or assisting Afro-Swedes in creating their own National Black Theatres. Our productions, workshops, symposiums, and exhibitions, each infused with a pedagogy of healing, have influenced a generation.

OPPOSITE Tré Davis + Maechi Aharanwa in Sweet at NBT, directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges PHOTO Peter Cooper BELOW LEFT

Sheria Irving in Crowndation: I Will Not Lie to David at NBT, directed by Cezar Williams PHOTO Christine Jean Chambers Craig ‘muMs’ Grant in A Sucker Emcee at NBT, directed by Jenny Koons PHOTO Christine Jean Chambers

BELOW RIGHT

SADE | We’ve increasingly been sharing our pedagogy around the country and the world. I think creating a sustainable business model for theatre is something that is of interest to other theatre companies. We just opened the National Black Theatre of Sweden in Stockholm in November. And from a community impact standpoint, the way in which we curate for everyone to have a seat at the table is something that we speak about around the country. How has the gentrification of Harlem impacted NBT? SADE | It’s a complicated question, and there’s no right answer. On one hand, gentrification has been devastating to Harlem—the erasure of our culture and this slow dirge of a walk toward the commodification of Harlem as a brand, with black culture being used as a marketing ploy, is stomach-churning. In that sense, gentrification has been really hard on the community. The community—as distinct from the

neighborhood—is the soul. When people invest in community, no matter whether the demographics start to change, it’s sustainable, and it doesn’t feel like violence or erasure. But if you’re coming into a community and investing in the infrastructure of neighborhood, devoid of that connective tissue, it is devastating. Because we constantly invest in the community, the shifting of demographics in Harlem for NBT specifically has been wonderful because it’s more resources brought to the table from a space of equity and parity. We know who we are, we know from whence we serve, and we are clear in our mission, so we welcome with open arms new faces to share in what it is we do. We are really proud to say we’ve been thriving through this transition. Do you think the theatre community at large understands the role of culturally and ethnically specific theatre companies, and are there any assumptions you’d like to dispel?

JONATHAN | The theatre community understands the need for spaces of specificity. I think that there is a growing desire to support that, but there’s also a trend of trying to absorb that specificity. Not from a holistic way, but from a space that merely puts a Band-Aid on the desire to take care of a community that they have abandoned, a community that has been waiting to be seen. I question sometimes how we do it as a field. How are we making sure that those spaces are actually thriving? The one assumption I’d like to dispel is that we need a handout. What is needed is an equitable conversation that actually grapples with the historical bias and underappreciation. To be able to be open, have programming, and sit at the table to even talk about partnership is a testament to our resilience—that we inherently bring wealth to the conversation. What is the interplay between NBT’s mission and NYC’s larger, predominantly white SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer in front of the National Black Theatre, 1988 PHOTO Denis Caruso

institutional theatres’ statements of intent to program more works by artists of color? JONATHAN | National Black Theatre’s mission is to create an oasis for all people but, in particular, for people of color. We seek to hire and train as many people of color as we possibly can to help create access. This is where we meet the larger New York City community. It is in our training that we’ve found a way to be a feeder to the broader and predominantly white theatrical community. We are also engaging with predominantly white institutions with our new institutional program, NBT Beyond Walls, where we are embracing innovative local, national, and international partnerships as a gateway to expanding the reach and prominence of the organization. We’re working with Apollo Theater, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and Carnegie Hall, to name a few. NBT offers residencies in directing, producing, and playwriting. What is the impact of having emerging professionals working with NBT on an ongoing basis? JONATHAN | The impact is that we become the most beautiful, innovative laboratory for the 21st-century black artist to have through our Soul Series L.A.B. [Liberating Artistic Bravery]. We’re able to anchor who we are in a deep analysis around processes instead of product so that artists can continue to evolve the form to keep it fresh, always challenging and looking

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at how we can deepen our holistic approach to take care of the communities we serve. These residencies have helped extend and uplift the pedagogy of NBT. Our residency programs are an intricate part of helping NBT support the field to lean into a conversation about bringing the theatrical form into the now and, ultimately, the future. What opportunities does NBT provide for emerging and mid-career directors and choreographers? JONATHAN | We do a great job of giving black artists at different levels of experience a space to work with other black playwrights on contemporary and new work in a black institution. All that nuance really cultivates a rare experience. We’re very committed to giving emerging directors opportunities on our main stage with full production support. We also give emerging directors opportunities to work on brand-new text through our I Am Soul Playwright Residency Program, where they navigate new play development. Additionally, we added a new program to the Soul Series L.A.B. Our Soul Directing Residency Program is one of the only ones in the country that allows a black director to have a home for 12 to 18 months to create a devised piece or to do a production of an already established play. This was created to help diversify opportunities, knowing that a New York City production and review can shift and augment the career of a director. The

residency program extends the pedagogy of NBT to more voices and, in return, also provides the field a centralized location where black artists can be seen, heard, and given the resources to revolutionize the field by diversifying who gets seen. NBT creates opportunities for choreographers through micro-commissioning, such as the upcoming program we are doing with the Schomburg. We’re looking to do more of this and to allow for artists and choreographers, in particular, to landscape the body as a tool for theatrical storytelling. Jonathan, your role at NBT calls on you to spend a lot of time as a producer. How does that inform your directing work? JONATHAN | I feel the term “producer” is limiting to the true nature of my creative practice. I like to say I am a creative doula, a midwife helping generate the space where the artist gets to lay their ideas and manifest them into a physical form. When I relinquish myself of this very restrictive word, I become a part of the dance that so many of the artists are doing, helping them to navigate within a creative space. The way that we work as a team at NBT has actually showed me the collaborative force that’s necessary for theatre; there is no head, there is no tail, but rather a unified body. Being a creative doula for the past seven years at NBT has really helped to release me of a certain trajectory that I thought I wanted for myself. It has deepened

my sense of community and helped me align my passion for this craft with a practice that honors my ethnic indigenous roots. It’s helped me to understand that my gift is actually housed in my ability to train and help illuminate. Do artists need multidisciplinary skills to succeed? JONATHAN | To do anything, you have to be multidisciplinary. But what does success actually look like? I started out as an actor, then technical director, then director. In collaboration with others, I began a theatre company called the Movement Theatre Company, where I was responsible for marketing; then started another company called Harlem9, where I am a producer; then landed at National Black Theatre as the Director of Theatre Arts and now am Artistic Director. My life has been nothing but my navigating the space of multiple disciplines/roles. At times, I act; at times, I write. At times, I do budgets, contracts, and other things that might not be sexy or attractive, but they’re part of my gift. And so leaning into the service of why you were brought onto this planet, I think, is the real task. To know that, as uncomfortable as it may be, is success and needs many different disciplines to manifest.

crown of much prestige and opportunity at the age of 25 and had to represent, create a space, navigate some unknown terrain, and build. It’s a humbling thing. I think it’s maybe 21 productions that I’ve helmed at this institution. I’ve cultivated a family, a tribe, a community of people, so that when I stumble, they are there to help fortify my steps. And when I’m ready to celebrate, we play the music as loud as possible. I don’t know if I could have known that kind of joy, and that kind of responsibility, if I wasn’t given the opportunity to wear the crown. Where do you see the greatest opportunities for black directors today? JONATHAN | The biggest opportunity that I see is for producers to invest in doing innovative, brave, and exploratory work. I feel that we have inhibited on so many levels how black directors tell black narratives in this country. We haven’t allowed for the black director to truly experiment and fail without feeling the repercussions of that

What would you say has been your biggest challenge since joining the staff of NBT six years ago? JONATHAN | I’ve only survived this job because I have shifted the word “challenge” to “opportunity.” And the biggest opportunity has been to illuminate a diamond. Dr. Teer was very specific in her ethos, her values, her mission, and she captured it for me when she used to say, “Welcome to your home away from home.” I Sade Lythcott Jonathan McCrory have latched on to that slogan ever since I stepped foot into that building. The other biggest opportunity that failure the way that many of our counterparts, NBT has evolved into is this idea of sharing the particularly white counterparts, have not. Some wealth that we steward. This is how we gave of that has to do with the fact that producers birth to NBT Beyond Walls in celebration of the put us in a box; some with the fact that we put institution’s 50-year legacy. ourselves in the box. I feel like black storytellers are trying, are asking for us to reinvent the SADE | One of our biggest challenges is slowly representation wheel. As directors, our job is turning the ship toward a more sustainable to reflect that innovation. And we can’t lead business model. Intrinsic in our mission is this with innovation if we allow for the limited idea that artists can be entrepreneurs as well, scope of others and even ourselves to limit which would allow them to make a sustainable our understanding of what the craft can be. I wage while making their art in spaces that are think the entire field needs to shift its priorities well capitalized and sustainable. That means and figure out if they want diversity, equity, getting NBT’s infrastructure back on track. and inclusion to be at the center of our human creative practice. I want parity, reciprocity, and What’s the most surprising thing you have learned in your role as NBT’s Artistic Director? respect. We deserve the space to tell any story. JONATHAN | A friend told me once, “He who wears the crown carries the load.” I’m always struck by the load that an artistic director has to carry. I’m surprised that I’ve been able to hold that weight for as long as I have. I was given the

Are there any texts—books, essays, scripts— that should be required reading for directors? JONATHAN | Directors should get these books: Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown and

The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols. The symbols book is a phenomenal dramaturgical tool and also profound visual, grounding work for a director to allow their curiosity to guide them. I also think journaling is a very important part of all processes. What does NBT have in store for its 50th season? JONATHAN | From a programmatic standpoint, we have reimagined how we can engage community by launching NBT Beyond Walls, to share this idea of the National Black Theatre on and with the global stage. How do we give this pedagogy that we’ve created over 50 years to people who may have never known NBT before? It’s exciting to launch into a 50th year leading with innovation. It’s a season of new looks, new works, engagement, cultivation, and partnership. SADE | Fifty. What an exciting time in NBT’s history and trajectory. Our season is “Liberation: A Journey Beyond Walls,” to test out what it would be like to be in the world, in our community, around the country, spreading our pedagogy and best art practices. We are working on a massive archival project that will digitize our archives and make them researchable. NBT is developing a musical about South Africa, doing a national tour of The Peculiar Patriot (directed by Talvin Wilks), piloting and launching our national directors residency program, hosting two playwrights and a producer in residence, and producing two incredible workshop productions of our past playwrights and residents. Our director in residence, Ebony Noelle Golden, has been working for a full year with us to develop a 5-hour site-specific durational piece, 125th & FREEdom. We are partnering with the Apollo Theater to present the music from the South African musical. In April, we are joining forces with Carnegie Hall and the Schomburg for their Migration Festival. It’s an exciting time. NBT is on the verge of a major redevelopment. What does this mean for NBT? JONATHAN | The redevelopment of our property is the opportunity to fully manifest the vision of Dr. Teer, who wanted to create a cultural hub where artists, people of African descent, can live, serve, and work in their own community. And it is an opportunity for us to position NBT for a future that is fortified and capitalized. To coin a slogan by Sade, this redevelopment project is simply to help National Black Theatre do what we already do, but better. SADE | Ultimately, we are working toward a five-year strategic plan to launch NBT 2.0, which SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

will be the premier destination for present-pulse theatre and black culture. That redevelopment is underway now. We are preparing NBT to be in a transition period where we do not have a space for the duration of our reconstruction. It means that we get to manifest in our community differently. When it’s completed, we will have a brand-new mixed-use building with two state-of-the-art performance spaces. We’ll have classroom space, rehearsal space, and brandnew offices. We are trying to build a community that is thriving, that is creatively rich, and that is dedicated to human transformation and Black liberation. And we’re very, very excited about it.

people, and we have to be creative about it, because most of our engagement with young people involved them coming to our space. So what does that look like? Let’s deepen our commitment to community engagement, in the ways that put us in the streets, in other organizations, teaching and speaking more at colleges and universities. That’s what this transition period is really allowing us to do: to share our pedagogy, to learn and grow with other communities, and to be of service in a new and exciting way so that we can bring all that energy back to the heart of Harlem when our construction is done.

What is the next thing you’d like to make happen at NBT?

Where do you see NBT 50 years from now?

SADE | We took stock of all our programs and realized we could do much more with young

illuminating beacon of human transformation, liberation, love, and grace, fully capitalized, anchored in vision, and a training ground for the most prestigious and emerging artists to engage, experiment, and come into relationship with the highest form of art that they ever wanted to create. Dreaming big. Dreaming fearlessly. SADE | The sky’s the limit. I see us being a template for how to be great artmakers, better neighbors, how to be conscious with service, as we continue to redefine what community theatre can and should be: an open door for all people to feel seen, safe, and sacred.

JONATHAN | I see National Black Theatre being the theatre destination for black culture in the country, if not even the world. I see NBT as an

Sidiki Fofana, Clinton Lowe, Donnell E. Smith + Ryan Jamaal Swain in Kill Move Paradise at NBT, directed by Saheem Ali PHOTO Alan Edwards

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IT ’ S A

MARATHON, N O T A S PR IN T AN INTE R V I E W W I TH RO N OJ PA R S ON BY WARDELL

JULIUS CLARK

Renowned Chicago director Ron OJ Parson has made an indelible mark on the city’s theatre landscape over his long career. The former Co-founder and Artistic Director of Onyx Theatre, Parson is currently a Company Member at TimeLine Theatre Company and Resident Artist at Court Theatre, where his latest production was August Wilson’s Radio Golf. He has directed at dozens of theatres in the Chicago area as well as at institutions across the US and in Canada. With no intention of stopping any time soon, he continues reimagining plays for contemporary audiences while also exploring lesser-known works in the Black theatre canon. Parson met up with emerging director Wardell Julius Clark (a fellow Company Member at TimeLine who has assistant directed for Parson) to talk about what it’s like to build a freelance career in Chicago and where art and activism intersect.

Ron OJ Parson in rehearsal for Waiting for Godot, Court Theatre PHOTO Joe Mazza

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WARDELL | First, congratulations on another wonderful August Wilson production of Radio Golf and the extended run. How did that go? RON | It was great, man. It was all that I expected and more. The response we got was just overwhelming. WARDELL | You seem to have a repertoire of actors that you constantly work with. We call them August Wilson vets, but they’re also just veterans of the stage. How did you first cultivate that crew, and then over the years, how did that come to be? RON | I think every director has actors that he likes to work with, so I wouldn’t necessarily call it an ensemble of actors. It’s a group of people that know me. They know how I work and I know how they work; because I work in such an organic way, it’s good to have that type of person working with me. I do try to have an influx of new people—different designers and things like that. In Radio Golf, for instance, we did have some actors that I’ve worked with, but we also had James Meredith. He came up in my company, Onyx, which was 20 years ago, but I hadn’t worked with him since we were doing that. Of course, Alfred H. Wilson I’ve known since college, which is over 45 years. James T. Alfred worked with us here at Court Theatre. WARDELL | On Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. RON | Yes. In one of the incarnations of it that I did. WARDELL | You’re getting ready to do another one.

WARDELL | The moment-to-moment stuff. The subtleties. The nuances.

WARDELL | It’s not even necessarily subversive. It can just be nuanced and subtle.

RON | Exactly. That’s part of it, that activism, trying to say something. For instance, when we were doing Waiting for Godot at Court Theatre in 2015, it was during the Ferguson uprising. Once we got into rehearsal, we saw the correlation between these two guys and what they’re doing, what they’re waiting for, you know? Justice, peace, and respect.

RON | I think that’s how I look at theatre anyway. I try to put my heart in it, and when you put your heart in it, those things that you feel and that you are, no matter what you do, it’s going to have that.

WARDELL | Something that doesn’t come. RON | Yes. Exactly. When it was going on there, we put that in the play, and people who came saw a different Waiting for Godot than any other they had ever seen. WARDELL | I have never seen it like that. I was blown away by that production. RON | John Jenkins, who assisted Beckett on the play, was a consultant with us, and I would go to him and say, “You think Beckett would like where we’re going with this?” He’d say, “He’d love it.“

WARDELL | I want to talk a little bit about when you’re in the rehearsal room, particularly on break. Having been in a few rehearsal rooms with you now over the years, I know your style really well. Your rehearsal room is so much fun, and there’s a levity to it, but you’re able to get right back to the work immediately. How did you find that, or was it an organic experience? RON | I think that’s just personality. That’s who I am. The thing about it is if you’re having fun while you’re working, you work better. You know what I mean? That’s even a corporate philosophy: if you enjoy what you’re doing, you work better. That comes from the people that I have learned through that have mentored me: Stephen McKinley Henderson, Marion

I T’S A COLLABORATI V E T H I NG . I T’S A

GROUP EFFORT. I T’S NEV ER J UST ME.

RON | Yeah, I’m getting ready to do another Ma Rainey [at Writers Theatre]. That’s another group of actors that I’ve worked with a lot. Kelvin Roston, who I’ve worked with several times, is going to play Levee this time. WARDELL | I wanted to ask about the social justice and political activism part of your work. That is a huge component of who you are as an artist. I consider myself a theatre revolutionary, in a similar way. RON | Yeah, well that’s what theatre is. Theatre is revolutionary. I learned that from Charles “OyamO” Gordon, a playwright friend of mine, who always said that theatre needs to change people—the way they think. If we get to a certain age where we can’t march anymore, we can get the same ideas across in what we do. WARDELL | But that’s not always in the plays you direct, because you also have a very diverse variety of plays and stories that you tell. RON | I would say in one sense it’s not as blatant, but it’s always in the rehearsal process.

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Ron OJ Parson with Aaron Mays in rehearsal for Waiting for Godot at Court Theatre PHOTO Joe Mazza

RON | I know everybody says you need to go someplace. I have a friend in Belize. I’ve been trying to go to Belize for 10 years now. When I tell him I want to come, he says, “Yeah, right. I know you ain’t coming so don’t even say it,” but I’m going to surprise him one time and just visit. Other than the fatigue part, it’s a blessing to be working in this field. WARDELL | Yeah. We can never forget that we’re grateful to have a job. RON | As an artist, that’s difficult. You know? It’s a hustle. It’s a struggle. Granted, it’s not as much of a hustle as it used to be, because now— WARDELL | Well, once you’re established at it, decades of building a career—

Allen Gilmore + Alfred H. Wilson in Waiting for Godot at Court Theatre, directed by Ron OJ Parson PHOTO Michael Brosilow

McClinton, Von Washington. These are people I worked under, and working with them, it was always that kind of way—Steve in particular, because he’s the one that suggested I move to Chicago. I always look at those artists paying it forward. That’s what they were doing. That’s what I like to do. That’s why I love to see people who assist me go on to do big, great things. It’s great. WARDELL | Do you think you have such a close connection to us young artists who are just starting out because it happened so directly for you, from the mentors you just mentioned? RON | I think so. That’s who I am. I look at young people because, at some point, they’re going to be the ones doing it and taking over. They need to know—I don’t want to say the proper way because there’s a lot of ways to do it—but a certain way to get the most out of the art. I think that helps. For me, working with young people is tantamount to everything that we’re about. That’s what we should be doing. When I was young, I learned from Neal Du Brock from Buffalo Studio Arena Theatre. He was nurturing us kids, and we had to direct and act at the same time. I was 15 or 16, and I never looked back. I always thought I was going to be an athlete, but when that didn’t happen, I cared to do this. You apply the same discipline that you do in sports to this. WARDELL | Which is probably why people think you’re one of the most passionate directors working today, because you apply that same approach. RON | That same passion of wanting to win. You know, competitiveness.

WARDELL | Competitiveness. But you’re competing against yourself. RON | Exactly. I’m not competing with other directors or this and that. I just want to do good work and have people see it and experience it. It’s competing with myself. WARDELL | Tell me if I’m wrong, but I don’t even think you’re trying to compete and make a show better than your last show. You’re just trying to make each show the best it could possibly be. RON | That’s the same thing in anything we do. We want to continue a level of expert work. We want to do the best we can do each time we do it. When somebody says, “What’s your favorite show?” I usually say, “The one I’m working on now.” WARDELL | Chicago is your home, but you work regionally as well as in the city, and you work all the time. How do you deal with artist fatigue, especially at this point in your career? RON | That’s a great question. I don’t deal with it well. I’m always tired, pretty much. I know some people get to go on vacations. Usually when I have a little time, I don’t do anything. I just kind of lay in bed. WARDELL | That’s your recharge. RON | Reading, talking to people I haven’t talked to in a long time. Every now and then I might go somewhere and see a play or something. WARDELL | I do that. That’s kind of a relaxation for us.

