The 1980s might not seem like a decade conducive to the emergence of a groundbreaking gay theatre. However, amidst the AIDS pandemic and a homophobic backlash to the gains of the post-Stonewall era, Charles Busch and Kenneth Elliott created something unique in New York City. The company that they founded, Theatre-in-Limbo, developed some of the biggest underground hits of the 80s, with unforgettable titles like Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and Psycho Beach Party . Now Elliott is out with a new book...
Sep 23, 2024•54 min
In the 1960s, the English city of Sheffield began work on a new theatre. The new venue, called the Crucible, became an important landmark in the development of theatre in the UK, as well as a point of contention nationwide. At the center of it all was Colin George, who spearheaded the building of the Crucible and fought for its then-unconventional design. Although George passed away in 2016, his memoirs of this era appear in a new book, Stirring Up Sheffield: An Insider’s Account of the Battle t...
Aug 12, 2024•40 min
How did scenic designer become a job that people could pursue in the theatre? Dr. David Bisaha joins us to talk about his book, American Scenic Design and Freelance Professionalism . Correction for the episode: The correct number for the historical, segregated Washington, D.C. IATSE Local was 224-A, not 244-A.
Jul 29, 2024•41 min•Ep. 107
Dr. Carla Della Gatta joins us to talk about Latinx Shakespeare productions and her book Latinx Shakespeares: Staging U.S. Intercultural Theater .
Jul 15, 2024•34 min
Ancient Greek and Roman drama has influenced theatre for millennia, and playwrights and other artists from around the world continue to draw inspiration from these works. Professor Fiona Macintosh joins us to talk about the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at Oxford University and how it's been a resource for those who want to learn more about how these works have been - and continue to be - performed.
Nov 21, 2023•51 min•Ep. 105
Lorraine Hansberry's play "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" is often forgotten, or dismissed as an inferior play that fell victim to the playwright's declining health at the end of her life. But as our guest, Elise Harris, tells us, it's a fascinating work in its own right, and one with a rich and complicated history.
Oct 24, 2023•55 min
It's a special guest episode, featuring Peter Schmitz and his podcast "Adventures in Theatre History: Philadelphia." Peter tells the story of Jasper Deeter, whose pioneering work had an impact on not only Philadelphia theatre, but the American stage as a whole.
Oct 17, 2023•1 hr 1 min
The eighteenth century was obsessed with celebrities, and, like our own time, the fans of the 1700s were fascinated by famous actress' pregnancies. Dr. Chelsea Phillips joins us to talk about how she explores the emergence of this aspect of 18th-century fan culture in her new book, Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689-1800 .
Nov 01, 2022•1 hr 32 min
Broadway has a long and complex history, and in November of 2022 a new museum is opening that will allow visitors to explore that history. Curator Ben West joins us to introduce the Museum of Broadway and explain how it's bringing the theatrical past to life.
Oct 24, 2022•36 min
For anyone who's been following the news in 2022, a play about an Eastern European country's heroic resistance in the face of Russian invasion might sound timely. But as Dr. Thomas F. Connolly shows in this week's discussion of Robert E. Sherwood's "There Shall Be No Night," timeliness can be a tricky subject, perhaps especially in the context of live theatre.
Aug 19, 2022•27 min
The Classix project is working to, as they put it, “explode the classical canon through an exploration of Black performance history and dramatic works by Black writers.” Two members of the Classix team – director Dominique Rider and dramaturg Arminda Thomas – join us to talk about their work and how they’re sharing essential works from Black theatre history with new audiences.
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 2 min
It was the biggest hit on Broadway one hundred years ago – and yet it’s largely forgotten today. Eric Grode joins us to talk about his recent New York Times article marking the centenary of Abie’s Irish Rose , the hit comedy that, though it was riddled with stereotypes and reviled by critics, seemed like it just might be popular enough to run forever.
Jun 13, 2022•29 min
Kunqu is one of the cultural treasures of Chinese theatre. Today we're fortunate to be joined by Dr. Dongshin Chang, an expert on the art form. Dongshin will introduce us to the fascinating and musical world of kunqu.
Jun 06, 2022•43 min
The recent Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf reflects a growing appreciation for a Black writer whose work gives voice to those who have been oppressed and marginalized because of their race and gender. But who was Shange, and what more do her theatrical works have to say to us today? Dr. Kim F. Hall of Barnard College joins us to explore Shange's life and work.
Jun 01, 2022•51 min
Shakespeare looms large over both the American and British theatre scenes. But his outsize influence means that we’ve long neglected a dizzying array of fascinating and brilliant theatre written by other early modern England dramatists. Rob Crighton and the Beyond Shakespeare Company are working to remedy this, and Rob joins us for this episode to discuss how they’re trying to expand our awareness of the theatre of this era.
May 23, 2022•51 min
The ancient Roman comedies of Plautus have inspired playwrights from Shakespeare to Sondheim. But they've also been seen as grim reminders of the oftentimes horrifying world of ancient Rome, where violence and slavery were commonplace. Dr. Amy Richlin joins us to talk about her book Slave Theater in the Roman Republic , which explores how Plautus's plays gave voice to enslaved persons during this era.
