American Theatre May/June 2019

THOSE WHO LOVE THE THEATRE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO’VE loved it a long time, know that old lost-cause feeling—the sneaking suspicion that they’ve hitched their wagon to the wrong horse and the world is passing them, and their beloved art form, by. At least, speaking for myself, I’ve lived with that sense of shrinking ground—a constant fading of something that was a shining beacon long before, just before, or possibly at the very beginning of my own experience of it—for so long that it’s like an old friend I greet the way Lead Belly once saluted his own métier: Good morning, blues; blues, how do you do? Theatre, after all, is the great invalid, the ever-dying live art, right? It used to be central to the popular culture as well as…

International producer and arts and culture writer Cindy Sibilsky, guest editor of this issue on Japanese theatre, says that while she’s seen engaging work on stages around the world, she was “totally spellbound by the unique and diverse offerings of Japanese theatre today” during her time in Japan working on her two stories (p. 18 and p. 38). She adds, “I have been equally obsessed with theatre and Japanese culture since childhood, but I was utterly blown away upon encountering the richness and diversity of the myriad spectrum of Japanese theatre being performed—all with a penchant for perfection. It became my mission to promote this enthralling theatre scene abroad.” Nobuko Tanaka, who pens this issue’s look at the future of theatre in Japan (p. 24), has been a regular contributor…

Inspirational Inclusion On “Improv So White?” (March ’19): Back when I was writing Something Wonderful Right Away (1978), I commented how few non-white performers there were in improv’s history. (The big and historic exception: The Living Premise in the early ’60s in New York, with a cast of five, three of whom were Black—Godfrey Cambridge, Al Freeman Jr., and Diana Sands. How’s that for an ensemble?) People are often inspired to do what they see other people they identify with doing. Part of what encouraged more women to enter the field was the wave of great improvisationally trained performers on “SNL”—Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and much of the current crew. There are a lot of terrific people who are working who haven’t clocked time…

IN ITS EARLIEST DECADES, THEATRE COMMUnications Group was devoted to nurturing the theatre field, with an initial focus on 20 fledgling U.S. resident companies, helping artistic and managing leaders explore topics like artistry, audience development, subscriptions, professionalizing technical and administrative staffs, joint auditions, and funding sources. By the 1980s the field was growing and branching out to embrace our place in the world, from federal advocacy and activism to a budding international consciousness, stoked by early pioneers such as La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart, George White at the O’Neill Theater Center, the International Theatre Institute, and others. As reported in American Theatre in September 2017, one of the field’s pivotal early relationships to Japanese theatre was through director Tadashi Suzuki. It began in 1978 when Sanford Robbins, a professor of actor…

SEAN DANIELS IS ABOUT TO START HIS DREAM JOB. Growing up in Mesa, Ariz., he and his family were regulars at Arizona Theatre Company. When the job of leading ATC became open earlier last year, Daniels leapt at the chance; he starts there as artistic director this month. His theatre gigs in the interim have ranged from Atlanta’s improv hub Dad’s Garage to Actors Theatre of Louisville and Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, N.Y.; his most recent job was as artistic director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Mass. ROB WEINERT-KENDT: Congrats on the new job, and on going back to your home state. Regarding Merrimack, where was the organization when you got there, and where have you taken it? I was there for four and a half years, and…

80 YEARS AGO (1939) The U.S.government ceases funding for the Federal Theatre Project, essentially ending an initiative that generated employment for countless theatre workers. After testimony before the House of Representatives, dominated by opponents of the program, the year’s appropriations bill for the Works Progress Administration stipulates that no funds can be used “for the operation of any Theatre Project.” 70 YEARS AGO (1949) People’s Drama Inc., one of five theatres to create the Off-Broadway Theatre League in 1950, stages They Shall Not Die, featuring Earl Jones (father of James Earl Jones). It’s the first show since the company, founded in 1947 as the New Theater, changed its name. The short-lived activist troupe is notable for its interracial casts, work by Black and white writers, and its part in introducing…