RON | Exactly. The blessing, though, is I’ve been able to do what I love to do for a career basically my entire life. I never really did the waiting tables thing. But I did do a lot of telemarketing and dishwashing. WARDELL | Do you still write poetry in your downtime? RON | I don’t write as much anymore. I have aspirations of writing a play, and I have ideas. WARDELL | You heard it here first. Ron OJ, the playwright, coming soon! RON | Screenplays and film scripts, and I constantly get asked, “When are you going to direct a film, or do you want to direct film?” You know, I have done little films. In fact, I was a sports journalism major at the University of Michigan before I switched to theatre—but also film and TV were in the mix. I did a few projects and I loved it, actually. I still think, in the back of my mind, that that possibly will happen. I’m older now, and things aren’t as easy. Like you just said about the fatigue factor. I think when we get around a certain age, we downsize. Try to relax a little bit, but in this field you never really can. You just work until the work stops. WARDELL | Hopefully it will never stop. You just keep going. RON | I did a few years ago talk about moving to New Mexico, just get into photography, and painting, and writing, and things like that, but right now it’s just too busy. WARDELL | You have a passion for work that’s been left behind or work that’s rarely produced. I know you and Aaron Mays here at Court Theatre have a wealth of old plays that people don’t think about or touch today. People might be looking for the new, hot, fresh thing, but we know that there is a great value in those stories. RON | It’s like you say. I don’t want to forget the past. I don’t want to forget the people who SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

August [Wilson] read. That’s one of the reasons for Court’s Spotlight Reading Series. It’s exactly what we’re doing: we’re bringing back the old black classics, so to speak. Not only black, but also we did a couple of Latin plays, and we just did a Native American play. The people of color who got left out by a lot of the major theatres and things like that. What we want to do is introduce our audience to those plays of the Black Theatre Movement, I call it. Ed Bullins; Ron Milner; Adrienne Kennedy; Alice Childress, of course—and to fire up some of those works, along with some of the new ones. Carlisle Brown is not a new playwright, but he’s still writing. I want to do more workshops with older and younger writers to get both together to see what we can come up with, but we’ve got to read those old ones. WARDELL | Speaking of new and old playwrights, you’re a frequent interpreter of Wilson’s work, but you also have found a nice relationship with contemporary playwrights like Dominique Morisseau. What is exciting to you about working with playwrights like Dominique? I think of her writing as having an old soul— it’s rich with history, but she’s writing from a younger person’s perspective. RON | That’s true. She also, like me, talks about the ancestors and people. The spirits of our culture talking through us. I think that’s why I love working on her plays. Detroit ’67 and Skeleton Crew we did up at Northlight. And at TimeLine, Sunset Baby and Paradise Blue. The rich culture in there speaks to me. I think that’s why I enjoy working on plays, and I think when we do her plays, it comes across. WARDELL | When you work with a living playwright like Dominique, how do you approach the rehearsal process differently than if you’re directing work by someone like Wilson or Beckett? RON | When I’m working with a living playwright, I definitely like to reach out and feel the vibe that the writer was feeling with the origin of the play, where the inspiration originated in the writing of the piece. I try to find that spirit and include that in my process as much as possible and then add my own spirit depending on how I’m going to approach it. Sometimes it’s determined by the structure of the play, if it’s nonlinear or linear, avant-garde, abstract, or with naturalism. There is a lot of variance depending on the play. Working with OyamO early in my career, I learned to embrace the playwright’s input and add my own creative juices to achieve the desired effect. But ultimately I love having the spirit of the playwright in the room as much as possible. I embrace that presence; I’m pretty oldschool that way. WARDELL | If you had all the production money in the world, and you could do anything you wanted to do at any scale…

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RON | It would be something new. Something new and developed that incorporates older and younger people for the idea, and something that would reach a lot of people. I don’t mean number; I mean reach them inside. In every play that I direct, I try to do it so that people feel the play. Not just hear and see it, but feel it. I think that’s the important element. It would be something like that that would be able to be created from scratch. WARDELL | So I’m an actor who started directing, who literally started assisting under you. But even the first show that I assisted under you—Court Theatre’s Gem of the Ocean in 2015—I also understudied and then went on and did the role half of closing weekend. What do you think about directors who choose, as I am choosing, to work as both an actor and director? RON | Let me tell you something. I’m old, right?

FOR ME, WORKI NG WI TH YOUNG P EOPLE I S TANTAMOUNT TO

EVERYTHING WE’RE ABOUT.

When I was your age, that’s all we did. When I first directed Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, I played Levee and directed it. WARDELL | You did both in the same production? RON | We did that all the time. When David Alan Grier, or Reg E. Cathey, rest his soul, when we had Back Alley Players in Ann Arbor, MI, we did everything. We acted in it. “Who wants to direct this one? You play the lead this time.” That was part of it. Now I don’t do it as much, but I think it makes you a better director. Being an actor makes you be able to take this hat off and realize what it’s like when you’re being director. WARDELL | You are the Resident Director here at Court Theatre, and you’re also now an Associate Artist at TimeLine. You have a lot of connections and are not specifically tied to one institution. When Sydney Charles and I were talking with Jesse Green at the New York Times recently about our production of The Shipment

at Red Tape Theatre, Jesse was kind of blown away by the idea that artists in Chicago did not usually have a specific, narrow allegiance to one institution. RON | We’re unique. When I moved here to Chicago, I felt like it was new territory. Coming out of college, you think of New York or LA. You don’t think about Chicago. I went to New York and it was all right. I was an actor pounding the pavement. Then I decided to step back a little bit and went back to Buffalo. Alfred Wilson worked at the Goodman. He got me an audition and I came, and I experienced Chicago. I had no idea. Once I got here and I realized I was going to stay, I got cast in a play by OyamO. Marion McClinton directed it. So the environment was great. I was telemarketing at the Goodman because Alfred got me a job after the show closed. Then we decided to start Onyx Theatre, and after that, things just took off. We were doing such good work. Martha Lavey from Steppenwolf

saw our first play, and she was just on board with what we were doing, what I was doing. Paul Carter Harrison, icon in the theatre world, he supported me. He was like, “You need to see this director,” and this and that. Those kinds of things just happened.

RON | I have to say it’s part of me. It’s who I am. When I started with Neal Du Brock in Buffalo when I was a kid, that was the way we did it. That’s how it started. We put people together. It’s a collaborative thing. It’s a group effort. It’s never just me.

When I first got here as an actor, I was like, “Man, I need this job.” When I released that and put it in somebody else’s hands, things starting coming together. I tell younger artists, “It’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint.” Things happen when they’re supposed to happen. That’s the way I look at it now.

WARDELL | The theatre has changed, the technical ways of theatre have changed, plays that deal with intimacy have changed. I was thinking about Apartment 3A [a 2016 production at Windy City Playhouse directed by Parson and featuring Clark as an actor]. In that play, we brought on Rachel Fleischer, who’s an amazing fight director and intimacy designer.

WARDELL | You’re an artist who goes out and finds other artists who are great in their disciplines and brings them to your work. Where did that start, and why do you like doing that?

RON | Intimacy designer was a term that I never heard. WARDELL | Seeing that paradigm shift over the last maybe 10 or 20 years, not just collaborating with a fight director or fight choreographer, but now a violence designer or intimacy designer, what do you think about where we are? We clearly know that it’s for safety of the artists involved, and that environment has been abused like every other environment has been abused. RON | Yeah, I feel like it’s a needed thing, and it’s important that it’s here, and we just have to adapt to that because those are sensitivity issues that happen and need to be dealt with. You have to take that into account now. That’s the climate where we’re at. WARDELL | Yeah, and probably where we always should have been. RON | We probably always should have been. That’s true. WARDELL | Have you had any interest in directing plays that were not necessarily centered on an African American experience?

RON | At the University of Michigan, that was all we did. The black theatre we did was on our own. You know, that’s why I always say that it’s easier for me to direct those plays than it is for a white director to direct a black play because we know white culture. We’re inundated. We studied it. White directors probably didn’t study Lorraine Hansberry, Adrienne Kennedy, Ed Bullins. In Radio Golf, there’s a line in there that Harmon says about always being on the edge—when you get to the center, the rules change and the center becomes the edge. A white guy in the audience didn’t understand what he was talking about. I said, “Any black person in here know what he’s talking about?” They all raised their hands. WARDELL | It’s a soul of knowing. We live in a white environment, in a white society. RON | Exactly. All the time. That’s why when people say, “Well, I don’t see color,” well, you need to see color. You need to see who I am. Let’s talk about activism for a minute. WARDELL | Okay. RON | I did some productions at Roosevelt University here in Chicago a while ago. One of the women I worked with I saw recently. Now, these productions were I don’t know how many years ago now. This was in 2000, maybe? I didn’t really recognize her at first, but she came up to me and said, “You were at Roosevelt and you did a play called That Which Is Me,” which is a play we put on together as a group. I had Malcolm X in there. I had Amiri Baraka. I had some European, Indonesian, Puerto Rican characters. In That Which Is Me, we did a thing where we played a recording of the spoken word poem “Niggers Are Scared of Revolution” by the Last Poets. And we played it in darkness. The audience had to sit and listen. Then we did a kind of African slave ship thing. They were forced to watch that and couldn’t escape it. Sometimes we need to do that. We need to show people. When I was your age and younger, that was what we did. Those are the type of things that I really enjoy. That’s the way you can be an activist and get your work out. That’s why we’re doing this.

OPPOSITE TOP Allen Gilmore, James T. Alfred + Alfred H. Wilson in Radio Golf at Court Theatre, directed by Ron OJ Parson PHOTO Michael Brosilow MIDDLE AnJi White + Kelvin Roston in Sunset Baby at TimeLine Theatre, directed by Ron OJ Parson PHOTO Lara Goetsch LEFT Jerod Haynes, Alfred H. Wilson, Tyla Abercrumbie, A.C. Smith + Jacqueline Williams in Gem of the Ocean at Court Theatre, directed by Ron OJ Parson PHOTO Michael Brosilow

SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

M Y H O P E I S. . .

Community, Representation + the Changing Chicago Aesthetic AN SDC ROUNDTABLE MODERATED BY CHAY YEW

Last fall, eight directors gathered with Chay Yew in a rehearsal room at Victory Gardens Theater to discuss what it means to be a director in Chicago and the qualities that make works feel truly representative of the city’s unique theatrical landscape and history.

AB O UT THE PART I CI PAN TS DEVON DE MAYO recently directed

HENRY GODINEZ is Resident Artistic

CHIKA IKE is a freelance director

HALENA KAYS is Co-Founder of Barrel of Monkeys, a previous AD of The Hypocrites, and an Artistic Associate with The Neo-Futurists Theater. She is an assistant professor at Northwestern University and a proud Union Member.

the world premiere of Jenny Connell Davis’ The Scientific Method at Rivendell Theatre and teaches at the University of Chicago and Loyola University.

and producer. She is also an ensemble member with the Gift Theatre Company and the Director of the 4802 Play Development Residency Program.

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

Associate at Goodman Theatre and a professor at Northwestern University, and recently directed Last Stop on Market Street for Chicago Children’s Theatre and The Children’s Theatre Company.

CHAY | Why did you choose Chicago to create theatre? Why not New York, LA, Prague, or Seattle? What was the moment when you said, “This is it. I love creating work right here in Chicago.” CHIKA | I grew up in Indiana, and I didn’t actually see theatre in Chicago or know about a theatre city outside of New York until college. I remember seeing Tracy Letts’ Three Sisters at Steppenwolf, directed by Anna Shapiro. But then I saw Ora Jones on stage in that show and thought, “She is up there doing Chekhov and she has the same hair as me, so that must be a good sign.” A black woman was on stage at one of the most reputable houses in the country (this was right after August: Osage County) and was making an author I had studied at school completely relatable. I thought, “I’ll move here. This will be fun.” HALENA | I was drawn to this idea of a workingclass theatre world. When I was in undergrad at

Northwestern, I got to be in a production of The Children’s Hour at Shattered Globe. The women who played the leads were astounding to me. They all got back from their jobs at 5:30 and grabbed food and went to the theatre by 6:00. They were grown-ups, and I felt, “Oh, that’s a whole different world of making work.” I am so drawn to this idea that anybody can do this if you work hard. DADO | My undergrad was in Los Angeles, and I was an actor and a director. I was really unhappy with the kind of jobs I was auditioning for in LA, so I looked at New York and San Francisco, and found it was much the same. But in Chicago, I realized they were doing plays on Tuesdays in an attic in the afternoon. So I figured I’m going to get work here eventually. GUS | I was definitely drawn to the just-go-outand-do-it sort of thing. It seemed to me that in other major cities, you have to tie yourself to a larger institution and work your way up the

ladder just to get the opportunity to try and create something. In Chicago, it seemed like you didn’t need to go through the major institutions to be able to make work. DEVON | I think for me it was the idea that Chicago was where ensembles happen. I was coming from Southern California, and I went to college in Ohio at a school that didn’t have a big theatre department. So I just wanted to go find my people. I wanted to find artists I wanted to work with and then begin my career, rather than saying, “I have a vision for my career,” which feels like how it works in other cities. GARY | I grew up in Rockford, about 90 miles from here. I used to come into the city, and I started seeing what were essentially Broadway tours. But after a while, I started learning about the other theatre that was happening here. I saw some work at Steppenwolf and I was really blown away by it.

GARY GRIFFIN has directed more

DADO GYURE is a Chicago theatre/ visual artist and an ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre. She recently won the Edes Prize from the University of Chicago. Her experimental theatre collective is: c a K e.

GUS MENARY is a theatre director

CHAY YEW is a director and

than 20 productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, as well as at Lyric Opera, Victory Gardens, on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and at the Stratford Festival and Donmar Warehouse. He has won 10 Jefferson Awards for Directing.

and Artistic Director of Jackalope Theatre.

playwright. He has been the Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater since 2011.

SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

I did do an internship in New York when I was finishing my MFA in the mid-’80s. I knew I wasn’t going to move there, but I was fascinated by it. It was a good thing for me to learn about what goes on there. DEVON | When did you know you weren’t going to move there? GARY | I’d seen enough work there and I was too impatient. I don’t have the kind of patience I think you would have to have at 25 to start a career in New York. And the acting work that’s done by an ensemble was really what I’ve always been about. That’s still true. HENRY | I was trained as an actor too. We started a company called Teatro Vista because we were finding all these great Latino plays that nobody was producing. We went to the National Museum of Mexican Art because my buddy Eddie Torres, who co-founded the company, his teacher had just started this museum and said, “I’ll give you money to do a play, but you have to do a Mexican play.” So we found this awesome play called The Crossing by Hugo Salcedo that I directed. I had directed a play in college, and nobody else in the company really seemed to be interested. That’s how I became a director. CHAY | So what defines Chicago theatre? From my own perception, a large part of our identity is ensemble theatre. Is there an aesthetic that defines the Chicago theatre experience?

GUS | I feel like when Chicago theatre is at its best, there’s a certain artistic trust that people have with each other, because we all lift each other up and hopefully lift the work up together. There’s a little bit of that Wile E. Coyote “Don’t look down or you’ll fall” kind of thing. If we all believe together, then this thing can continue to rise. HALENA | Part of why that’s possible here is because we’re not distracted by getting jobs in film or TV. I don’t think that’s true in a lot of other markets where there are other reasons for being on stage. In Chicago, for better or worse, that’s it. It’s your six-week run, and there is no other thing but the art. DEVON | I think the idea that we just do theatre whether we have the resources or not feels like the Chicago aesthetic. But as I was thinking about this earlier, I was also mourning a little bit the loss of Redmoon and the loss of The Hypocrites, and thinking about what the Chicago aesthetic is right now. DADO | It’s hard to sense what the aesthetic is because it is shifting so quickly. It’s exciting, but I don’t feel that it’s at all stabilized in a way that I could articulate. GARY | I could have told you really easily when I got here, because it was very much American. Naturalism. It was Sam Shepard, amongst every group. There was no Shakespeare company. There was nothing like Lookingglass or Redmoon. The diversity of work has grown incredibly. GUS | When we started Jackalope, we were all very much in love with Sam Shepard’s plays. Americana. What we now refer to as white guys yelling at each other.

“We’ve got to continue to nurture new voices, and we need to see representation where we don’t expect it.” – Henry Godinez

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

CHAY | Throwing chairs. GUS | Something about your father. CHIKA | People in their twenties being mean to each other. GUS | We came out of Columbia College really wanting to do these types of dusty plays, but when we started producing—literally, it feels like the first second that we started doing it—we were like, “Oh, we don’t want to do this.” Not only has this been done before, but we realized immediately that what was traditionally thought of as American and Americana was no longer synonymous with the real American identity. CHAY | When was that shift? GUS | We started in 2008. HALENA | I was thinking about the Chicago aesthetic as far as why, sometimes, when Chicago plays go to New York, people respond so viscerally. The firsthand knowledge I have is when David Cromer brought Our Town to New York. Here he was just doing it for a love of this play and the people. He was far along in his career already. I remember that as a lesson of Chicago theatre, that when you love something, find your friends and make the thing. Everyone went into that just to make that play, not to go to New York. And that is unique and something that I think New York audiences responded to when it got there. CHAY | Is there a flip side to ensemble theatres? GARY | I think depending on what the rules are with the ensemble, it can be a conflict between casting the play the best way possible or making sure the ensemble is cast. HENRY | Eddie [Torres] was an intern at Remains Theatre, and they also had an ensemble. His job was to read all these plays. When a Latinx play would come across his desk, he’d show it to the artistic team, and they would say, “Yeah, it’s a great play,” but [they] couldn’t actually do it. Martha Lavey, God rest her soul, I would send her plays, and when she was at Steppenwolf, she would say, “Yeah, I think it’s a great play, but we don’t have ensemble members to fill this play.” CHAY | Being a part of an ensemble can be a wondrous thing. Working with artists whom you have known for years adds much to the process and production. I’ve seen this in many ensembles here in the city. To Gary’s point, there are times a part can go to an inappropriate ensemble member. I find ensembles extremely “exclusive,” and I do mean the two interpretations of this word: special and exclusionary. Ensembles can be very tribal. I’m more interested in intersections and connections. I believe an ensemble member who collaborates with other ensembles can learn something enlightening in their practice. Who

Chika Ike + Henry Godinez

knows? A new aesthetic can be born, or their ensemble aesthetic can evolve. When I first started at Victory Gardens, an interviewer asked what kind of plays I liked. I said, “I’m not really into realism.” Soon after, I got calls and emails from artists and Victory Gardens ensemble playwrights saying, “What do you mean you don’t like realism? This is what we do here.” HALENA | You were also taking over an established theatre where there were expectations in a different way, which is different than the experience of “I’m 23, I can do anything.” With younger directors in Chicago, even if the work is mediocre, people are like, “This might be something.” We had an easier time on certain levels [when I was just starting out]. But it goes in waves too. I feel like there was a period of time where the joke was that everyone in Chicago had a clown company. CHAY | Really? HALENA | There was a time when I thought Chicago was going to be the physical theatre capital of the world. HENRY | Plasticene. DEVON | Midnight Circus. HALENA | When I saw Plasticene as a young artist, I changed everything I wanted to do. CHAY | Sounds like there were many theatre companies that were diversified in terms of aesthetics, and we’re also acknowledging that some of these companies are slowly disappearing. What does it mean? What remains? DEVON | For me, I feel there’s a really strong focus on diversifying the voices that we have on our stages, both in terms of actors and playwrights. That conversation feels so alive and so important and so powerful, and it’s great. But the thing I am mourning a little bit is the conversation about innovating forms. That conversation has quieted.

GUS | The innovation, to me, feels like the narrative of the shows, the voices being represented, the viewpoints being explored. That feels like what that frontier is right now: finding the unique voices. The “director as god” role where the vision and creativity flow downward is becoming less common. In Sam Mendes’ “Rules for Directors” article that was in Vanity Fair in 2014, he says if you want an ego trip, direct film. Theatre is a writer’s medium and an actor’s medium. I like that. I view being a director like being the conductor in the symphony. When you’re going to the Boston Philharmonic to see Yo-Yo Ma play, you’re probably not going to know the name of the conductor. Unless you’re a really big classical music nerd. That’s neat to me. HALENA | There was an article I read in the Tribune bemoaning that there wasn’t more experimental theatre, and my response was, “Well, you won’t send your big critics to see it.” It’s not being written about. Fewer people are seeing it, so fewer people are learning how to see it. Like you, Chay, changing the ethos here and what kinds of stories are being told. You had to do it in a way that brought everyone along. HENRY | We just finished New Stages Festival at the Goodman, which featured seven readings of new plays as well as a production of Mendoza by Los Colochos Teatro from Mexico City. Mendoza used a folding metal table and four metal folding chairs, and a lot of imagination and ensemble work. The lighting, as simple as it was, was incredibly evocative and powerful. It’s like every beat was reinventing the ensemble, and there was intimate connection, investment in the audience. I started thinking, what if instead of commissioning playwrights, theatres would instead commission a team of designers and actors and a playwright and say, “Here’s a room. Here’s some money. You have a year. Go.” DADO | I like that.

I did my masters abroad, so I was studying in other countries and came back to Chicago with all this energy about what I was seeing over there. I wanted to rip plays apart like, why do we need plot? What is structure? That conversation has really quieted.