May 10, 2022•1 hr 1 min
The roles played by women in theatre in the United States have been varied, from playwrights and performers to critics and members of the audience. Now the Beinecke Library at Yale University is sharing some of the stories of these women in an exhibit called Brava! Women Make American Theater , which runs through July 3, 2022. Today we’re joined by Dr. Melissa Barton. She’s the Curator of Drama and Prose at the Yale Collection of American Literature, as well as one of the lead creators of the ex...
Apr 25, 2022•28 min
Charlotte Cushman was a fascinating figure in 19th-century American theatre: in addition to being the first female celebrity actress on the American stage, she was also a trailblazer who embraced her identity as a lesbian and made a name for herself in a male-dominated industry. Tana Wojczuk joins us to talk about Cushman, who's the subject of her new biography, "Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America's First Celebrity."
Apr 11, 2022•25 min
Performance has always been a key part of the spiritual life of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One of the most notable Mormon theatrical events of the last few decades have been the pageants that depict stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. However, as Dr. Megan Sanborn Jones discusses in this 2018 interview, the era of pageants may be coming to an end. Even before the covid-19 pandemic made it impossible to safely perform live theatre, Church leadership had decided th...
Apr 04, 2022•25 min
Developing approaches to theatre that fit the needs and experiences of performers of color, particularly Black artists, has long been a pressing concern for the American stage. Actor training has been dominated by Eurocentric approaches based on theorists such as Stanislavsky, which are geared towards a repertoire that’s heavy with White authors such as Shakespeare and Ibsen. In the 20th century, the Black Arts Movement challenged these prevailing influences, offering work that spoke to Black ex...
Mar 28, 2022•26 min
How did "Method" acting come to be? Isaac Butler joins us to talk about the history of this acting style and his book The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act .
Mar 14, 2022•36 min
Stand-up comedy has long been associated with White men. But, as Dr. Rachel Blackburn explains in this episode, there’s a long history of women of color performing stand-up. Today, BIPOC comedians are challenging boundaries and raising new issues in ways that are changing the nature of live comedy.
Mar 07, 2022•37 min
The Yiddish theatre has a long and rich history. But all too often that history focuses on the prominent men who found success on the stage. Now two scholars of Yiddish theatre have launched a new project to correct that historiographical imbalance. It’s called “Women on the Yiddish Stage: Primary Sources,” and it’s part of the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project, which chronicles the history of the Yiddish stage. Amanda Seigel and Dr. Alyssa Quint join us to share their work on the project and give...
Feb 21, 2022•29 min
Playwright August Wilson's legacy has loomed ever larger over American theatre in the years since his death in 2005. In 2020, the University of Pittsburgh announced that it had acquired his archive and would make it accessible to the public. We're joined by Dr. Sandra Shannon and Bil Daw to discuss the new archive and how Wilson continues to influence us today
Feb 14, 2022•24 min
The so-called "Negro Units" of the Federal Theatre Project are often remembered for productions involving White artists such as Orson Welles. But, as Dr. Kate Dossett reveals in her book "Radical Black Theatre in the New Deal," the story of Black artists and audiences in the FTP was a much more complicated one, in which Black actors and writers fought to ensure that they could tell their own stories.
Feb 07, 2022•56 min
The devastation wrought by the covid-19 pandemic has left us all questioning what we should be working towards as we pick up the pieces and try to build a theatre that reflects our changed world, One possible model comes from the past: the Federal Theatre Project, which for a few years in the 1930s offered a national theatre that brought performances to every corner of the country. How might we revive some of the spirit and substance of that project? To answer that question, we’re joined by Dr. ...
Feb 01, 2022•49 min
The Federal Theatre Project was a landmark of American theatre history whose influence has far outlived its brief existence in the 1930s. There’s probably no bigger trove of information about and material pertaining to the FTP than at the Library of Congress, which holds thousands of the programs and fliers printed to accompany its theatrical productions. Archivist Morgen Stevens-Garmon joins us to talk about an exciting new project that will let you read and transcribe them.
Jan 24, 2022•11 min
The connection between theatre and the law is a deep one that goes back thousands of years. Dr. Luke McDonagh has been tracing this connection in the context of British authors such as Shakespeare, and his new book Performing Copyright: Law, Theatre and Authorship looks at how copyright law affects dramatic works in the United Kingdom.
Jan 17, 2022•55 min
If you've been to a Broadway show, you've probably seen the merchandise booth. You may even have bought a t-shirt, or a magnet for your fridge. But where did the Broadway merchandise industry come from? Margaret Hall joins us to talk about her recent Theatermania articles chronicling the rise and development of this unique theatrical industry.
Aug 23, 2021•40 min
We know that over half of the plays produced during Shakespeare's time have since been lost. What might we discover about that era if we knew what those lost plays were about? Dr. Davis McInnis's book "Shakespeare and Lost Plays" explores what we can figure out from the fragmentary evidence that remains.
Aug 16, 2021•45 min