GUS | One thing that I noticed about Chicago is the intimacy of the shared viewing experience. Hearing you talk about that show reminds me of the productions I see at A Red Orchid Theatre, and how intimate they are, but how world-class the theatre being presented is. A lot of us are working in smaller spaces and maximizing what we can do in that. To achieve that level of artistry within a small space feels unique to Chicago.

CHAY | Do you think that the companies are not doing enough innovative work? It’s the eggand-the-chicken situation because sometimes theatres respond to audience preferences. Is there a unique way that the Midwest, or Chicago in particular, responds to narratives?

DEVON | The quality of acting and design and direction, if I can say it, is really impressive in a 50-seat house. It’s not like that is compromised work. The quality is just as good as the big theatres in Chicago. A lot of times, the same artists are working in both places. CHAY | You are saying that intimate theatre is an aesthetic.

HENRY | It always has been. The first play I ever did in Chicago was Kabuki Medea at the old Wisdom Bridge on Howard Street—150 seats. GARY | We often will get that thing too when a show has been seen in New York and then it comes here. You often hear that it’s better here because it’s intimate. CHAY | I started out as a playwright, and my entire directing career has been devoted to new work. As a new play director, a large part of our practice is interpretation. In collaborating with a living playwright, we create a physical, kinetic world in concert and tension with the text. Personally, if the audiences can see my hand, [I feel] I’ve failed. But another reality for me, as a director of color, has been that I’ve never been asked to direct a classic play (except once at Oregon Shakespeare Festival), nor a white play. I’m glad that this is changing for the next generation of directors of color. Recently, I’ve been exploring the reinterpretation of classics. In terms of your own directing life, where do you think you are now? What else do you want to do? What’s next? HENRY | I also have been very blessed to work with a lot of good plays and with a lot of playwrights, and it’s been a wonderful, wonderful thing. But I am feeling more drawn to classical works that say something that I have a very strong response to. I feel a little bit like a traitor because I’ve always been so devoted to playwrights. CHAY | We evolve, we change. HENRY | I feel like now new plays are the work of the next generation of directors. DADO | My graduate work was in Chicago, but then I went to Poland. I went to the Boska Komedia Festival because I felt like I had to see these experimental Eastern Europeans. I saw 15 plays in five days and it was really helpful. It did help me come back here and make me feel like I could push the envelope a little. I also did this thing where I got my MFA in visual art. I didn’t want to be around the theatre. I didn’t want to talk to actors. I think that helped—it was like going to a chiropractor for an artist. They put me in a studio; I was very isolated, and it’s lonely. There is no green room. There is no bar. I was sad, but it was so helpful. I’m not saying everybody should do it. CHAY | When I first worked in Chicago at the Goodman in 2006, I remember seeing a Time Out magazine cover with the question, “Why are Chicago theatres so white?” I thought it was thrilling that a publication was taking the theatre community to task. Where do you think we are with equity, diversity, and inclusion now? Do you think we are doing more? What are your SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

thoughts on this? In your practice and at your theatres? HENRY | Well, it was pretty rocking in here last night at the ALTA Awards [held at Victory Gardens on October 8]. We had 300 Latinx theatre artists in this building. Twenty-eight years ago, when we started Teatro Vista, you could hear the crickets when you talked about ethnically specific theatre. It’s not perfect right now, and there’s still a lot of work to do, but just the sheer quantity of individuals is awesome. And young people of all kinds, from musical theatre people to costume designers to actors and playwrights. Twenty-eight years ago, we couldn’t even begin to dream of that. We just wanted to put on a play, and have an audience that would come and see it. I think now the new frontier is that we have to keep doing what we’re doing, in communities and in mainstream theatres at the highest levels. I feel that way about playwriting. We’ve got to continue to nurture new voices, and we need to see representation where we don’t expect it. HALENA | Most of the theatre that I was drawn to when I first got here in the late ’90s was mostly white people. The Neo-Futurists, the Annoyance Theatre, these were amazing companies messing with form. It didn’t occur to me at that age, because I was so entranced by how subversive the work felt. But that changed in me over time. I’ve thought a lot about how our city is laid out, and historically where people live and come from. It’s almost that despite these structures, the theatre community is helping to fight that history in a way that I find really exciting. But I think it’s super challenging because the segregation in this city is a harder thing to overcome. You don’t even think of the ways, like where your theatre company rehearses, where you have meetings. It’s all based on where people actually live and do their work. What makes us who we are is also what has harmed us, I think, in such a strong way, as far as different people coming together to create theatre. DEVON | I think that one of the things that has to happen next, from a very subversive standpoint, if it’s all right, is that leadership has to change. I think that is the next step for how we do diversity and inclusion better. We have to have new leadership, if for no other reason than new voices will bring new ideas. I am somebody who likes the British model of artistic directors turning over every 10 years or so. I think that’s admirable because it means that they are moving in and out of freelancing and then moving into leadership. I think that that is healthy for the art. GARY | We’ve been watching this progress of institutions growing. I stepped away from a

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position about a year and a half ago for this very reason, because I could see that the conversation was not going to improve until other people were involved. DADO | I feel very encouraged academically, because at University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul, it looks like diversity is improving. It feels like they are making great strides to balance things out in a way that is representative of the country and of the world. Now, I have this really interesting straddle where I also work at this tiny little liberal arts college in Northwest Indiana. A lot of my students there aren’t even college students—they’re these kids from a high school in Gary, IN, who are learning Introduction to Performance. What I find has been very valuable is to immediately show them two of my very favorite artists in Chicago, William Pope.L and Theaster Gates, who happen to both be African American and work in more urban areas in Chicago. Right away, my students recognize the neighborhoods. Some of them have even been to the Stony Island Arts Bank, so it feels accessible and they feel included in the conversation. GUS | One thing that I’m trying to do is ensure that people on my creative teams are hired diversely. It’s not uncommon to see a production with a playwright who is a person of color, but literally every single person on your production team is white. A lot of times it feels like we’re just trying to get the art at the same level as the people that we’re all hanging out with at the bar. CHAY | Any more observations about equity, diversity, and inclusion in Chicago that you feel should be challenged and changed? CHIKA | How do we make lasting change? A lot of times I feel like the conversation ends with a change in artistic leadership, and I’m like, “Where else can we go? What is the next model of art?” GARY | I’m constantly curious about how much you’re including the audience in the conversation. I don’t think an audience is as connected to the mission as we want them to be. And I think, why is that not happening? And sometimes the audience says, “Well, I used to love this and now I don’t feel like going anymore.” We want to expand, and that’s okay if we lose some people. But I’m hearing questions about this. The audience is wondering, “Why am I not being better communicated with about [a theatre’s evolving mission]?” CHAY | I’m not of the belief that directors are automatically qualified to run theatres. Some of the best artistic directors have been producers and dramaturgs. I challenge our current theatre leaders in Chicago to groom and mentor the next generation of leaders, especially people of color and women. I’m doubtful our ensemble theatres will experience meaningful leadership change if they keep looking for leadership from within their own ranks. Then it’s just musical

chairs with the usual suspects. Diversifying your ensemble and producing plays of color don’t automatically make your theatre equitable or inclusive. Your artistic leadership also needs to reflect the same values. Otherwise, it’s still colonialism. What about gender parity in Chicago? What more needs to be done? HENRY | I was on a panel last year with Karen Zacarías and Jose Luis Valenzuela, and all three of us were blindsided by some young Latinx folks in the audience whose lived reality and view of diversity and inclusion wasn’t about race anymore. It was about gender. All three of us in a way had this odd feeling like we were in the way. Or somehow we didn’t see that in our long-term fight around diversity we had neglected gender. DEVON | I was talking to a friend who is in her mid-thirties, and she moved away from Chicago and was pointing out a ton of our peers who have moved away. There’s a feeling, especially for women, this sense of there being nowhere else to go unless you leave town. If you want to be a leader of an organization, if I want to move up in academia, there is a bottleneck that feels like these jobs are just held on to indefinitely, and you can only freelance for a small amount of money for so long—especially as I just had my second child. The bottleneck is particularly strong for moms who direct. I have seen and felt that a lot in the past couple years. I think that is a gender issue because I see that that is where the rub is happening. I’d also like to pull back and say that board leadership is also a part of the EDI conversation. If there was gender parity on boards, I feel like that would change the conversation. GARY | Right, because I guarantee you every major regional theatre that’s searching right now for an artistic director is saying they want to look at people of color and women. DEVON | The board members don’t reflect that. GARY | I think when it comes down to it, the board is like, what New York credits do they have? HALENA | When you’re early in your career, you can do anything. I didn’t sleep. I worked 100 jobs. I loved it. Then I procreated—huge error in my career in Chicago, because then time became money, literal money to pay a human to look after another human while I work. And sometimes that’s “work” in quotes. Nobody wants to say that because we don’t want people to stop hiring mothers, but for me that’s the reality of women leaving Chicago at a certain age. Because it’s just not tenable any more. CHAY | Do you think it’s true for other cities as well?

HALENA | Probably. I think the gender parity issue comes up everywhere. Eventually, money and time become an issue.

maybe that is part of the rule. And with new work, it’s often: do I have a relationship with the playwright?

CHAY | In an ideal world, what would you need to function both as parent and artist?

GARY | August really stipulated that he wanted his plays to be done by African American directors. I respect that. God, I would kill to do an August Wilson play, but whether I’m right or not, that’s just selfish. But I’ve been asked to do things that are far from my own experience. Paula Vogel said it wasn’t important that the director of Indecent be Jewish. She was more concerned about the musicality of the artistry, and finding the right person to tackle that aspect of the show. I tend to trust and believe the playwright. But I think there’d be nothing more boring for me than a play that’s generally about the life I live.

HALENA | The theatre needs to look at our work environment in a way that other industries do. The theatre thinks we’re so progressive, but we’re so backwards when it comes to this. I mean the places that I’ve pumped milk in my life are so foul and not private I can’t even tell you. And while I can say we’re taking a 20-minute break because I’ve got two boobs, theatre isn’t structured for the realities of parenting. We all work a six-day-a-week schedule and it’s beautiful, but it’s very challenging. And that’s true for men that have families, too. I have a whole standup routine of the guy, and I’ve seen this literally, who brings his baby to rehearsal and everyone’s like, “You’re amazing!” I brought my baby once and people did not respond that way. GUS | What a hero. HALENA | What a hero this guy was. And I was pretty unprofessional that day. GUS | I was at the TCG Conference two years ago in Portland, and I remember there was talk of the sea change happening at several theatres. I remember a white woman stood up and was like, “I’m just worried about being replaced by a young person of color.” I remember being like, “Wow. You really went there, lady.” There’s a part of me that thinks that maybe at a larger level that leadership shift is happening. I hope it’s also because audiences are shifting. CHAY | There have been some directors who say that certain plays need to be directed by certain people. For example, a play written by a woman has to be directed by a woman and a play written by a certain artist of color has to be directed by someone in that community. What are your thoughts on this issue? DEVON | I think it’s case-by-case. I don’t think there should be a blanket rule. I know for myself I will probably never direct August Wilson, and that is okay. I will appreciate and love those plays. But there are other plays by African American artists I would love to direct, and I would make the case that I am exactly the right person to direct them. So I just think it depends on the play. CHAY | Are there plays you shouldn’t direct? Is there a “rule” we should abide?

HENRY | I think generalizations are dangerous, period. I certainly don’t ever want someone to say I can’t direct a Shakespeare play because I’m not British, or I can’t direct Sam Shepard because I’m not white. CHAY | You’ve had that said to you? HENRY | Yes, but not to my face. But I do think it’s hard. I wonder if August was that insistent because he understood that opportunities for African American directors were much fewer and farther between than for other directors. I think in general, when a story is so particular to a community, it stands to reason that a director from that community will be able to help usher and flesh out the story with lived, personal experience. That said, I think Lisa Peterson can direct a kick-ass version of Electricidad [Luis Alfaro’s adaptation of Electra at Center Theatre Group in 2005], and I would never say that she couldn’t. So I think that while we have to always make sure that opportunities are there for people that are

underrepresented, we have to continue to envision a day where theatre can just be theatre. CHIKA | I wonder if part of the conversation is the question of who is in your room? Who are the casting agents, theatre schools, literary offices, etc. thinking of? Because that’s who you’re pulling from. Especially as a young freelance director—this is very selfish, but one of the only ways I can move up is through working with living playwrights. Sometimes I do question, “Why that particular director with that particular playwright?” It’s complicated, but it’s also part of a larger conversation to me on the nature of theatre in America, and who has access where. HENRY | Something that I think is true about Chicago theatre is that here you can go to almost any theatre and, at some point, get to talk to the artistic director and say, “I have an idea.” Sometimes you can say, “Hey, there’s this awesome young director, and I really think you should know her.” CHAY | Are we saying that we have a directing community in Chicago? I know all of you. I’ve seen most everyone’s work, but we haven’t all found a way to collide more frequently, more collectively. Why is that? Is it geography or time, given that Chicago directors work all the time? GUS | Facebook also lies to us, because it makes us feel like we are all connected, but really we are just connecting with avatars of each other. I think that you see it when we are together, even if that’s at the bar or at the ALTA Awards, or people making fun of the Jeff Awards at the Jeff Awards. That’s the Chicago theatre community. That feels real to me.

“We just do theatre whether we have the resources or not.” – Devon de Mayo

DEVON | Well, August Wilson is writing for a community that I am not a part of, so I think his plays deserve a director from that community to honor who the work is intended for. So, Halena Kays + Dado Gyure

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HENRY | That’s what I miss most about going to bars and being an older adult person with a family and all that. I envy you. I remember those days.

CHIKA | My hope is that theatre artists can continue to find homes for their work and for themselves. I hope for sustainable models of theatremaking for the new Millennial generation.

GUS | It’s probably true in every big city, but my god. The great conversations you have in bars and the people you see from other shows and other companies.

DEVON | I hope that we have a Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright in the next five years be a Chicagoan. Because I think our playwrights are incredible right now and that should happen.

GARY | I think we also assume that anybody who’s been here for a bit of time must be one of us, or they would’ve already left. I’ve brought actors to Chicago because I thought they would love that experience. I’d work with them in New York or Williamsport, and I could tell they would die for the experience of working in a Chicago ensemble. I think it’s important that we share that. If we identify people that are like-minded, that we bring them here.

HENRY | I hope that we can, especially in Chicago, have conversations about things like legacy, and representation, and resist the temptation to be vicious in the meantime.

CHAY | What hopes do you have for our community? Where do you see Chicago theatre in five to 10 years? GUS | I hope we jumpstart that new audience we talk about. I hope that every generation finds that connection and/or continues that connection upwards. Because the work is going to continue to get better and better and better. And I hope that there are lots of people to see it happen.

HALENA | I agree with Henry. There is a kindness and an empathy that you can have for the experiences that the artists before us have had. This is an ongoing conversation, and I feel like Chicago can remain a community that draws all of these young artists to it. And I hope that we can sustain those artists so that they don’t go away when they turn 35. CHAY | My own struggle with theatre is we often preach to the converted, people who share the same belief system as us. I’m wondering if there’s another model in Chicago where we can invite other people, who may not vote nor believe in the same God like us, to experience a theatre work with us. We can feel, laugh, breathe together in the same space. We don’t have to

agree, but the fact that we can sit together and dialogue about what we saw could be a potential shift in making us more unified as a country. GUS | At a show recently, I overheard someone saying, “Oh well, how could you humanize these types of people?” Meaning really terrible people, and I just remember thinking, “That is literally what we’re supposed to be doing.” We’re trying to engender empathy. I don’t feel like I’m gonna change anybody’s mind about something, but maybe I can have them recognize a shared humanity. GARY | Doing plays is not getting easier for me. It’s more challenging, more frightening, more demanding. It doesn’t get easier at all. GUS | Oh. Good to know, good to know. GARY | I always find I have a lot more to learn. You have to embrace that. I love doing work more than I ever have, but it’s not easier. It’s more worthwhile. CHAY | Thank you all for your time and incredible thoughts on the state of our art and craft.

“I challenge our current theatre leaders in Chicago to groom and mentor the next generation of leaders, especially people of color and women.” – Chay Yew

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Chika Ike, Devon de Mayo, Halena Kays, Chay Yew, Gus Menary, Dado Gyure, Henry Godinez + Gary Griffin PHOTOS Laura Alcala Baker

DISCOVERING THE WORLD THROUGH SHAKESPEARE’S SOUL A N I NTE R V I E W WI TH B A RB A RA G A I N ES BY TYRONE

PHILLIPS

Chicago Shakespeare Theater Founder and Artistic Director Barbara Gaines has worked tirelessly to bring Shakespeare to the city of Chicago, creating an illustrious organization that reaches more than 225,000 audience members each year. She has directed more than 30 of Shakespeare’s plays at her Tony Award-winning organization, including this spring’s production of Hamlet. Recently, Gaines sat down with director Tyrone Phillips (associate director on Hamlet, Artistic Director of Definition Theatre Company) to talk about her unplanned turn to Shakespeare and the remarkable career she has built as a result. TYRONE | How would you start off talking about who you are and what you do? BARBARA | Well, I probably wouldn’t begin with work—but with my family. I have two brothers, a sister, a niece and three nephews, a 90-yearold aunt, and a bunch of cousins. I have a Labradoodle and beloved friends…and I’m lucky enough to be the founding Artistic Director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where I get to work with an astonishing group of people. TYRONE | Do you remember your first experience of theatre? The first time you saw something? BARBARA | Yes, I do, actually. I remember a few seconds of one moment when I was two or three years old. The family was in a restaurant and, apparently, no one was watching me. I remember standing on the table, singing songs from South Pacific. That was my first theatrical experience—I think I liked the attention I was getting. And then in the summer I’d put on plays in the backyard with all the kids in the neighborhood. So in a way, I was directing or being bossy from very early on.

blessing because I learned how feeling excluded could be used toward creating positive energy. I studied political science, English lit, world history, and other liberal arts. And today I use it all every day, and I’m so grateful for that part of my education. I had no idea then that I was going to have anything to do with Shakespeare in my life— everything, everything is connected to Shakespeare. Then in my senior year, a miracle occurred—I took a Shakespeare class—and the professor believed in me. In a way, when I look back, that’s when my destiny began to be fulfilled. When I was young, we lived in a suburb of New York City and I was afforded the honor of seeing Broadway shows. I was incredibly lucky, being

TYRONE | And when did you first say “yes” to theatre? BARBARA | When I was in high school, I had a passionate teacher who gave everything to her students. She believed in me, and with her energy I had permission to dream. At college, there were far more talented and prettier theatre students—so I felt ignored by the powers that be. All that turned into a major

Barbara Gaines in rehearsal for The Taming of the Shrew PHOTO Joe Mazza SPRING SPRING 2019 2019 || SDC SDC JOURNAL JOURNAL

“AS WE CHANGE, SHAKESPEARE’S THOUGHTS CHANGE WITHIN US. THEIR MEANINGS DEEPEN AS WE GO THROUGH LIFE. THE CANON IS A LIVING, BREATHING ORGANISM—IF WE ALLOW IT IN.”

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Bruce A. Young in Troilus and Cressida, directed by Barbara Gaines PHOTO Liz Lauren

given opportunities that most people never receive. TYRONE | Was it easy for you to say to your parents, “I’m going to school to study theatre?” BARBARA | Yeah, there was no problem at all. You had the same response, didn’t you? TYRONE | Same thing. I remember I went downstairs, dreading telling my mom that I was going to do theatre. She said, “I already knew.” BARBARA | What do you suppose it is about all artists or directors? Our need to tell stories? What’s at the root of our need? TYRONE | For me, it was always about the interconnectedness of everyone—about “If you’re better off, I’m better off.” BARBARA | That’s an enlightened thought—I wish the world were more like that. So perhaps that’s why we’re here, to tell stories and, through them, create empathy and light within a dark world.

gift for me and, in a way, for the city of Chicago. I taught that class for over 10 years—10 years of exploring the canon with sensational actors by my side, teaching me more than I could ever teach them. And I fell in love with the process of discovering the world through Shakespeare’s soul. And I suppose you could say that was the unofficial beginning of CST. We all wanted Chicago to have a home base for Shakespeare. Many hearts gathered to fulfill that dream. As my knee recovered, the acting jobs returned, but after a few years of doing double duty with teaching and acting, my need to act atrophied. Teaching and organizing our first few shows took over my life, and in 1986, our first production on the roof of the Red Lion Pub was born. And since that time, there hasn’t been a second when I’ve thought that this theatre doesn’t belong within this culturally rich city. TYRONE | Why Shakespeare?

Shakespeare fills many needs: trying to understand why people behave as they do, learning to keep unpeeling the onion of life, and to keep digging for truth under the surface.

BARBARA | It goes back to why you love theatre, because of its interconnectedness. Shakespeare was an entertainer. He knew how to hold an audience’s attention. And he has the most astonishing range of human sympathy. He never judges his characters, he just observes them, with all their faults. He lets us do the judging. And those “ingredients” create great theatre.

I’ve directed Troilus, Cymbeline, and Lear three times each, and there wasn’t an hour within any of those rehearsals where I didn’t learn or see something I’d never recognized before.

TYRONE | I love that. I was wondering, because I’m a young director and artistic director, for you, what was the biggest difference, going from actor to director, or director to artistic director?

It’s all about what you said, Tyrone. It’s all about connecting one soul to another until we realize that our humanness makes us all family.

BARBARA | The biggest difference going from actor to director was in needing to communicate to an entire team. I had to inspire many more people and hopefully bring them on board, revealing their talents to the fullest. Collaboration is a joy, and being in the room with people at the top of their game is an honor…and lots of fun.

TYRONE | How did Chicago Shakespeare Theater come to be? What were the first steps? BARBARA | Between 1976 and 1980, I was acting in New York, doing a lot of commercials and voiceovers—I was quite blessed in that area. However, my love of theatre wasn’t being fulfilled despite performing in several Shakespeare workshops. When I look back, it’s easy to see that my destiny wasn’t in New York but in Chicago, a place where I had loving friendships and a healthy career. It’s a place where dreams can come true, a place with an open heart. Then in 1980, when I moved back to Chicago, I had to have a third knee operation, and this one kept me from walking for about 18 months, and my bank account was down to just a few hundred dollars. The only thing I could do was coach actors, and then one day a student asked me to teach a class. I’d never thought of teaching Shakespeare until that moment. TYRONE | So then you continued teaching? BARBARA | Yes. Thankfully, she agreed to be the first student of that class, and then eleven more actors signed up for what would become a

Regarding the change from director to artistic director—that’s more subtle, because I never planned on being an AD—my goal was to find someone to take that job. I searched for a few years. Every time a famous actor would come to Chicago, I’d ask if they wanted to take over the theatre, and each one would ask me how much money was involved. I’d say, “Well, so far we haven’t raised any.” And so I was pushed into it by a lack of funds. We were broke. I thought, what am I supposed to do? It’s only been for the last few years that I feel like I’m beginning to get a grasp on it all. The job keeps changing as time does, and in 32 years, our staff went from one to just under a hundred, plus artists. It’s a joy surrounding yourself with talented people, both on stage and off. One of the most important things now is to nurture the art, and to keep both art and the institution healthy. Tell me more about how your theatre came to be.

TYRONE | I always wanted to start a theatre, but it was actually born out of a passion project. Julian Parker and I produced a workshop performance of [Tarell Alvin McCraney’s] The Brothers Size that later got a full production in Chicago, and that was the beginning. I remember sitting in my college bedroom—there were a few of us—trying to pick the name. We decided to call the company Definition Theatre. BARBARA | Why’d you pick “Definition”? TYRONE | We were drawn to the fundamental principle that theatre is supposed to hold a mirror up to the world we live in. It was very apparent that the American theatre was failing in that responsibility. We have to celebrate the differences in all of our cultures. That is the only way we will move beyond issues of race. There is a lot of work to be done to refashion who theatre is for and the types of people who are working on and off all of our stages. On stage is getting a little better. BARBARA | Yeah. But certainly not off stage. Absolutely right. TYRONE | And so our hope is that if the people on and off stage represent our world, then our audience in turn will naturally grow the same way. And so far, it’s actually been happening. BARBARA | But, of course, once you define something, you have to redefine it. TYRONE | You have to stay in it. I think of all the artists I’ve looked up to who have made a difference in this world. They’ve made it only because they kept working on their craft. Even when no one was looking. And then, one day, it happened for them. Someone discovered them, whatever that is. But staying in it is about making sure you know your center so that when you do get that attention, you know who you are, right? BARBARA | Right. That takes a little time, doesn’t it? TYRONE | How has your directing matured over time? BARBARA | I’d like to think I’m a better listener. A better sifter of thoughts. And hopefully I can inspire my collaborators so that our work has meaning for them and for Chicago’s audiences. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the work created light within many hearts? One of the directing lessons that I’ve learned over the years is the power to say “I don’t know” to a question. Now, I say, “I don’t know…what do you think?” And no matter what level of talent is in the room, the same thing happens. There’s this spark of electricity that inspires the team to ask more profound questions—it lets THEM take possession of the moment, the character, and/ or the play. SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

No matter how many times I’ve directed Shakespeare’s plays, I still don’t feel like I’ve gotten them. Do you know why? Because as we grow, we change. You’re not the same person you were six months ago. As we change, Shakespeare’s thoughts change within us. Their meanings deepen as we go through life. The canon is a living, breathing organism—if we allow it in. If we can be true to ourselves and grow despite the fear of change, his texts evolve with us.

TYRONE | We listen to a lot of people. Especially the playwright, right? The play speaks to you.

TYRONE | That’s what it is, yeah.

TYRONE | I 100 percent agree with that.

BARBARA | The third time I directed Troilus and Cressida was at the beginning of the war in Iraq, and I was angry because that war was built on lies. During a talkback after the show, a 17-yearold student stood up and said he understood the show. He was going to be joining the army after graduation and, if he went to Iraq, he understood that our leaders probably wouldn’t care whether he lived or died. Well, he got the play.

BARBARA | Some of the best advice I ever received came from a set designer, Michael Merritt, early on in my career. We were putting up King John in 1991, and I had staged this battle scene behind barbed wire, with lots of smoke and special effects…and suddenly, Michael waved me to his seat and said, “Barb, what’s that scene about?” And like a stroke of lightning, in a flash I realized, “Oh my god, you’re right! It’s about nothing now…”

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that you can’t predict what anyone in the audience will take from a performance. All souls are different—we need and feel different things. And that’s to be celebrated. It’s part of the mysticism of Shakespeare’s work. That 17-year-old received 400-year-old impulses that made the play completely relevant to his heart. TYRONE | Do you remember the first show you directed when you felt like, “I know what I’m doing”? Like you were confident walking in the room at the beginning of the process with a very clear vision? BARBARA | By the time I move into that room, the overall vision is quite clear. I see the play in my head as if it were a movie. Images float inside, and many of them are there on opening night. Of course, the moment-to-moment work always changes depending on what actors you’re working with. The first day of rehearsal, I’m always quite nervous…like most everyone else around the table. Confidence in myself? I never think of that, but confidence in Shakespeare— always. A certain degree of nervousness is quite helpful—a good dose of anxiety can be good for the soul and keeps you present. TYRONE | And honest, right? BARBARA | Yeah. Present and nervous. That’s good. And to know that the actors are feeling exactly the same way keeps you humble. That’s a good example of why laughter is important in all rehearsal rooms. Having a good time, giving everyone time to speak, creating an ensemble, and listening are vital assets when trying to create. It sounds so easy saying it. It’s another thing to do it well. Yes, it’s a humbling experience.

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BARBARA | Yes, be it Shakespeare or Verdi or a contemporary playwright, if the story is compelling, the storytellers will need to communicate. For those of us with an overabundance of energy, we need to corral that energy into listening and weaving all the threads into a tapestry. I don’t learn as much when I’m talking. Right?

“IT’S ALL ABOUT CONNECTING ONE SOUL TO ANOTHER UNTIL WE REALIZE THAT OUR HUMANNESS MAKES US ALL FAMILY.” TYRONE | It’s just smoke and barbed wire. BARBARA | Yes. I realized it wasn’t connected to telling the story…it was flash without a soul. So I figured out how to connect it. Every element must have a damn good reason for “being.” The questions designers, actors, and audience ask are essential for making a show stronger. Michael made me a better director because he was always asking questions. The joy of collaboration (I’ll try not to romanticize it), when everyone’s there working toward the same goal—there seems to be a sacredness about those moments. People giving 100 percent of themselves professionally and often spiritually. That doesn’t mean the play’s going to work. It doesn’t mean I’m going to feel good about it all. It just means we’re doing the best we can. All of us at this singular moment in time sharing the best part of ourselves to make a show. I love that, the creation of that. That’s the instigation of a creative life force. I don’t think any of us will ever “finish the hat.” TYRONE | What is it about Chicago that made you want to build your career here?

BARBARA | To be honest, I didn’t think about building a career. I thought about paying my rent and feeding my golden retrievers. The career developed without much consciousness. It just seemed to unfold. Why Chicago? I went to college here and had treasured friends. When I was in New York, I missed them, I missed the lake. The city. My priorities started to change. It was about enjoying the moment and had less to do with career needs. Strangely enough, when I was searching for a reason to go back to Chicago, I realized that one of the biggest changes I looked forward to was the fact that I could have dogs if I lived in Chicago. I made a commercial in New York about six months before I left—it was for a dog food with a golden retriever and her puppies. I spoke to the breeder that day and ended up buying one of those pups. That was my ticket home. My entire life made sense once I realized I could come back here, I could be with the people I loved and have a lifestyle that would make me smile every day. TYRONE | Why do you do theatre today? What is it that keeps you coming back to it? Because you could leave, at any moment. BARBARA | No, I couldn’t. I’m not capable of leaving theatre. They’ll have to kick me out. And if they do, I have a plan. TYRONE | A vacation plan? BARBARA | I’ll teach Shakespeare. I’ll teach Shakespeare wherever I can, because he is a civilizing influence in this world. TYRONE | Yes. BARBARA | His works contain the greatest range of human sympathy the world has ever known… with the possible addition of Dostoevsky. When you and I were in Chicago’s parks last summer with the theatre’s free Shakespeare program, we traveled to neighborhoods across the city. You and the rest of the cast created such a positive energy, not only on stage but also out among the audience, that everyone was there, together, enjoying that experience. We saw the spectrum of humanity watching Shakespeare. And those little ones, inching toward the stage to sit in the very front so they could get as close to the actors as possible, were touched by magic. Like Shakespeare himself when he watched plays as a young child—and just like billions of others have down through time—theatre weaves its spell, as we mortals are pulled into the center of a story. At its core, theatre is about community. Theatre allows people to see that we’re all part of the family of man. That we are, in truth, brothers and sisters. And then your dream—what did you say it was about at the beginning of this conversation?

Karen Aldridge in Tug of War: Civil Strife, directed by Barbara Gaines PHOTO Liz Lauren

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TYRONE | About seeing our fellow man. The other. If you’re better off, I’m better off. BARBARA | That happened this past summer in Chicago’s parks. Let’s be better off—together. Those of us who desire to communicate through art-making, it’s our sacred trust not to give up. You can lighten another’s load. You can bring joy into other lives. You can change a life. Why would we stop that? Why would we?

BARBARA | Hopefully I’ve been encouraging the cast since moment one of our first rehearsal, so opening night would be a part of that continuum. The discoveries, cathartic moments, and bumps in the road usually create a unique tapestry from the inside out, so we remember the process, and hopefully treasure that time together.

At times, we all feel discouraged. You give yourself to a show and nobody comes. Agony, right? I was 10 years old when I read a story in Life magazine about the first African American umpire in the major leagues. I was so touched by his story, and I remember one thing he said: “It’s not how many times you get knocked down that counts. It’s how you get up.”

Letting go of a show is one of those necessary losses. Some shows are easier to let go of than others. But actors need to be rid of the director and all the notes that go along with the ride. The cast must fly beyond us so that they can soar. That’s truly a wonderful thing to see and feel. That’s a gift to us, to watch them soar. Just imagine sitting on Montrose Beach: if you take sand in your hands and squeeze it real tight, what happens?

TYRONE | It’s how you get up.

TYRONE | It’s gonna fall.

BARBARA | It’s HOW, not THAT, you get up.

BARBARA | The sand just gets squeezed out of that hand. But if you gather sand and hold it very loosely, much of it stays within. You keep that sand. In letting go of a play, there may be an “ouch,” but seeing the play lift off the ground more than makes up for it. And what don’t we have to learn to let go of?

TYRONE | So you’re in tech. The show’s about to open. What do you do to encourage your cast? Or how do you step away? How do you fully give the show over?

Barbara Gaines next to a poster for Henry V, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s inaugural play in 1986 PHOTO c/o Chicago Shakespeare

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TYRONE | Right. Everything. BARBARA | We learn to let go of people, places, jobs—and eventually we let go of our own lives. But there can be a beauty in it, too. Here’s a quote that’s guided my life…and it’s not from Shakespeare: “When one loves life, one welcomes change, because love always seeks different ways of giving of itself.” TYRONE | Wow, who said that? BARBARA | Sean O’Casey. It’s a good one, isn’t it? TYRONE | Yeah, that’s everything. BARBARA | Love always seeks in new ways.

“COLLABORATION IS A JOY, AND BEING IN THE ROOM WITH PEOPLE AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME IS AN HONOR…AND LOTS OF FUN.”

TOP Barbara

Gaines + Karen Aldridge in rehearsal for Loves’ Labors Lost

BOTTOM Barbara

Gaines with James Vincent Meredith + Sean Fortunato in rehearsal for Measure for Measure PHOTOS Liz Lauren

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Making Musical Theatre in Chicago A CONVERSATION WITH LILI-ANNE BROWN, LINDA FORTUNATO + ELIZABETH MARGOLIUS MODERATED BY MOLLY

MARINIK

While Chicago might be best known for its straight plays, the city also maintains a strong and growing musical theatre scene, partly due to the artists who passionately produce musical works for Chicago’s audiences. To learn more about the great musical theatre being made in Chicago, dramaturg Molly Marinik talked with theatremakers Lili-Anne Brown, Linda Fortunato, and Elizabeth Margolius about what it takes to bring musicals to the stage and why it’s so important to reach gender parity in the stories that are told and among the artists who are telling them.

Lili-Anne Brown is from Chicago’s South Side. Her next season includes directing new plays by Ike Holter at Goodman Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse, and the musical The Color Purple at Drury Lane Oakbrook.

James Romney + Jonathan Butler-Duplessis with ensemble and orchestra in Big River, Theatre at the Center, directed by Linda Fortunato PHOTO Guy Rhodes

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Linda Fortunato is Artistic Director at Theatre at the Center in Munster, IN. She also works as an actor, freelance director, and teacher (Columbia College Chicago, Loyola University, and others).

Elizabeth Margolius is a stage and movement director. Her most recent production, The Scarlet Ibis, opened at Chicago Opera Theater in February and her next production, Queen of the Mist, opens with Firebrand Theatre in May.

MOLLY MARINIK | How do you identify as musical theatre artists? I know you are hyphenates in the sense that you do lots of things, so I’m curious how musical theatre plays into your artistic careers.

LILI-ANNE | I don’t know about “makes itself available,” but I do know about being pigeonholed.

plays, but all with the knowledge that finding the musicality and movement of any piece is one of my strengths.

MOLLY | That’s a better way to say it.

LINDA FORTUNATO | I consider myself, as you say, someone who wears many different hats, and I am certainly not exclusively in musical theatre. I am probably about 50/50 musical theatre and straight theatre. I started as an actor and then branched into choreography, then directing, and now sort of balance between all three.

LILI-ANNE | Yeah, I do know about being pigeonholed as a musical theatre person. Not that a musical theatre person is a bad thing to be. I love telling stories with music. It’s my favorite thing. If you see a play of mine, I will have found some way to put music in it. But I don’t like that people want to stick you in one genre. Especially when it is a more difficult genre to navigate. I think with musical theatre, or really anything that’s a smaller market or a specialization, so to speak, now you’re dealing with less work and a crowded field, perhaps.

MOLLY | I’m curious about how your work as a director of straight plays informs your work as a musical theatre director.

LILI-ANNE BROWN | I’m pretty much the same thing. I started out as an actor, primarily doing musical theatre when I started, but obviously not exclusively. I was in a lot of different companies and I was doing casting a lot—I was the casting director at a theatre that did a lot of musicals, but not all musicals. Then I was an artistic director of a company that did straight plays and musicals but was more known for the musicals. Now I do both. ELIZABETH MARGOLIUS | I also started out as an actor and singer/flautist, and moved into directing some years ago. I almost exclusively direct musicals, opera, and operetta, although I’ll direct a play once a year or so. MOLLY | Do you find that, as Chicago artists, once you moved into the musical theatre world you became known as that type of artist and the work made itself available to you because people identified you in that way?

LINDA | I would agree with that, and I think just because you do one doesn’t mean you don’t want to do the other. I think that’s part of the pigeonholing. Some people want to specialize in only plays or only musicals, but I think in Chicago, there’s more room for crossover than maybe some other places. I feel that it happens with actors as well. When I first moved to town you were either a musical theatre actor or you did straight plays. And there was very little crossover. Now, healthily and happily, that is less true. ELIZABETH | When I first began directing in Chicago, I feel it helped to have a pretty singular focus in contemporary/new musical work. As the years have gone on, I have opened up that focus and have been asked to work on opera/operetta/

LILI-ANNE | They’re not binary like that to me. I treat all the work the same. LINDA | I agree. I don’t approach them any differently, personally. ELIZABETH | I agree as far as the material. I think whether it’s a play or a musical or an operetta, I approach it all the same. MOLLY | How does musical theatre function in Chicago? It’s such a bustling theatre scene, with the storefront theatres and this amazing artistic community. How does musical theatre play into that? LILI-ANNE | This is good, because I think you’re going to get three completely different viewpoints. I have found that because musical theatre costs three times more than straight plays do, already we’re dealing with a situation of having fewer producers and needing to have a certain kind of access to space. Musical theatre generally needs more space—not always—but you do have to think about musicians and sometimes space to dance, if that’s in the show. You need a proper space that is acoustically sound. You need a space where performers can safely dance.

“Some people want to specialize in only plays or only musicals, but I think in Chicago, there’s more room for crossover than maybe some other places.” – Linda Fortunato SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

committed to producing, encouraging, and developing new musical work. It does seem like there’s less of that now. There certainly are those theatres doing their best to put money toward development, but it’s risky, and I definitely wish there were more. I think the bottom line is that the “larger” theatres feel they must cater to their audiences—and sometimes that means another revival of that musical everyone has heard of. MOLLY | In support of the musical theatre community on the whole, can you talk a little bit about the resources that are available?

Rashada Dawan, Emma Sipora Tyler + Tyler Symone in Caroline, or Change, Firebrand Theatre + TimeLine Theatre, directed by Lili-Anne Brown PHOTO Marisa KM

Khaki Pixley in Haymarket: The Anarchist’s Songbook, Underscore Theatre, directed by Elizabeth Margolius PHOTO Evan Hanover

not only based on size and on budget but also on location and audience and accessibility, that allow artists to put their own stamp on how they do musical theatre, which I find very exciting. It’s not just 20 commercial houses that are recreating Broadway productions. ELIZABETH | Absolutely. That’s my experience as well. Most of my work in musical theatre has been in the storefronts of Chicago. To me, the storefronts are doing some of the most exciting work. It’s the storefronts that are often more open to approaching musicals in new ways and will take a chance on a new piece no one has ever seen before. That for me has been so exciting because it gives more opportunities to theatre artists when they’re just starting out and beyond.

So it’s about resources, right? It’s a smaller field and sometimes can be a very money-driven field that one has to navigate. But not always; there’s storefront too, and that’s what’s really exciting. I’ve almost exclusively done storefront musical theatre and tried to make that great and high quality. Because before, it was exclusively the province of these large suburban houses. Once in a while, one of the larger houses would do a musical. Then there were these few—you could count on one hand—smaller storefront companies that were doing musicals. I think it’s definitely expanding now. LINDA | I would agree with that, and I also think that—exactly what Lili-Anne was saying about the accessibility, about the availability, about where you’re doing the musical—really informs how you’re going to do the musical. That is part of what’s really exciting about musical theatre in Chicago: it is not just cookie-cutter, one brand of musical theatre. There are different companies,

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MOLLY | Do you feel, with the larger lens on opportunities to create musicals, that people are gravitating toward developing new work? Or that they’re reviving the things they’re interested in that have already been produced? LILI-ANNE | In Chicago, we definitely don’t have enough new musical work. It’s because of that money factor we were talking about. I think people are risk-averse, and producing new work is considered “risky,” and so creating new musical theatre is considered even more risky and a lot of people don’t want to spend the money and take the chance. There just isn’t a lot of development of new musicals. I think we all lament that. LINDA | Absolutely. ELIZABETH | A decade ago, when I was first moving into all of this, there seemed to be more opportunities for working on developing new musicals. Maybe that was because there were more places in Chicago that were solely

LILI-ANNE | Well, Elizabeth and I work with Firebrand Theater, which is exclusively musical theatre. It’s feminist musical theatre because when Harmony [France] started the company, she wanted it to have a feminist mission. I think many women in theatre had been having conversations about the Bechdel test, and Harmony wanted to really put that through some rigor. So Firebrand is about a love of musical theatre, but putting women at the forefront, to be behind the table and on the stage in majority numbers. ELIZABETH | To add on to that, as far as Firebrand goes, the company is also willing to consider musicals that may not be often produced. Lili-Anne just directed Caroline, or Change, and I’m directing Queen of the Mist next spring. So I could bring Harmony several different shows on my wish list that many theatres wouldn’t even dream of considering. MOLLY | I imagine that as Firebrand was getting started, you all had conversations about the lack of feminist musicals out there. Was it beyond what you anticipated? LILI-ANNE | Oh, you have no idea. I remember a particularly hilarious Facebook post that asked, “What are musicals about women?” or, “What are feminist musicals?” Just to see what people would say. It got a hundred or more responses. People would say things like, “Nine. Because it’s all these women and one man.” We were like, “No. You don’t understand. The whole musical is about that man. So that is not a feminist musical.” Even the concept people didn’t grasp. I think it takes a lot for people to start understanding what putting women first and putting them at the top even means. MOLLY | With the idea that step one is just getting people to recognize what a feminist musical means, what are the longer-term goals of where the Chicago musical theatre scene can go with all of that newly awakened awareness? LINDA | At this point, my affiliation with Firebrand is simply as an enthusiastic audience member, and I’m friends with many of the fabulous artists who are creating what’s going on. So for me, not having been a part of a company but having watched the company start

to develop and succeed and be doing really exciting things expands the conversation for everybody. Not every theatre in the Chicago community is going to change what they’re doing, but maybe there’s an awareness. As people are selecting seasons, there might be a thought of, “Oh, but what about this show?” or, “Oh, if we’re going to do a Golden Age musical, how about a show that has a woman character who is not just there because of the man?” LILI-ANNE | I think showing the teams makes a difference too. Caroline, or Change is the first allfemale team that I’ve ever worked with or even seen in my whole life. When we all had our first production meeting, everybody looked around and said, “This has never happened in my career.” I just hadn’t seen anything like that.

hiring women, C: I’m mentoring women. And I’m hiring women who are also mentoring women. So it’s like, “Let’s get them all in.” During Caroline, or Change, people kept asking me if they could bring friends to rehearsal. I said, “Come one, come all.” You never knew who was going to turn up. And it was fine—we got everybody’s permission who was in the room, and everybody was comfortable about that and excited. Sometimes you’d look around and there’d be someone in the corner just watching what we were doing and getting the vibe. I think it’s exciting that people wanted to experience what was happening and get inspired. ELIZABETH | Definitely, I would agree with that. Mentoring is so important to me. Supporting women who are working to become working directors—as well as performers, designers, etc. I also think that having stories about strong, unique, multifaceted women makes a difference. I hope it does.

I’ve watched many men give space in a way that felt purposeful. You’re watching it and you’re like, “Oh, I can watch this man’s wheels turning.” I can see him think, “I need to shut up right now,” or, “I need to step aside and give the field to these women.” I’ve really watched that dawn on people both on stage and behind the table. And that’s really great. It’s a good feeling. MOLLY | Thank you for articulating that too. That’s a really fantastic secondary bonus. LILI-ANNE | Yeah, a secondary bonus, but we need that, right? As in, that’s who’s going to make the change. If men are dominating or holding the purse strings, or in charge of a lot of institutions and they can’t make a mission change, then we’re stuck, yeah? So if we make the change and then spread it out, I mean, that’s allyship.

MOLLY | That’s really encouraging and very exciting. I bet it was so rewarding to work on Caroline, or Change in that environment, too.

ELIZABETH | I also think we don’t know what we don’t know, a lot of the time. I’m still thinking about how Nine was suggested as a feminist piece, because on the one hand, I understand the idea that, “Oh, it’s primarily a female cast, so of course…”—forgetting that the entire piece revolves around a man. I wonder if a woman suggested Nine. I think there are some people who maybe just don’t have a comprehensive understanding of all of this. I am still learning myself. I just think it’s a lot more complicated and layered than we might realize. If that makes any sense.

LILI-ANNE | I think we work a little differently.

LINDA | I bet it was very empowering.

LILI-ANNE | It makes all the sense, Elizabeth.

LINDA | Shh! You’ll share the secrets.

LILI-ANNE | It definitely was an amazingly supportive and energized vibe in that room. I felt the same with Marie Christine. I think when there’s a show that is led by a woman in a purposeful way and that is really focused on a woman, a female character or female characters, you can really extract an energy. Even from men, that changes them. I have found the process to be transformational for the men who are in it also, and I find that really moving too.

ELIZABETH | Wow, that’s huge. LILI-ANNE | Yeah, to even have it be a majority of women is great. LINDA | I directed a production of The Tin Woman at Theatre at the Center two years ago. The design team, TD, production manager, and director were women. We did the same thing when we sat down in the production meeting. Not that we work any differently as a result of it—it’s just really refreshing to be able to have all of those voices in the room at the same time.

MOLLY | Can you talk about the advantage of cultivating the careers of women in theatre? In addition to putting focus on the idea that women are valuable players in the industry, how does your own work support the community at large? LILI-ANNE | For me, it’s mostly about mentoring. How my work supports the community at large is A: there’s an example being provided, B: I’m

I’m so accustomed to being surrounded in the room by a lot of men—especially in the opera world, where I think it’s much slower as far as change goes. There are predominantly men in the room. I want to believe that it’s slowly changing, as far as how we’re seen and how we’re treated—all of it.

Colette Todd + Gilbert Domally in Next to Normal, Boho Theatre, directed by Linda Fortunato PHOTO Amy Boyle

LaKecia Harris in Haymarket: The Anarchist’s Songbook, Underscore Theatre, directed by Elizabeth Margolius PHOTO Evan Hanover

“The storefronts are doing some of the most exciting work. It’s the storefronts that are often more open to approaching musicals in new ways and will take a chance on a new piece no one has ever seen before.” – Elizabeth Margolius SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

“I think it takes a lot for people to start understanding what �� and putting them at the top even means.” – Lili-Anne Brown

Harmony France + Sydney-Charles in Dessa Rose, Bailiwick Chicago, directed by Lili-Anne Brown PHOTO Michael Brosilow

LINDA | I think it’s among the audience, as well. An audience might not realize, “Oh, I haven’t ever seen a musical with a woman as the central character,” or “I haven’t ever seen something told from this perspective.” And maybe it’s conscious, maybe it’s not.

LILI-ANNE | I’m from Chicago. I love Chicago. Like Linda said, community is the key word. I think that any time people talk about Chicago and Chicago theatre, you hear the word community over and over because we just have such a strong sense of that.

ELIZABETH | Absolutely. And it’s tough. You try not to judge and realize that we can make a change by just suggesting someone look at things differently. That’s a great thing.

ELIZABETH | I was born and raised on the East Coast, but I always say that I grew up and continue to grow up in the theatre in Chicago. People have been so supportive and giving with opportunities and advice and mentoring. It’s just a great city to do theatre in. It really is.

MOLLY | Why do you love being a director in Chicago? What do you get out of the community that is special and unique and important? LINDA | There’s a lot. Chicago is a very supportive community. Although it’s a very large theatre community, it feels small. You’re always just one step away from someone else, whether an actor you’ve worked with or a previous collaborator. You’re seeing shows of people you know, you’re crossing paths with people whose work you’ve admired, and that makes it really rich to have that closeness within the community. And as a result, I feel like it’s a positive place to work. I have seen it happen that people who have an ego or a negative “It’s all about me” attitude— they don’t last that long here. It’s really about the community. That’s why we do theatre, because it’s a collaborative art, and we can’t do it by ourselves. That’s what makes it so rich.

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LINDA | The other thing I love about Chicago is the differences in the theatres, the institutions. That from the storefront theatre to the large houses with large budgets, there’s such a varied scope of what’s done here. And I think that that variety informs the work. I know for me it does. When I’m directing a show at a storefront theatre that maybe doesn’t have as many resources, as opposed to thinking of those things as obstacles, the thing I love is to embrace them. Okay, so we can’t have projections. Okay, great—how do we tell this story? It distills things down to storytelling, which is why we do it in the first place. It forces you as a director, as a designer, as an actor to really focus on the storytelling. And then, when you take that mode of thinking to a larger theatre that maybe has a larger budget and more resources, you’re still looking at things from

that “Let’s tell this story” place, which is hopefully how you’re always looking at things. I think that because Chicago has all those levels of theatres and institutions, it really affects the way we tell stories. LILI-ANNE | I think I’d like to see more women running theatres that are doing musical theatre. Because right now, is it just Linda and Harmony? I think so. So there’s that. I didn’t want to leave without having said that. Because that’s important to me. We are in a field that is more expensive and I think that has always affected who’s in charge and who’s on the staff—and therefore who’s picking the material and what they pick. So when you look at why we even need to have this conversation and why we get to celebrate now at the beginning of a change, it is because of patriarchy and because it’s affected musical theatre more than any other genre of theatre. And I think that has a lot to do with money and who’s trusted with that much money to be in charge of how it’s spent. ELIZABETH | Agreed. I will add that Underscore Theatre also exclusively produces new musicals and is being run primarily by women. So, it’s happening—one theatre at a time. LILI-ANNE | That’s great to know. That’s awesome.

Marie Christine, BoHo Theatre, directed by Lili-Anne Brown PHOTO JC Widman

SDC JOURNAL PEER-REVIEWED SECTION The following is a timely chronicle of the recent International Black Theatre Summit in September 2018, which commemorated the original 1998 “On Golden Pond” conference organized by August Wilson and colleagues at Dartmouth College. As co-editors of the SDC Journal Peer-Reviewed Section (SDCJ-PRS), and also members of the conference planning committee of the 2018 Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference, we were thrilled when SDC Member Nicole Hodges Persley suggested the PRS publish a chronicle of the historic summit, organized by Monica White Ndounou—also a vital force in shaping the 2018 ATHE Conference. As we referenced in our last issue, both Monica and Nicole, along with SDC’s Laura Penn, sat on a main plenary of the conference: “Revolutions in Pedagogy and Practice,” addressing with leaders in the academy and the profession the many revolutions underway and needed in the teaching of theatre in higher education. This plenary event was a small part of a larger project led by Monica White Ndounou called “Overhauls in Theatre Training,” which includes work with TCG, Black Theatre Network (BTN), and the major summit event covered here. We were delighted to be able to highlight this important follow-up to the topic of the plenary, and this was particularly exciting since, in one of the inaugural pieces in the Peer-Reviewed Section, Harvey Young, President of ATHE, covered the original 1998 summit in his essay, “Sustaining Black Theatre” (2015). We are very pleased that the Peer-Reviewed Section of the Journal has the opportunities to publish work by these important artists and scholars in black theatre. Please look for an article on black directors and choreographers by Tome’ Cousin in an upcoming issue of this section. INTRODUCED + EDITED BY

ANN M. SHANAHAN + DAVID CALLAGHAN

A Play by Play of the International Black Theatre Summit: Breaking New Ground Where We Stand, The 20th Anniversary of “On Golden Pond” at Dartmouth College BY NICOLE

HODGES PERSLEY, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS + MONICA WHITE NDOUNOU, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Naomi Agnew, Professor Stephen V. Duncan, Lydia Diamond, Kathryn Bostic, Dr. Nicole Hodges Persley PHOTO Dr. Monica White Ndounou

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INTRODUCTION NICOLE HODGES PERSLEY: As an SDC Member, I want to document my experiences working with Monica Ndounou (Associate Professor, Dartmouth College) who organized the International Black Theatre Summit which took place September 26–29, 2018, at Dartmouth College. In this piece, Monica and I chat about the summit and share our notes in a “play-by-play” style that aims to walk readers through the event and the work that it did to connect international black theatre practitioners and scholars across institutional and professional spaces. We move back and forth in dialogue to take readers back through the summit and to share plans for moving forward by identifying new futures for black theatre practitioners and scholars.

Lexi Warden, Roger Guenveur Smith, Jackie Alexander, Sharon Washington PHOTO Eli Burakian

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MICROPHONE CHECK: THE MOMENTS BEFORE NICOLE HODGES PERSLEY: When Monica had the idea to reconvene the original meeting of August Wilson’s “On Golden Pond” Black Theatre Summit at Dartmouth College in 1998, I knew that I had to be a part of it. She invited me and Ekundayo Bandele, Artistic Director of the Hattiloo Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, to be a part of the executive committee of the conference. As an African American Artistic Director of a black theatre in Kansas City (KC Melting Pot Theatre) and as a black female director, the opportunity to engage with peers doing similar work with similar struggles promised to be very impacting. Working on the executive committee allowed Ekundayo and me to be a part of a larger think tank and support system for Monica. We helped her to brainstorm ideas and topics as she produced the event with support from Dartmouth College and her nonprofit organization, The CRAFT Institute. So, Monica, how long did you have the idea and how did you formulate the executive committee? MONICA WHITE NDOUNOU: I followed August Wilson’s creative work and advocacy for a long time, so I heard about the 1998 summit when it happened, although I did not attend. With the twentieth anniversary approaching as I accepted my faculty position at Dartmouth College, I knew it was time to reconvene. Having the blessing of gifted costume designer Constanza Romero, August Wilson’s widow and literary executor of his estate, I moved forward with the planning. Dr. Victor Leo Walker, one of the original conveners, has in many ways been a mentor from afar, as his careful documentation of the original event was instrumental in helping me think through the foundations. I wanted to create an executive committee with different skill sets to connect and to help me think broadly. I eventually added Keryl McCord (Equity Quotient), who was a member of the executive committee for the original 1998 Black Theatre Summit, along with Anthony Meyers (NYC Cultural Affairs). This committee helped me create the African diasporic network that I introduced in my book, Shaping the Future of African American Film: Color-Coded Economics and the Story Behind the Numbers (Rutgers UP, 2014), to serve as the infrastructure for the conference and for future connections across platforms. Many of the speakers I invited to the conference were in conversation with one another leading up to the event. One month before the summit, I delegated assignments to my core committee members in the following working group areas: 1) Black Theatre Circuits; 2) Film and Media Connections;

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3) Cross-Cultural Collaborations; 4) Capitalization/Business Matters; 5) Education/Training; 6) Activism. I knew that I would need people to help me realize my vision of walking away from the conference with actionable outcomes, so I asked Keryl McCord (Capitalization/Business Matters and Education/Training), Linda Parris Bailey (Black Theatre Circuits and CrossCultural Collaborations), and Jonathan Clarke (Film and Media Connections and Activism) to collect outcomes from each of these six areas. I provided a prompt for each of the working groups to encourage each speaker to identify specific ways their areas of expertise might contribute to an area of the network. The facilitators identified potential areas for exploration in our sessions and gaps that needed to be covered in order to develop outcomes by the end of the summit. NICOLE HODGES PERSLEY: Your plan seems expansive. It’s hard for me to believe looking back on the summit that you did all of it. As you were planning, we felt it might be overwhelming, but I can attest that you set a tone for the summit that allowed everyone to feel welcomed. I feel that you covered so many things that are important to keeping black theatre practitioners and scholars alive and well in this very difficult work that is often done without compensation or legibility in non-black spaces. The summit was pretty life-changing and I feel as if we are now preparing to take on many new projects with more resources. In the next part of our dialogue, I think we should play back the summit and then reconnect to talk about future steps. MONICA NDOUNOU: Sure, but before we do I want to thank everyone who participated in the conception, planning, execution, and ongoing efforts. I appreciate everyone who attended or supported from afar. It truly takes a village to make this vision a reality. Now, what we give here is our recollection of all of the moments over the course of the summit. It was truly inspiring for me as director, actor, author, and educator! I hope providing this recap allows readers to feel and understand how important it is to support and convene scholars and artists of color who have the capacity to cultivate safe black spaces where artists of color can discuss how their work contributes to a larger dialogue about humanity, democracy, and freedom.

WHERE WE STAND—PLAY BACK DAY 1 The International Black Theatre Summit began on Wednesday, September 26, 2018, to commemorate the original 1998 conference “On Golden Pond” organized by legendary playwright August Wilson and Dartmouth

professors Dr. Victor Leo Walker and Dr. Bill Cook. For the 2018 event, Dr. Ndounou welcomed the community and invited guests to the summit. The day started with a series of closed sessions for invited speakers to set the tone for positive, solution-based conversations and strategizing. The tone set in these opening sessions helped steer the event in the forward-thinking direction needed in order to implement the large-scale, sustainable changes necessary to secure the future of black theatre and cultural production across platforms. Key sessions included “Wakanda Forever?: Shaping the Future of Black Storytelling Across Platforms” during which Dr. Ndounou presented her vision of the African diasporic network she introduced in her book. Speakers were encouraged to recognize the ways in which the recent success of Marvel and Ryan Coogler’s film Black Panther (2018) could serve as a model for better understanding the limitations and possibilities of black storytelling across platforms. “Why Not for Profit Theatre?” presented by Roche Schulfer and Marissa Ford of The Goodman Theatre revealed the shortcoming of the not-for-profit business model, which actually fails most theatres, especially black theatres. Keryl McCord of the Equity Quotient presented on “The Urgency of Now” by thoughtfully relating the discoveries of the 1998 summit to her research, which not only identified the limitations of the not-for-profit model for black theatres, but also encouraged rethinking of the ways we conduct the business behind our artistic practices. Those presentations were followed by lunch and a post-lunch conversation. After opening with a song, a discussion ensued about the revelations brought on by the morning presentations and participants’ pre-summit responses. These conversations carried over into the closed working sessions that followed. The afternoon’s closed working sessions were organized by focus areas that served as tracks for the series of panels and workshops tracing themes across the four days. The working groups’ pre-summit activities and Wednesday’s closed sessions helped formulate some of the initial ideas before the conversation was opened to the larger group. This organizing framework enabled the core groups to target areas of exploration that were then introduced and expanded upon in open sessions where all participants were invited to contribute ideas for best strategies moving

Dr. Cornel West speaking with Ekundayo Bandele PHOTO Eli Burakian

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forward. The initial thematic meetings of the Black Theatre Circuit, Activism, Education, Business and Cross-Cultural Collaboration, and Film, TV and Media areas created a blueprint for the remaining days of the summit. Working groups were tasked with developing drafts of initiatives and action-oriented steps that would be presented on the final day; these were edited and revised throughout the event with new information gathered in sessions by student notetakers and group participants. The Opening Ceremonies in the evening allowed for a moment of reverence for the past gathering at Dartmouth in 1998, while setting the tone for the next few days. Special guests, conference attendees, and members of the Dartmouth campus and local communities had the opportunity to hear Dr. Ndounou’s opening remarks, contextualizing the 1998 and 2018 summits as part of a continuum celebrating the artistic vitality of black theatre as well as the critical role it has played in the liberation of black people throughout American theatre history. The Dartmouth Gospel Choir, directed by Walt Cunningham, sang “Glory” from the film Selma (2014), a film in which our keynote speaker, Tony Awardwinning actor, writer, director, Ruben Santiago-Hudson portrayed Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin. After the choir exited and the stage faded to black, lights rose on the podium and an image of August Wilson emerged on the screen as a playback of the original recording of his keynote talk, “The Ground on Which I Stand,” began to play. The audience listened to the entire speech while viewing a slideshow of images from the 1998 summit. August Wilson’s widow and estate executor, Constanza Romero, moderated the talkback panel that followed, entitled “Revisiting ‘The Ground on Which I Stand’ and Ongoing Impact.” The panel featured Timothy Bond (Director and University of Washington), Dr. Sandra Shannon (President of The August Wilson Society) and Dr. Ndounou. This important moment allowed Dr. Ndounou to enliven the goal of the original 1998 convening, which was to examine the state of black theatre in the United States. The 2018 International Black Theatre Summit expanded the goal of the original event by including a global perspective and considering the impact black theatre has on international theatre and black theatrical production in television and film production. The opening day ended with a screening of Black Panther (2018) directed by Ryan Coogler—one of the most successful films in American history, which featured black practitioners in key roles on the production team, along with an all-black cast (most of the principals trained in theatre). The film screening echoed back to the theme of the opening panel “Wakanda Forever”—a phrase from the film that has taken on international significance as a chant of collective black unity—and foreshadowed “Onward!,” the theme for the closing day, which serves as a battle cry in the film.

WHERE WE CAN GO – PLAY BACK DAY 2 The morning sessions on Thursday, September 27 featured several important concurrent sessions, covering topics such as intersectional representation of blackness, understanding casting and critique processes, and capital campaigns to fortify black cultural production. Dr. Indira Etwaroo (The Billie Holiday Theatre and Restoration Arts Plaza) moderated the panel entitled “More Than Entertainment: The Power and Promise of Intersectional Black Theatre Present and Future,” featuring Dr. Habib Iddrissu (University of Oregon), Sade Lythcott (National Black Theatre), Regge Life (Global Film Network, Inc. and Emerson College), and Jovanay Carter (Dartmouth College ’19). The session acknowledged intersectional blackness as an important framework for representation as well as a strategic approach to building a sustained network across platforms. Dartmouth alumna Sharon Washington (Actress/Playwright/Hopkins Center Board Member) moderated an important session on the social and cultural inequities that black actors face in the entertainment industry on the panel entitled “Casting, Critics and the Realities of Working While Black at the Intersections in the Industry.” Actor, writer, and activist Roger Guenveur Smith opened the discussion by critiquing August Wilson’s denouncement of casting black actors in plays by and about white people in “The Ground on Which I Stand,” framing his arguments as part of an ongoing debate. Washington, Jackie Alexander (North Carolina Black Rep and National SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL PEER-REVIEWED SECTION

Black Theatre Festival), and Lexi Warden (Dartmouth College ’20) offered insights on the current state of casting and criticism across platforms, many of which were grounded in education and alternative business strategies. Keryl McCord of Equity Quotient moderated “The Business of Black Storytelling: Why Capitalization and Sustainability Matter” featuring Ekundayo Bandele, Jackie Taylor (Black Ensemble Theater), Marissa Ford (Goodman Theatre), Marie-Claude Mendy (Financial Expert/Investment Banker). The session provided an eye-opening look at innovative approaches to sustaining black theatres by re-envisioning the relationship between artistic production and capitalization. Speakers emphasized the power of story and the ways in which black artists can leverage their content for production support. The afternoon breakout session included a multitude of choices for conference goers, including a screening of Abba Makama’s Nigerian feature film Green White Green (2016) with a post-film discussion with the filmmaker, led by Dr. Jesse Shipley (Dartmouth College, AAAS). Other notable breakout sessions included a Sonic Storytelling Workshop with composer and sound designer for theatre, film, and television, Kathryn Bostic, and a session focusing on Overhauls in Formal Training moderated by Dr. Shannon and featuring Rosalyn Coleman Williams (Actor/Educator/ Chief Creative Officer Red Wall Productions), Eileen Morris (Black Ensemble Theater), Celeste Jennings (Costume Designer/Playwright, Dartmouth College ’18), Roger Guenveur Smith, and Le’Mil Eiland (University of Pittsburgh). In late afternoon sessions participants discussed design and production needs, ranging from collaboration to the need for dialogues between theatre, film, and television unions. Dr. Ndounou moderated a design session entitled “Design Collaborations with August Wilson,” featuring Constanza Romero and Kathryn Bostic. This session provided attendees another point of entry for understanding the development and impact of August Wilson’s plays through the lens of design, while emphasizing the importance of opportunities for designers of color. Dr. Hodges Persley led the session “How to Make Unions & National Orgs. Work for Black Cultural Production,” featuring speakers Emmanuel Wilson (Dramatists Guild), Seret Scott (SDC), Teresa Eyring (TCG), and David Grindle (USITT). The session ended with development of an action plan providing conference attendees and heads of national black theatre organizations opportunities to collaborate, educate together, and build futures with students and colleagues at these professional organizations. The day ended with a showstopping performance of Roger Guenveur Smith’s one-man show, Frederick

Dr. Monica White Ndounou with Stephen McKinley Henderson PHOTO Eli Burakian

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Douglass Now at the Moore Theater in the Hopkins Center, followed by a Q&A with Dr. Ndounou and the artist.

HOW WE GET THERE – PLAY BACK DAY 3 The Friday morning sessions on September 28th allowed for continued conversations focusing on film, tv, and media, activism and capitalization, as well as education. Dr. Persley moderated the panel “Our Stories, Our Future: Film, TV and Media Barriers and Possibilities,” a conversation with Professor Steve Duncan (Screenwriter, Executive Producer, Loyola Marymount University), Lydia Diamond (Playwright, Screenwriter, Educator), Kathryn Bostic, and Naomi Agnew (Dartmouth College ’20). The session examined the cross-pollination between theatre and film production and the various opportunities available to practitioners and scholars to bridge gaps in knowledge and access resources. A session titled “#BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #TimesUp: Activism at the Intersection of Art and Business” began with a civil rights march song featuring call and response with the summit audience led by panel moderator Harold Steward (The Theater Offensive) and Linda Parris Bailey. Following the song, Steward led Dr. Mohammed Ben Abdallah (Playwright, National Theatre of Ghana), Shamell Bell (Black Lives Matter and UCLA), Esther Armah (Playwright/Journalist/Activist), and Jonathan McCrory (National Black Theatre) in an insightful discussion of the ways in which black art can be a healing force as well as a lucrative enterprise. After several thought-provoking questions from the audience, including commentary by Dr. Cornel West, the morning sessions ended with a dialogue entitled “Speaking on The Craft” with Stephen McKinley Henderson and Dr. Ndounou who focused on the importance of culturally nuanced approaches to developing education and training programs which incorporate cultural worldviews that more accurately reflect the demographics of the nation and the world. The early afternoon sessions focused on practical approaches to art production across platforms and national borders. Following a screening of The Hue, Tint, and Shade of Words: Diverse Screenwriters in the Entertainment Industry, Dr. Hodges Persley led a Q&A with the writerproducers, Steve and Jean Duncan (Twentieth Century Fox Films). The discussion illuminated the need for greater transparency by industry insiders on how to navigate the current entertainment system, and the need to create and develop original content that represents the diversity of black experiences. Dr. Shipley moderated the “African Performance Traditions Workshop” led by Dr. Mohammed Ben Abdallah and Dr. Habib Iddrissu. The workshop shed light on the role belief systems play

Paul Carter Harrison, Ifa Bayeza, Keryl McCord, Constanza Romero, Dr. Victor Leo Walker, Dr. Monica White Ndounou, Eileen Morris, Ruben Santiago-Hudson PHOTO Ashley McKinnies FIG 5

in approaches to African performance while also identifying points of intersection with African American history and performance. Dafina McMillan (CRUX) moderated “New Media and Technology in Intersectional Black Storytelling and LGBTQ Narratives,” a lively conversation with James Scruggs (Digital Griot), Jarvis Green (JAG Productions), Steven Fullwood (Independent Archivist/Filmmaker), and Geoffrey Jackson Scott (Peoplemovr) about the innovative ways black artists are using new media, audience development, and archiving to preserve and disseminate intersectional black narratives. In “From Black Theatre to Black Film: The Business Of” moderator Dr. Nsenga Burton (Emory University, The Root) guided thoughtful debates between speakers: Dr. Eve Graves (Clark Atlanta University), Brett Dismuke (SoChi Entertainment), Craig Williams (Red Wall Productions), Robert John Connor, and Jean Duncan. The breakout considered strategies for bridging the divides separating black practitioners across media platforms by bringing together scholars and practitioners working in predominantly white institutions, black theatre, the urban circuit, and academia. The day concluded with an advance screening of George Tillman’s critically acclaimed film The Hate U Give (2018) followed by a Q&A with moderator Dr. Ndounou and Shamell Bell, a consultant for the book and film. The discussion revolved around the role of adaptation in black storytelling, with a specific focus on the film’s approach to documenting and examining police killings of unarmed black people. Keynote speaker Ruben SantiagoHudson hosted a closed salon for students to discuss the intricacies of working as an actor, writer, and/or director in theatre, film, and/or television. It was the perfect transition into our final day for the convening which opened with a multigenerational gathering as the foundation for our future plans.

ONWARD! – PLAY BACK DAY 4 The morning of Saturday, September 29 opened with “The Elder’s Circle: An Intergenerational Conversation for Cultural Insiders” facilitated by Keryl McCord, Linda Parris Bailey, Jonathan Clark, and Harold Steward. Dr. Ndounou welcomed each attendee into the space before introducing McCord, who along with the other facilitators acknowledged practitioners and scholars from the eldest to the youngest by calling each into the elder’s circle. Bailey and Steward led us in ceremonial singing and the pouring of libation in order to welcome the ancestors into the space. We began by pouring libation, first naming all of the members of the executive committee of the 1998 Summit and “On Golden Pond” participants who have passed on since the original convening. We then called the names

of all of the practitioners and scholars in theatre, film, and performance and related media. The ceremony continued with each attendee imbuing the energy of the space with collective consent to embrace the past, present, and future and our places within the continuum. Ashe McCord then introduced Dr. Victor Leo Walker, the only surviving convener of the original summit. Dr. Walker provided a detailed account of how that conference came to be, followed by an acknowledgment of the ripple effects of the event over the past twenty years. The facilitators then called upon surviving members of the 1998 executive committee along with original summit attendees to share their memories of “On Golden Pond” and what they hoped would come out of “Breaking New Ground.” Speakers in this segment included: Ifa Bayeza, Paul Carter Harrison, Eileen Morris, Dr. Shannon, and Idris Ackamoor. “The Elder’s Circle” concluded with our coming together to reunite in a circle with song and communion, as we embraced one another in preparation for the journey we all committed to take beyond the summit. “The Elder’s Circle” fortified the ties between generations and prepared us for the coalition building and community fellowship that the summit cultivated. During the afternoon, the Wednesday working groups reconvened to assess their notes and edit, revise, and prepare their presentations of action steps and outcomes. While the working groups met, summit attendees participated in workshops. Anthony Meyers led the “Leading for a Sustainable Future” workshop for theatre administrators and those interested in leadership. Professor Steve Duncan facilitated a workshop titled “How to Pitch & Write a Television Series,” which gave theatre practitioners an opportunity to learn about the television trade in an effort to bridge the gaps that were revealed throughout summit sessions. Additionally, playwright Mfoniso Udofia led the “African Storytelling and the Obstacles of Freytag’s Dramatic Play Structure” workshop to demonstrate dramatic play structure in the context of African storytelling. All of the workshops were designed to provide a range of practical experiences that attendees could take with them, strengthening and expanding their areas of expertise for the benefit of the African diasporic network. The remaining activities for Saturday were focused on how we move forward. Students engaged in a staged reading of Citrus, a play by recent Dartmouth graduate and costume designer Celeste Jennings. The play, which received full production treatment last spring, focuses on the lived experiences of black women in various moments of U.S. history. Following the presentations, the keynote conversation with Ruben SantiagoHudson and Dr. Ndounou focused on his longtime working relationship SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL PEER-REVIEWED SECTION

and friendship with August Wilson, the recent Broadway production and Tony Awards for August Wilson’s Jitney (the last play of the cycle to be produced on Broadway), and some of the critical next steps for establishing independence in the industry in order to produce a range of work by and about black people. The “Working Groups Presentation of Outcomes & Action Plan” that followed was moderated by Dr. Ndounou. A full report of each of the presentations will be published in the near future and further discussed in greater detail in Nicole and Monica’s forthcoming podcast series, In the Black. The series chronicles new developments in black theatre and performance. Following the working group presentations Dr. Ndounou gave out The CRAFT Institute’s 2018 Awards as follows: The CRAFT Institute 2018 Continuum Awards were granted to the surviving members of the 1998 executive committee for “On Golden Pond” who were in attendance, to honor their work organizing the original event and ongoing efforts to support black theatre and performance in continuum with the historic movements. The honorees were: Dr. Victor Leo Walker, Paul Carter Harrison, Ifa Bayeza, Keryl McCord, and Eileen Morris. The CRAFT Institute 2018 Legacy Award went to Constanza Romero, August Wilson’s widow and the literary executor of his estate for her tireless efforts in securing the legacy of August Wilson. Even while maintaining her own career as a costume designer, Romero continues to advocate for acknowledgment of August Wilson as the only American playwright to have all of the plays in his ten-play cycle produced on Broadway with forthcoming cinematic treatment for each play. The CRAFT Institute 2018 Excellence Award went to Ruben SantiagoHudson for his career achievements as an actor, director, and writer working across theatre, film, and television, as well as for his work as a teacher and mentor to the next generation of artists. Throughout his career, Santiago-Hudson has striven to perform at the highest levels of his craft and encouraged others to do the same, while supporting a collective striving for excellence. In her closing remarks, Dr. Ndounou thanked all of the invited speakers and attendees and encouraged everyone to remember our history, invest in our culture, and believe in ourselves as we move forward with the initiatives that had been announced, recognizing that everyone has something of value to offer the movement. While the invited speakers attended a reception at Dartmouth College President Phil Hanlon’s home, summit attendees continued to connect over meals before the final screening of Blindspotting (2018). The event succeeded in bringing together practitioners and scholars in theatre, film, television, and related media. The follow-up to the convening is in the early stages of planning, even as summit working groups continue to advance specific initiatives. We collectively realized that we must continue to build on the groundbreaking work of the scholars and practitioners who came before as we recognize those artists and scholars in the present who continue the legacy. The collective striving and achievement of excellence in black theatre and performance continues into the future that we imagine for ourselves. Onward! NICOLE HODGES PERSLEY is an Associate Professor of Theatre and the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Kansas. An artist-scholar, Hodges Persley creates intentional bridges between the entertainment industry and academia. As the Co-Artistic Director of the KC Melting Pot Theatre, she has developed the primary incubator for black talent in Kansas City. Hodges Persley is a professional actor and director with credits in theatre, film, and television. Notable directing credits include productions of Rachel, Dutchman, and Sunset Baby. She has published articles and book chapters on Hip-hop Theatre, African American theatre,

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and sampling. Her forthcoming book, Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip Hop Theater and Performance, investigates the influence of Hip-hop and blackness on the artistic practices of theatre and dance artists in the United States and England. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA, SDCS and the National Theatre Conference (NTC). DR. MONICA WHITE NDOUNOU is Associate Professor of Theatre, Sony Music Fellow (2017–2018) at Dartmouth College and Immediate Past President of the Black Theatre Association of ATHE. Also the founder and executive director of The CRAFT Institute, a non-profit focused on overhauling formal training across platforms to more accurately reflect national and global demographics, she has performed a range of roles. Directing credits include new works and plays by August Wilson, Ntozake Shange, and many others. She is the award-winning author of Shaping the Future of African American Film: Color-Coded Economics and the Story Behind the Numbers. Her current multi-media project explores black American acting theories and practices.

SDCJ-PRS BOOK REVIEW Disability Theatre and Modern Drama: Recasting Modernism By Kirsty Johnston BLOOMSBURY, 2016. 228 PP. $29.95 PAPERBACK. In Disability Theatre and Modern Drama, Kirsty Johnston presents disability theatre as a sophisticated field that transcends art therapy and activist approaches to spur imaginative, resonant interpretations of modern plays. The first half of this two-part book gives an overview of critical disability studies, identifies its key issues and precepts, and describes their application to theatremaking. The second half offers in-depth descriptions of such work. Throughout the book, Johnston asserts the necessity of moving beyond depicting disabled characters as capable or helpless, in favor of a more complex representation of characters and actors with disabilities. In reading this text, directors who want to improve their handling of disability will discover concrete, adaptable strategies for subverting assumptions about disability through casting, staging, and crafting inclusive experiences for actors and audiences. “Part 1: Critical Survey of Disability Theatre Aesthetics, Politics, and Practices” contains four chapters that define disability theatre, unpack various casting choices, describe inclusion strategies, and explore script interpretation and new play development. It demonstrates that the notion of disability pervades Modernist works, which in turn shapes public perception. Directors, especially those new to the field of critical disability studies, may find the scholarly syntax of this section confusing. However, perseverance rewards the reader with a nuanced perspective applicable to a range of texts, along with references for future discussions with producers, actors, and design teams. The first chapter offers historical context for the inception of modern drama alongside the freak shows of the nineteenth century and clarifies how the medical model of disability, which perceives physical differences as defects in need of repair, led to the development of cure and inspiration narratives. Cure narratives present the individual’s struggle against

the disability and end in triumph when the character is made whole— for instance, the blind person sees or the wheelchair user walks. The inspiration story shows a character overcoming disability to accomplish an impressive feat. Both narratives centralize the flawed body, and both have congealed into popular tropes. Johnston contrasts the tropes with the rise of disability arts in the 1980s and 1990s, when professional companies began producing work from a social model perspective. The social model locates disability within physical barriers and social biases. Disability-focused theatre companies began creating original works, such as the reimagining of canonical plays like Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, and experimenting with radical casting choices and access features. The examples are electrifying, as when the Extant Theatre, a company of professional visually impaired artists, staged Ionesco’s The Chairs using “a rich sonic environment that unifies the audience” (29). The Denver-based Phamaly Theatre implemented inclusion strategies in staging classic musicals, including “a seeing-eye dog as Toto to guide a blind actor” playing Dorothy in The Wiz, and substitut[ing] clapping for tapping in…their production of Anything Goes” (27). Chapter 2 focuses on casting. Johnston deftly presents a host of interconnected questions containing contradictory answers: “Who gets to be on stage? How does a disabled actor prepare the stage?…How, when, and why does it matter if a disabled character is played by a nondisabled actor? How, when, and why does it matter if a non-disabled character is played by a disabled actor?” (37) She goes on to discuss biases in training programs that privilege non-disabled actors by refusing to make accommodations for students with visual, hearing, or mobility differences, thus perpetuating a lack of trained actors with disabilities. Johnston examines which stories can be told as a result of these practices and how communities might proceed if they lack specific performers with disabilities. She doesn’t offer easy answers as she suggests that different bodies deserve to be seen as ordinary, essential aspects of human variety and the human experience. Instead, she challenges the reader to think expansively with a reminder that “in life, neither love nor greatness is the preserve of the physically perfect” (58). Chapter 3 extends beyond the stage, questioning barriers that people with disabilities might face not only as audience members or critics, but also as offstage workers. For instance, Johnston notes that many buildings considered beautiful “suppress the disabled body from public inclusion” (72). It is a sobering observation that conjures memories and images of offices located high up obscure and winding stairwells of historic theatres without elevator access. It makes one wonder just how much artistic and management talent has been lost over the years due to inaccessibility, in addition to many audience members abandoning the theatre rather than contending with the burden of requesting accommodations.

with a disabled actor as Blanche, as well as Graeae Theatre’s onstage layering of sign language, sign interpretation, and audio description to engage the audience’s multi-sensory involvement in works such as Blood Wedding. Integrating such aesthetic choices within the performances rather than tacking them on at the end allows them to contribute to the world of the play, rather than serve as intermediary devices of sorts. In “Part 2, Critical Perspectives,” the text soars as Johnston incorporates additional scholars and artists such as Michael Davidson, who lays out Samuel Beckett’s challenges to contemporary ideals of independence and agency. Davidson argues that characters in End Game and Happy Days, for instance, “often exist in tragicomic relations of co-dependency that seem to mock communitarian ideals of charity and mutual aid” (111). He persuasively argues that in Beckett—and in life—disability is commonplace rather than exceptional. Ann M. Fox frames Tennessee Williams’ juxtaposition of characters in The Glass Menagerie in terms of our culture’s impact on those unable or unwilling to conform to a narrow set of expectations around earning, spending, and creating nuclear families. Johnston’s interview with Graeae Theatre’s Artistic Director, Jenny Sealey, further details the company’s aesthetic engagement of accessibility strategies. Sealey’s work treats devices such as sign interpretation as integrated, intentional design elements, employing them specifically in every production with the goal of creating an immersive experience for all audience members. The final chapter features the script for a one-act play, Shattering the Glass Menagerie, co-written by Terry Galloway, M. Shane Grant, Ben Gunter, and Carrie Sandahl. In this play, artist-scholars with disabilities place themselves in dialogue with their evolving understandings of the character Laura Wingfield. It crackles with astute, irreverent insight, negotiating The Glass Menagerie in the context of queer thought as well as disability history. Overall, Disability Theatre and Modern Drama: Recasting Modernism provides context for disability aesthetics and how it currently frames the disability theatre debate. The two-part structure establishes a theoretical framework and inspires the reader to follow examples of innovative theatrical practice. Johnston’s effective synthesis of the work of scholars and artists within a compact text offers those new to the idea of disability aesthetics a solid orientation, while providing the more experienced scholar or advocate a succinct overview of current work in the field. Disability Theatre and Modern Drama: Recasting Modernism vibrantly makes the case for placing diverse bodies on the stage in multiple capacities, and additionally suggests strategies for implementation.

AMY LYNN BUDD PURDUE UNIVERSITY

The final chapter of Part 1 draws together previous threads to prove that a truly inclusive theatre, far from being didactic and pity-inducing, actually contains more vital aesthetic resources for the director. Examples discussed include London’s Secret Theatre production of A Streetcar Named Desire

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Published quarterly by Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), the Peer-Reviewed Section of SDC Journal serves directors and choreographers working in the profession and in institutions of higher learning. SDC’s mission is to give voice to an empowered collective of directors and choreographers working in all jurisdictions and venues across the country, encourage advocacy, and highlight artistic achievement. SDC Journal seeks essays with accessible language that focus on practice and practical application and that exemplify the sorts of fruitful intersections that can occur between the academic/scholarly and the profession/craft. For more information, visit: http://sdcweb.org/sdc-journal/sdc-journal-peer-review/ SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL PEER-REVIEWED SECTION

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T HE I N AUGURAL G O R DO N DAV IDSO N AWAR D

When Gordon Davidson passed away in 2016, the theatre community lost a giant, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) decided to honor his memory in a way that would continue the work he began more than a half century ago. Sheldon Epps, Lisa Peterson, Warner Shook, Chay Yew, Neel Keller, Tom Moore, and SDC Executive Director Laura Penn stepped forward, with his family’s blessing, to form a committee. All agreed that an award in Davidson’s name that recognizes a director or choreographer for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in the regional theatre nationally—the Gordon Davidson Award—would both honor Gordon and support the work of future artists.

On September 22, 2018, SDCF presented Oskar Eustis, the Artistic Director of The Public Theater, with the inaugural Gordon Davidson Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Regional Theatre. The ceremony took place at Center Theatre Group’s Annex/Gordon Davidson Rehearsal Hall

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in Los Angeles (where both Davidson and Eustis rehearsed numerous productions over the years) and commenced with opening remarks by SDCF President Sheldon Epps and Tom Moore, who directed numerous productions at the Mark Taper Forum.

Epps opened the evening by recognizing the “tremendous vitality and vibrance of the Los Angeles theatre community,” and thanked Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie and Associate Artistic Director Neel Keller for arranging to have this very special presentation in that space. He then recalled his early relationship with Davidson, stating, “In my second or third year as Artistic Director of Pasadena Playhouse, Gordon and I got into a rights battle about a play that we both wanted to do. There was some pressure for our Playhouse to back down, and I said, ‘No. We’re gonna fight.’ There were people saying, ‘Well, you know, it’s Gordon at Center Theatre Group; you’re gonna lose.’ I said, ‘I know I’m

gonna lose, but we’re gonna fight it anyway.’ We did fight it, and because of a little technicality, we got the rights and we did that play. It was a huge success. The next time I saw Gordon, I got very, very sheepish. I thought, ‘Oh god, I’m in for it.’ Instead, he gave me his typical big Gordon bear hug and said, ‘Good for you. You’re learning the game, kid, and you’ve got to fight for what you believe in. Fight for what you know is right. Fight for what is good for your theatre.’ Those words stayed with me for the next two decades at Pasadena Playhouse. That is what this award is all about—Gordon’s fight to do what he believed in and what future honorees of this award will believe in.” Epps thanked the SDC LA Steering Committee, co-chaired by Casey Stangl and Art Manke; the Members and volunteers who made the evening possible; and Observers Brian Hashimoto and Annie Yee. He then introduced Tom Moore to tell the audience more about the award and its inaugural honoree.

“At our first meeting,” Moore said, “we decided that this should be a national award to recognize the lifetime achievement of a director or choreographer in the American regional theatre who, like Gordon, was a person of conviction, courage, and passion, and through his or her lifetime of work has transformed and nourished their own theatre or community. A singular director or choreographer who has, throughout their career, created singular work worthy of the highest recognition.

complex and not always perfect history, he is the perfect legacy of Gordon Davidson.

“In choosing an honoree, one choice rose quickly and excitedly to the top—Oskar Eustis, who has often called Gordon a mentor. He has developed some of the most important work of the modern American theatre, including Angels in America, from the workshop to the premiere production. [After leading Trinty Rep for 11 years], he was then asked to take over a small theatre operation on the East Coast—a tiny little operation with no public profile called The Public Theater. While there, he continued to develop extraordinary American work, such as Hamilton and the first major LGBT musical, Fun Home. In taking over The Public, he has honored the theatre and revived the mobile unit, an integral part of Joe Papp’s vision.

“He is leading at The Public in the exploration of life and society in ways that only the theatre can do and does best. At Gordon’s memorial, I said how lucky we were to have been present while Gordon tried to save the world. And I add to that now how lucky we are to be present as Oskar

“Gordon had an unwavering passion for the theatre, the art of storytelling, for the artists who brought those stories to life, and an absolute, unyielding belief that the theatre was the supreme art form for exploring the big ideas of our time and the ideal way to build and create community. I could just have easily been talking about Oskar Eustis.

carries that bright torch, creating theatre in the great tradition of the American resident theatre founders. “On behalf of SDC and the Foundation, it is my great pleasure and honor to present the first Gordon Davidson award to an impresario in the finest sense of the word: Oskar Eustis.”

The Gordon Davidson Award Acceptance Remarks BY OSKAR

EUSTIS

Listen, I feel completely unmanned. It goes without saying I’m not worthy of this award. Or this man. But also, I’m flooded with memories and thoughts and feelings. Thirty years ago, this coming spring, Gordon offered me a job. As a scrappy, independent theatremaker, it never occurred to me that somebody was ever going to offer me a job. We sat in a hotel in San Francisco, and Gordon said, “I don’t want to interfere with what you have going on with Eureka, but if you’d like to have a job, you can come work for me.” It’s also important to note that the Mellon Foundation had given him a grant for artistic leadership, so he was able to open up a slot for me.

“Oskar wants to make art available to everyone. Whether Oskar is encouraging Richard Nelson to write intimate plays about a couple of families on the tiniest level or encouraging Lin-Manuel [Miranda] in his exploration of our

I showed Gordon the first draft of Millennium Approaches, and I said to him, “My father’s

Oskar Eustis, Tom Moore, Lisa Peterson + Sheldon Epps

Tom Moore, Olive Jo Davidson, Adam Davidson, Mariah Janger, Rachel Davidson, Oskar Eustis, Judi Davidson, Arielle Janger + Jeffrey Janger

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dead, communism is dead, I broke up with my girlfriend, my theatre company’s falling apart, and I didn’t know what I believed in anymore, but I believe in this play, and if you’ll do this play, I’ll come work for you.” The next day, he called me and said it’s brilliant. He’d read the play in one day. At the time, I didn’t understand what that meant. So, I went to work for the only man I will ever call boss. I’m holding Joe Papp’s office, but everything I’ve accomplished is a legacy of Gordon Davidson.

Oskar Eustis

Gordon was a giant who came from a generation of giants. Zelda [Fichandler], Lloyd Richards, Joe [Papp]. These people had messianic visions of what the American theatre could be and that we could make theatre matter in the national conversation. Those giants stood on the shoulders of Harold Clurman and Hallie Flanagan of the Federal Theatre Project and Gordon’s mentor John Houseman. A hundred and two years ago, this past June, John Reed of the Provincetown Players wrote that we are going to make a theatre dedicated to making plays that are literary, social, and full of artistic merit—because the theatre has more to offer than commercial transaction. Gordon championed theatre that took on large issues and put the voices of the dispossessed center stage. And I now realize I’m quoting Zelda Fichandler—theatre that he “clawed and scratched out.” Gordon was [receiving a major art and social justice award] and invited the staff to the ceremony. I showed up in my Red Wing boots and my blue jeans, and then suddenly realized it was a black-tie event. I hid in the hallway with the waiters and listened to Gordon’s acceptance speech, and what he said was, “You’re making two things out of one thing. Art is social justice. That’s what it is.” It was a beautiful speech, and in my tuxedo-less huddle, I felt like I was getting tablets passed down to me. And I was. His work with the deaf community, the gay community, the Chicano community, the Asian American theatre community, opened doors that had long been closed. His achievements were monumental. Gordon always identified as a director, but he knew and embraced that the most vital contribution he could make was as a producer. His acceptance of the dance between what he wanted and what the world wanted from him was one of the many lessons he taught me. There are five other things I want to say that Gordon taught me about running a theatre. Curiosity. It keeps me young. He was always so curious and always wanted to know what was going on. That curiosity was vital, and it gave him an enormous amount of energy.

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He had ambition, but it wasn’t always personal ambition. He had ambition for the theatre to matter and to make a difference. He invested in artists and believed that you make theatre happen by trusting artists, blocking downfield for them, and letting them see visions they wouldn’t have realized without your support. He demanded meaning, that theatre deserves a place at the table of the great national conversations. He loved quoting duty. After all, he had given you many decades of divided attention. So, he leaves us a great challenge. Founded by idealistic giants, our field is always in danger of setting its sights too low. The increased box office and fundraising pressure since November 1980—the beginning of the Reagan era—and the entrepreneurial pressures that the Provincetown players rebelled against a century ago have strengthened immeasurably, and in a way, it’s because of how good we are. Thirty-five years ago, the national money started going away, and now, it’s just a trickle not seen by most of us. The big foundations started to take care of their social safety net and moved out of the arts. We were told we had to be self-sustaining, that we had to survive locally. And by God, we

did. In communities across the country, this great national movement led into a series of local transactions between theatres and their communities. And there’s something gained in that, and there’s been something lost in that as well. Gordon knew that the theatre had a vital role in making this a better country. He worked to exhaustion because he knew the challenge facing us was inexhaustible. He was a happy warrior, embracing the huge demands to his professional life with a zest that was always rooted in idealism. He knew the theatre, like the country, belonged to everyone. He knew the institutions like the Taper could take risks small theatres could not take, that they could shelter artists the commercial world would destroy, and that he could amplify brilliant, radical artists with the megaphone of his theatre. It’s our job to make sure the next generation of theatre leaders is as diverse as this country. It’s our job to prepare them, to train them, to mentor them, and to hand our jobs over to them. It’s our job to make theatre that matters and to make sure that these institutions thrive. I do it, and will always do it, in memory and in honor of Gordon Davidson. Edited by Joyce Friedmann PHOTOS

Earl Gibson

Susan Stroman

THE 2018 S DC FO UND AT I O N AWA R D S BY ELLIE

HANDEL

On November 11, 2018, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) hosted the second annual SDCF Awards ceremony at The Green Room 42 in Manhattan. The celebration, attended by theatremakers from New York City and around the country, recognized the honorees and recipients of three awards given by the Foundation: the Breakout Award, the Joe A. Callaway Award, and the Zelda Fichandler Award, now in its 10th year. Imbued with a generosity of spirit throughout, the evening honored the legacy and commitment of artists who have dedicated their lives to the craft and who have made a difference to the artistic community. Tony nominee Sam Pinkleton and Drama Desk nominee and 2011 Callaway Award winner Carolyn Cantor co-hosted the event with a mix of wit and reverence. Three-time Tony Award-winning producer Kevin McCollum kicked off the evening with a heartfelt speech honoring the late Rachel Rockwell, one of last year’s Callaway Award recipients for her direction of Ride the Cyclone. He announced SDCF’s creation of the Rachel Rockwell Scholarship Fund for children of SDC Members—specifically, women directors and choreographers who find a way to navigate motherhood and a career in the theatre. The scholarship, McCollum explained, “not only celebrates Rachel, but it embodies the importance of leading change and nurturing both our creative artists and the families that are hostage to their fortunes.” McCollum announced that he would give the initial gift of $25,000 to the fund, with a goal of raising $250,000.

Mark Brokaw, SDCF Vice President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees, introduced the awards being presented that night. “These recognitions,” he said, “point to the heart of the Foundation’s mission, which is to foster, support, and promote the craft of theatre, directors, and choreographers—whether that’s recognizing our Members’ exemplary work, honoring their legacies, or promoting emerging talent.” The first award presented was the Breakout Award, which is given to a director or choreographer who is on the cusp of a breakthrough in their work, career, or critical recognition. Last year’s Breakout Award winner, Lee Sunday Evans, gave a passionate introduction to this year’s recipient, Raja Feather Kelly. Describing Kelly’s recent full-length work, Ugly, at the Bushwick Starr, Evans said, “What I saw in Raja’s piece was a truly singular work of theatre and dance that slyly snaked its way into my subconscious, punched me in the gut, totally took my heart by storm, and stunned me with mercurial, surprising moments of beauty.” In his acceptance, Kelly expressed his gratitude and added, “It’s an honor to be honored by your field. I have to say, nothing is better than that.” SDCF Executive Director David Roberts spoke next to highlight some of the rich artistic and professional development programs of the Foundation, including the Observership program, fellowships, artist conversations, and Masters of the Stage podcast series.

Joel Grey

Pamela Berlin, former SDC President and current Chair of the Callaway Committee, introduced the next honors: the peer-given Callaway Awards, which recognize excellence in the art of stage direction and choreography in a given Off-Broadway season. Berlin thanked the current Callaway Committee Members, especially those rotating off this year: Saheem Ali, Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Jonathan Cerullo, Leah Gardiner, and DJ Salisbury. She welcomed director, teacher, and former SDC Executive Board Member Mary Robinson to introduce this year’s Callaway Award recipient for directing, Anne Kauffman, for her work on Amy Herzog’s play Mary Jane at New York Theatre Workshop. Unable to attend, Kauffman accepted the award on video, saying, “Working on this production did profoundly change me. Amy and the characters within this piece are a diverse collective striving for grace, which was incredibly inspiring at a time when I really needed it. And the people we got to meet during the process, the nurses, the doctors, the chaplains, the rabbis—their rigor, their compassion, professionalism, deep knowledge, their listening skills, their capacity to hold suffering are the kinds of things that we strive for as theatremakers.” SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL FOUNDATION SECTION

The Callaway Award for choreography was presented to Susan Stroman by her longtime friend (and Academy Award, Tony, and Golden Globe winner) Joel Grey for her work on The Beast in the Jungle at Vineyard Theatre. Stroman gave a passionate speech about her collaborative process with book writer David Thompson and composer John Kander. “This piece hits my heart,” she said, “and I think it does for all of us who were involved in it…we were doing something that none of us had ever done before….To receive this from my peers is the most important award of all, to get this and have it be in the cradle of the wonderful Union that I am so proud to belong to.” Laura Penn, Executive Director of SDC and SDCF Trustee, introduced the final award of the night, the Zelda Fichandler Award, with a touching remembrance of Fichandler: “Zelda was a leader among leaders, and she wanted the best, the very best for all of us….[She] was deeply committed to inspiring those who followed in the footsteps of the founders and, with all her heart, wanted to shore them up as they faced the daily challenges of their chosen ministry, requiring that they demand the best of themselves and those around them as she and her peers had….This award honors an artist for both accomplishments to date and promise for the future.” Penn presented the Fichandler finalists: Michael John Garcés, Ron May, and Art Rotch. Garcés and May couldn’t be present, so Penn introduced them and read excerpts from their statements. She described Garcés’ early work with INTAR and creation of the New Works Lab, and read his reflection on what he learned from his early mentor, Rosenda Mucata: “How to connect deeply with audiences and make work that was

Art Rotch + Joshua Midgett

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strongly embedded in those making it, but at the same time to engage in a practice with a widely diverse group of people and context that were sometimes new, or even uncomfortable for me. That search eventually brought me to the Cornerstone Theater and to making a home in Los Angeles.” May, a Chicago native who studied under Marshall Mason at Arizona State University and settled in Tempe, AZ, where he founded Stray Cat Theatre, described in his statement why the name resonated for him: “Stray cats are often rougher, more aggressive, don’t behave the way you expect, and to me, they often have more personality, much like the material we’re drawn to. Stray cats almost never have a committed home.” He added, “I notice I keep saying, ‘we’ when referring to Stray Cats. I guess, in my mind, the two are not mutually exclusive. Everything I am as an artist, all the values I hold dear, are the values I try to instill in my company and the artists we work with.” Congratulating Ron, Penn noted, “I think it’s very difficult to change the world. I think it’s a little less difficult to change how we look at it.” Rotch, who is in his 11th season as Artistic Director of Perseverance Theatre and has worked in Alaska theatre for 30 years, accepted his honor in person. “The most important learning I’ve done about history, about theatre, and about being a human being,” he said, “has come from making theatre and telling stories by and for Alaskans….I’m particularly grateful, as we enter our fourth season premiering an Alaska Native playwright led by an indigenous director, with all indigenous actors playing indigenous roles and indigenous designers, for those Alaskan Natives who trust our theatre company to tell their stories, to surface a culture that has been

Carolyn Cantor + Sam Pinkleton

underrepresented on our stages for far too long, and to surface untold narratives.” The inaugural Gordon Davidson Award winner, Oskar Eustis (see story on p. 48), took the stage to present the Fichandler Award to this year’s recipient, Loretta Greco. Noting her many accomplishments as a freelance director, at the Women’s Project, and, since 2008, as Artistic Director of Magic Theatre in San Francisco, he said, “Of the last 18 world premieres Loretta has done at the Magic, 16 of them have gone on to further productions….That’s an extraordinary rate of fertility, of seeding the field. What she does at the Magic is what the rest of us are trying to catch up to. She’s had an amazing impact on the field.” As Greco was unable to attend in person, her recent collaborator Taylor Mac accepted the award on her behalf. Before reading her remarks live to the audience, Mac said, “I really don’t think I would have a career in the American producing theatre if it weren’t for Loretta. You gotta have somebody take the first chance, you know what I mean? And she’s done that for a lot of people.” After Mac delivered Greco’s remarks, Laura Penn concluded the evening with a touching reminiscence of Fichandler: “Something I miss most about this time of year is sending the statements from the annual class of the Fichandler winners to Zelda. She would read each one and then often call to share her thoughts, her excitement, her humility as she found herself in awe of the people she had often just met through their prose….I know she would be honored to have her name associated with this year’s class of Fichandler winners.”

Taylor Mac + Raja Feather Kelly PHOTOS Walter McBride

The Zelda Fichandler Award Acceptance Remarks BY LORETTA

GRECO

Thank you, dear Oskar. What a joy it is to have you present this award. And thank you, SDCF and Sheldon Epps, for this incredible honor that commemorates the one-of-akind, bad-ass of the American theatre, Zelda Fichandler, and [recognizes] those of us devoted to creating a body of work outside of New York City. I’m thrilled to share this award with my wonderfully talented colleagues Michael John Garcés, Ron May, and Art Rotch; with tonight’s incredible Callaway winners, Anne Kauffman and Susan Stroman; and with the thrilling Breakout Award winner, Raja Feather Kelly. I fell in love with theatre when I was six, at a dress rehearsal of the musical Oliver! at the local junior high in my hometown, Miami. To this day, I’ve never stopped being that kid in the audience waiting for something larger than life to unfold and change my world. I am blessed to have had parents who, without any resources or tradition of theatre-going, took it upon themselves to privilege me with the gift of theatre. I have also been blessed with many great teachers and mentors, starting with my high school impresario, Dan Wilson, who straight-up taught me discipline and charged me with leadership. Don Brady, Jackson Phippin, Jane Ann Crum, and Peter Frisch unleashed my imagination and initiated my passion for new plays. Jim Nicola was the first person to tell me I was the real deal, and Julia Miles generously followed suit at Women’s Project. George C. Wolfe challenged me to think about theatre as event. Directing at The Public under George’s brilliant, holistic vision made me a much more mindful leader. And finally, there was Emily Mann. Emily was a direct descendent of Zelda’s pioneering spirit, and I wouldn’t be here or anywhere if it wasn’t for her mentorship. Emily took me under her wing straight out of grad school and gave me a place at the table. She taught me how to be a serious producer and director of plays, new and otherwise, every damn day, until I left the nest five years later. Since then, I’ve spent a quarter of a century making work that counts, with the last 10 years at the venerable Magic Theatre in San Francisco. The Magic, hanging off the edge of the San Francisco Bay, is the house that Sam Shepard built, and it is one of the few theatres that still exist in this country that is devoted to groundbreaking playwrights and take-noprisoner productions. Above all else, we give

Loretta Greco + Pam MacKinnon at a special award ceremony in San Francisco

extraordinary writers a home where they can create a body of work over time while we lovingly, and with enormous rigor, support their craft and make great art on the stage. And that art is resonating all over the country. Because we have little money, that work takes every ounce of passion and ingenuity we have. Despite this tumultuous moment in history, I still believe theatre makes us better people. Great theatre may be the single best way to exercise the empathy and compassion we need now more than ever. I choose to remain both intentional and aspirational, and I hope, as directors and artistic leaders, we can all do more leading. I worry that, as a field, we’ve become too cautious, too managed, and too distracted to remember the reason we exist, and I hope we can embrace more fully the beautiful rigor that making groundbreaking artistic work requires. I hope we can find more ways to say yes! Theatremaking has always been risky business— there are never any guarantees—so my hope is we say yes to more new voices, new content, new forms, and new delivery systems. Let’s aspire to make work that stretches our communities, that asks us to reassess our privilege and reinvest in our responsibilities to one another as human beings. I hope we can find more ways to deliver our work outside of our insular circles to reach between the coasts and between our regional theatres. At Magic, I’m intentional in trying to instigate

an infectious national ripple of productions and am exceedingly proud when we succeed. It is wonderful to see the bold work that we have developed and premiered, such as Luis Alfaro’s Oedipus el Rey, Mfoniso Udofia’s pair of Ufot Family plays, and Taylor Mac’s HIR, eventually celebrated at The Public, New York Theatre Workshop, and Playwrights Horizons. But it is far more meaningful to see our productions ripple across the country, catalyzing conversations and catharsis outside the epicenter and leading the culture forward in more unlikely places, like Arizona, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Tennessee. I hope this kind of reach to the theatrically underserved becomes a focus in the field and that important pilot programs like The Public’s Midwest Mobile Unit become paradigms for the rest of us to emulate in our own fashion. Finally, I hope more of us can pay forward the generosity and apprenticeship that was handed down to us through our own mentors. The next generation may just save us, so let’s make sure to create seats at the table for them to soar. Before Zelda’s passing, winning this award provided the sublime privilege of a one-on-one conversation with her. Undaunted, I pulled down my dusty copy of The Director’s Voice and there she still was, peering out between Robert Falls and Richard Foreman. I had nearly engraved around a passage where Zelda discusses the importance of creating theatre that is truly SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL FOUNDATION SECTION

visceral if we hope to create real change. I believe that down to my core. If we aren’t deeply undone by the electric event of theatre, then it’s just a play, and who needs more of those? Deeply charged emotions of the profound, ridiculous, and cathartic type have the power to tear down and rebuild our fractured world, and I believe we are all waiting for something larger than life to reveal itself to transform us. Thanks to each of you in the room tonight. I am ridiculously happy to be a member of this vibrant tribe. Here’s to Zelda’s vision, tenacity, and extraordinary impact—and to the transformative work ahead. On January 31, 2019, at a special ceremony in San Francisco, President Pam MacKinnon presented Loretto Greco with the 10th Annual Fichandler Award. Many friends turned out to honor Loretta including Magic Theatre Board Members, SDC Executive Director Laura Penn, Director of Member Services Barbara Wolkoff, and Members Bruce Coughran, Victor Moag, Richard Mosqueda, Lana Palmer, and Eric Ting, as well as 2018 Fichandler award finalist Michael John Garcés and Jonathan Moscone, who won the inaugural Fichandler Award a decade ago. PHOTOS

Laura Penn, Victor Moag, Eric Ting + Bruce Coughran

Alain McLaughlin

Bruce Coughran, Lana Palmer, Victor Moag, Michael John Garcés, Loretta Greco, Eric Ting, Pam MacKinnon, Jonathan Moscone + Richard Mosqueda

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MESS AGE FROM THE SDC F O U NDATI O N BOARD O F T R U S T EES How do theatre artists show their skills? What are their calling cards? A playwright submits a script, a designer a portfolio, and an actor auditions. It’s less straightforward for directors and choreographers. Since 1965, SDCF—the only organization dedicated solely to directors and choreographers—has been offering access, opportunity, and community to these central artists at all levels of their careers. SDCF programs rely on the generous support of individuals, government agencies, foundations, and corporations. We want to thank every donor who has already contributed this year. Every gift makes a difference. And it is our honor to introduce our Contributing Circle Donors. Leadership gifts from this Circle allow SDCF to provide an increased level of vital support to directors and choreographers across the country. If you would like to join as a Circle Donor or make a contribution at any level, please contact ProgramAssociate@SDCFoundation.org. On behalf of SDCF, we very much appreciate and value your ongoing support!

Sheldon Epps President

Linda Hartzell Fundraising Chair

CIRCLE DONORS Foundation Muse’s Circle

$15,000 or more National Endowment for the Arts Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Foundation Producer’s Circle $10,000 – $14,999 Thomas Kail New York State Council on the Arts

Benefactor

$500 – $999 Charles Abbott Pryor Cashman LLP Bob Evans and Steve Davis Liz Diamond Dan Knechtges Laura Penn and Marty Pavloff Leigh Silverman Casey Stangl

Patron

$250 – $499 Desdemona Chiang Marcia Milgrom Dodge Robert Antonio O’Hara Bill Rauch Eleanor Taylor

Collaborator’s Circle

$5,000 – $9,999 James & Deborah Burrows Foundation Trip Cullman Sheldon Epps Linda Hartzell Doug Hughes David Lee Judith and Douglas Krupp Laurie Oki The Hargrove Pierce Foundation

Ensemble Circle

$2,500 – $4,999 Charles M. and Eleanor Nolan

Donor Circle

$1,000 – $2,499 Mark Brokaw Anne Kauffman Pam MacKinnon Sarah F. McMahon

CONTRIBUTORS Friend

Up to $249 Rachel Alderman Elizabeth Rubyline Bell-Haynes Melia Bensussen Jesse Berger Walter Bobbie Anne Bogart Jo Bonney Susan Einhorn Wendy C. Goldberg Joseph Haj Nancy Keystone Mark Lamos William C. Lipscomb Ben Martin

Meredith McDonough Sharon Ott Walter Painter John Rando Aaron Ricciardi Kenneth Lee Roberson David Ruttura Bobbie Saltzman Andy Sandberg Ruben Santiago-Hudson Seret Scott Arthur Allan Seidelman Eric Ting Bonnie Walker Bryna Wortman

ENDOWMENT FUNDS: The Charles Abbott Fellowship Fund, The Joe A. Callaway Award Fund, The Sir John Gielgud Fellowship Fund, The Mike Ockrent Fellowship Fund, The Shepherd and Mildred Traube Fellowship Fund, The Kurt Weill Fellowship Fund, The George C. Wolfe Fellowship Fund This list reflects gifts made to the SDC Foundation Annual Fund between July 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019. We apologize for any errors and request that you contact Cole Bonenberger at ProgramAssociate@SDCFoundation.org so that a prompt correction can be made.

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REMEMBERING CLIFF FANNIN BAKER BY CHRIS

You know right off the bat—when you hear that for the inaugural production of the theatre he would found, Cliff Baker chose The Threepenny Opera, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1976—that you are dealing with a dreamer. Which makes a kind of sense for a guy named for the St. Louis Brown’s pitcher who hit a grand slam on the day he was born. But in Cliff, the dreams took flight in the kindest forms and were balanced by a deep sense of the practical. Kind: that was what most anyone who worked with him remembered. Gentle, deeply persuasive, funny—and kind. The first show I saw at Portland Center Stage (before I was hired to serve as Artistic Director) was Cliff’s production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The script had always baffled me, so I was delighted to experience it in his hands: clear, beautifully staged, hilarious. He worked with us numerous times over the years in Portland, on both classics and premieres, and we connected personally because a) we were both Virgos; b) we both loved Bertolt Brecht; and c) we had both founded theatres in old churches: mine, Actor’s Express, launched behind an outlet mall in the suburbs of Atlanta; Cliff’s, Arkansas Rep, in the former Hunter Memorial Methodist Church in Little Rock. We both reveled in the odds against us in those crazy ventures, in how launching a theatre, no matter how crazy it sounded, brought forth the most deeply pragmatic aspects of your persona that had been lurking deep beneath the surface and connected you in a profound way to your community.

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COLEMAN

In Little Rock, Cliff developed a resident company of actors, designers, technicians, and interns. He directed over 300 plays during his career and built a cultural legacy for the state. He had a particular passion for nurturing new work. In 1999, after 23 years with the Rep, he decided to walk toward a new venture: coaching executives in the corporate world, with GrossReid Associates. This step fascinated me, because I understood too well how easy it is to get burned out trying to keep a theatre afloat; and because I suspected that the skills we develop telling stories, courting donors, developing strategic plans, and championing staff culture might translate in a meaningful way to leaders in other settings. It was no surprise that Cliff succeeded in that arena as well, given his ability to connect easily. The work took him to New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Monterrey, Mexico, and he seemed to genuinely love the learning that took place. But he always stayed in touch with the Rep, returning as a frequent guest director, and stepping in as interim Artistic Director when the theatre hit a rough patch. At 70, it seems too soon for him to be gone, but Cliff leaves knowing that the lives he touched through the course of his career were more numerous than I suspect even he was aware of.

CLIFF FANNIN BAKER, who founded the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, died on September 6, 2018, at the age of 70. At the time, he had been serving as the Rep’s Artistic Adviser, helping to plan for its reopening after it had suspended operations due to financial distress. Baker moved from Missouri to Little Rock, AR, in 1969 to study theatre and started a company called the Theatre of the Arkansas Philharmonic. In 1976, with 15 community leaders, he founded Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the state’s first professional stage company. During his tenure, Baker developed a resident company of actors, designers, technicians, and interns, and built the Rep into a nationally recognized Equity theatre. He directed over 300 shows there, and his passion was creating new work. In 1999, after 23 years as Producing Artistic Director, Baker left Arkansas Rep and began working as a corporate consultant and executive coach. He developed a performance component in this work that allowed corporate executives to experience leadership breakthroughs by performing at a professional level. He also continued to guest direct at the Rep each season, as well as at theatres around the world.

THE SOCIETY PAGES SDC MEMBERS @ WORK + PLAY

Evan Yionoulis + Pam MacKinnon

The Annual Membership Meeting, held on November 5, 2018, at Local 764 in NYC, enjoyed a robust turnout. The meeting opened with welcoming remarks from Patricia White, President, Local 764. President Pam MacKinnon delivered the State of the Union report and Executive Board election results, and presented Sharon Ott with the President’s Award for extraordinary service to SDC. Secretary Evan Yionoulis welcomed new Members and Associates; Executive Director Laura Penn reported on the Union’s plans to recognize and celebrate SDC’s 60th anniversary; Director of Contract Affairs Randy Anderson reported on organizing Broadway Associates, fight choreographers, and regional employers, and discussed the multiple contract renegotiations scheduled for 2019; Contract Affairs Funds Liaison Suzette Porte provided an update on the strength of the Health and Pensions Funds; SDCF Executive Director David Roberts gave an update on current Foundation programming in the works and plans for the Annual SDCF Awards; and MacKinnon and Penn led a Q&A and discussion on new and old business, including workplace conduct, Associate Membership, and regional activity.

Sharon Ott

The 2018 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre celebration took place Monday, November 5, at Bok in South Philadelphia. Congratulations to all our Members who contribute to Philadelphia’s rich and diverse theatre scene and to our SDC 2018 Barrymore Award recipients: Abigail Adams for Outstanding Direction of a Play and Outstanding Overall Production of a Play for Morning’s at Seven at People’s Light; Terrence J. Nolen for Outstanding Direction of a Musical and Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical for Fun Home at Arden Theatre Company; and Jared Grimes and Edgar Godineaux for Outstanding Choreography/Movement for Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole at People’s Light.

Joe Mantello PHOTO Aubrey

Reuben

At a ceremony at the Gershwin Theatre on November 12, Joe Mantello was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame for more than 25 years of distinguished service to the American theatre. After making his Broadway debut and receiving his first Tony nomination for playing Louis in Angels in America in 1993, Mantello went on to win two Tony Awards for directing (Take Me Out in 2003 and Assassins in 2004), as well as Tony nominations for directing Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995), Glengarry Glen Ross (2005), The Normal Heart (2011), The Humans (2016), and Three Tall Women (2018).

Abigail Adams PHOTO Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

PHOTOS Walter McBride

Danny Burstein + Nicolette Robinson

Dakin Matthews

Laura Penn + Janet Allon, First Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Enteratinment

Danny Burstein hosted the 10th Annual Broadway Salutes at Sardi’s on November 13. The industry-wide event celebrates veteran Broadway union and guild members who have dedicated 25 to 50+ years in service to the theatre community. SDC Executive Director Laura Penn, who is also Co-Chair of the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG) and Founder and Co-Chair of Broadway Salutes, stated, “Each year, over 89,000 craftsmen and -women, artists, professionals, and a myriad of others who are never seen by the audience, make Broadway work. Our goal 10 years ago, when we began Broadway Salutes, was to recognize and thank our colleagues for their tremendous talent, tireless work, and their commitment over many years to the industry that makes New York truly distinctive.”

Art Manke, Beth Lopes, Rachel Rea, Elina de Santos + Ernest Figueroa

Hosted by the Los Angeles Steering Committee at East West Players, 25 local directors and choreographers attended an LA Associate Member Event entitled “Maximizing Associate Membership” on November 14. The panel discussion, moderated by Art Manke with David Bridel, Cate Caplin, Ernest Figueroa, and Beth Lopes, discussed the various benefits of Associate Membership, the panelists’ personal paths as Members, and considerations for upgrading to full Membership. A lively Q&A and networking reception followed.

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Benjamin Endsley Klein + participants

Also on November 14, SDC hosted a rally for Associate/Resident Directors and Choreographers working on Broadway. Broadway Associate/Resident Committee Chair Benjamin Endsley Klein and SDC Director of Contract Affairs Randy Anderson reported on the progress SDC has made in securing Union coverage for these positions and the work that lies ahead. SDC continues to diligently pursue benefits, protections, and Union recognition for this contingent of our Membership.

Tony Award winner John Rando was honored by Barrington Stage Company (led by Artistic Director and past SDC President Julianne Boyd) with the William Finn Award for Innovation and Excellence in Musical Theatre on November 27 at the Friars Club in New York City.

Julianne Boyd + John Rando PHOTO Stephen Sorokoff

Evan Yionoulis + Yale School of Drama students PHOTO Deborah Berman

After 20 years of teaching at the Yale School of Drama, Evan Yionoulis celebrated her retirement from Yale with colleagues and students at the Dream Hotel in Manhattan on December 2. She is now serving as the Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School. “I am honored and excited to lead Juilliard’s Drama Division into its second half-century, carrying on the school’s great tradition of excellence and preparing the next generation of actors and playwrights to transform the future of our field through their passion and artistry,” Yionoulis said in a statement.

Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andy Blankenbuehler, Alex Lacamoire, Wayne Shorter, Cher, Reba McEntire + Philip Glass PHOTO c/o The Kennedy Center

Also on December 2, the Kennedy Center held its 41st annual national celebration of the arts, the Kennedy Center Honors. This year, the co-creators of Hamilton—writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, and music director Alex Lacamoire— received a unique Kennedy Center Honor as trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.

The very festive 2018 Holiday Open House at the SDC offices on December 10 had a huge industry-wide turnout, including many Members, Coalition of Broadway Union and Guilds (COBUG) leaders, general managers, producers, SDCF Observers, and more. Martha Smith, Patricia White, Laura Penn + Leah Okin (representing Local 764)

Susan Stroman + Nicole Fosse

Barbara Wolkoff, Linda Burson + Alan Fox

Brittany Martel, Jeffry Denman + Ethan McSweeny

Lynnette Barkley, Terry Berliner, Shea Sullivan + Andy Sandberg SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

Twin Cities Members mingled and toasted the holiday season at a Minneapolis Member Meeting with Executive Board Members Desdemona Chiang, Joseph Haj, and Casey Stangl and Director of Member Services Barbara Wolkoff on December 18 at Theatre Latté Da/Ritz Theater, hosted by Regional Presence Committee Representative Peter Rothstein. A lively exchange of ideas to connect with Members more often, plans for Member Night Out events throughout the year, opportunities to create mentoring opportunities for younger directors and choreographers, sharing spaces, and more was discussed with Twin City area Members Kerry Casserly, Stephen DiMenna, Kelli Foster Warder, Maija Garcia, Jay Gilman, Michael Haney, Lauren Keating, Wendy Knox, Flordelino Lagundino, Ben McGovern, Patrick Moore, Regina Peluso, Michael Perlman, James A. Rocco, Peter Rothstein, L. Robert Westeen, and Talvin Wilks.

Members met on January 5, 2019, for a Boston Member Night Out at SpeakEasy Stage Company, cohosted by SpeakEasy Artistic Director Paul Daigneault and SDC Regional Representative Melia Bensussen. Members and Associate Members in attendance included Joseph Antoun, Judy Braha, Yo-EL Cassell, Daniel Gidron, Lisa Rafferty, Megan SandbergZakian, Misha Shields, Larry Sousa, and Robert Walsh. After a reception, Members attended the production of Small Mouth Sounds, directed by M. Bevin O’Gara.

Members Chuck Coyl, Richard Raether, and David Woolley joined Director of Member Services Barbara Wolkoff and Contract Affairs Representative Adam Levi to present details on Union coverage for fight choreographers to attendees of the 2019 annual Movement and Combat Education (MACE) Winter Wonderland Workshop at the Crown Plaza O’Hare in Chicago on January 11. SDC hosted a vendor table at the workshop’s “Weapons Night” on January 12.

On January 13, Barbara Wolkoff and Adam Levi joined Corey Bradbury, William Bullion, Stuart Carden, and Arianna Soloway for a Chicago Member Night Out hosted by About Face Theatre Artistic Director Megan Carney and Artistic Associate Keira Fromm for a matinee performance of their production of Dada Woof Papa Hot at Theatre Wit, directed by Fromm.

Keira Fromm, Adam Levi, Barbara Wolkoff + Megan Carney

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

Zachry J. Bailey, Christina Fontana, Mary Hunter, Laura Penn, Abigail Gandy, Kevin Zhu, Edmond O’Neal + Fabiola Feliciano-Batista SDC hosted a Broadway Choreographers’ Roundtable on January 14, moderated by Lorin Latarro. Participants included Jennifer Weber, Annie-B Parson, Connor Gallagher, Patrick McCollum, Josh Rhodes, Danny Mefford, Hope Clarke, Patricia Wilcox, and Dan Knechtges. The discussion covered challenges specific to choreographers and how the work of a choreographer has been evolving.

On January 18 SDC Executive Director Laura Penn spoke with Yale School of Drama stage management students about the history and work of SDC, trends in the industry, and how directors and choreographers are responding to current issues and priorities in the field.

The Los Angeles Annual Membership Meeting took place on January 27 at Antaeus Theatre Company. SDC Second Vice President Seret Scott welcomed Casey Stangl + Art Manke over 40 Members to the meeting and shared Union updates, including the establishment of the Emergency Assistance Fund, and Executive Director Laura Penn shared plans for celebrating the upcoming 60th anniversary of SDC. Western Regional Rep and Co-Chair of the LA Steering Committee Casey Stangl and fellow Co-Chair Art Manke reported on the committee’s activities over the course of 2018, shared ideas for upcoming events in 2019, and asked fellow Members to continue to assist in expanding Membership. A social hour was held prior to the meeting, where Members had a chance to catch up, network, and speak with Executive Board Members and Union staff.

SPRING 2019 | SDC JOURNAL

The 19th Annual LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards were held on January 28 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown LA. SDC Executive Director Laura Penn, Director of Member Services Barbara Wolkoff, Contract Affairs Representative Kristy Cummings, and Second Vice President Seret Scott were there to cheer on all of our Member nominees and winners, including Richard Israel, who won for his production of Violet at Actors Co-op; Tyne Rafaeli, who won Best Production of a Play (Large Theater) for Ironbound at the Geffen Playhouse; and Leigh Silverman, who won Best Production of a Musical (Large Theater) for Soft Power at Center Theatre Group.

Dominic Taylor, guest, Brian Kite + Richard Israel

On February 1, the Seattle Steering Committee hosted a Seattle Member Breakfast, attended by Geoffrey Alm, Kurt Beattie, Amanda Friou, Linda Hartzell, Brandon Ivie, Allison Narver, Marianne Savell, Kathryn Van Meter, and Richard E. T. White.

SDC President Pam MacKinnon, Executive Director Laura Penn, Director of Contract Affairs Randy Anderson, and SDUK Executive Director Thomas Hescott held a UK Member Gathering and Reception on February 24 at Doggettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coat and Badge in South Bank, London. It was the first time ever that the two Unions came together to mingle and discuss the industry.

Pam MacKinnon, Thomas Hescott + Jeremy Herrin

SDC Members and staff gathered for dinner in London to discuss issues affecting UK Members, including (pictured below) Thea Sharrock, Trevor Nunn, Jeremy Herrin, Josie Rourke, Phelim McDermott, Jonathan Butterell, Laura Penn, Laurence Connor, Sean Mathias, Emma Rice, and Mark Bell.

Laura Penn, Anthony Van Laast, Annette Stone + Randy Anderson

SDC JOURNAL | SPRING 2019

SHELDON PATINKIN helped shape Chicago’s theatre scene for over 50 years as a writer, director, and teacher. A crucial figure in the development of improvisational comedy in Chicago, he mentored generations of aspiring directors and other theatre artists. A native Chicagoan, Patinkin began his life in the theatre by working with other artists to form the Playwrights Theatre Club, a 1950s forerunner of The Second City comedy troupe. He was hired as general manager of The Second City in 1960 and worked as a comedy coach and director. Patinkin was also an early supporter of Steppenwolf Theatre Company and went on to found its theatre school, direct numerous productions, and serve as an artistic consultant. He served as chair of the Theatre Department at Columbia College Chicago for more than 30 years and during his tenure established a comedy studies program as well as degree programs in design, directing, musical theatre, and stage management. Patinkin directed numerous productions at Columbia and at professional theatres in Chicago, including The Glass Menagerie at Gift Theatre Company, Uncle Vanya and Death of a Salesman at Steppenwolf, and South Pacific at Metropolis Art Center. His revue, Puttin’ on the Ritz: An Irving Berlin American Songbook, won Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Revue and Best Director, and he received a special Joseph Jefferson Award for Service to the Chicago Theater Community in 1991. Patinkin was also author of The Second City: Backstage at the World’s Greatest Comedy Theater (2000) and No Legs, No Jokes, No Chance: A History of the American Musical Theater (2008).

“

Any art form, to remain vital, must be submitted to frequent questioning, stretching, pulling, battering, even ripping to pieces.

”

SDC LEGACY

SHELDON PATINKIN 1935–2014

PHOTO c/o

Columbia College Chicago Archives

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SDC MEMBERS + ASSOCIATES continued..Amy

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