Category: Theater
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the overthrow of existing conditions
I have to admit, I was skeptical of Rivka Solomon and Bobbi Ausubel’s play That Takes Ovaries before I saw it. As a theater director/professor and a feminist, I am not a fan of cultural feminism (that which valorizes women because of their biology). As theater, it tends to titillate audiences without changing the status…
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“Porgy and Bess:” Without the Racism and Sexism?
Cross-posted at MsMagazine.com How should artists approach remounting the classics? Should they respect all of the author’s original intentions and stage a version of the show that reflects them perfectly? Or should they attempt to remove the historical residue often attached to pieces that, however conscious the authors may have been of trying to do…
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the universal and the specific
In January I will be directing a university production of Our Town. Those of you who know my theatrical tastes may well be surprised to hear that I love this play. I love the theatrical device of the narrator, the lack of set, the deliberate use of stereotypes, and the simple and touching story and…
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rehearsal butterflies
I’m getting ready for my first rehearsal for another incarnation of American Medea tonight, and my stomach is full of butterflies. One of my teachers, Anne Bogart, always says that being nervous is a good sign – it means that you’re invested and that the work is meaningful to you. I agree, and for the…
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american medea: coming soon to a black box nowhere near you
This provocative re-imagining of the Medea myth plays out deep in the heart of Texas. When a media circus descends on the rural cow town of Corinth, TX, to cover a gruesome filicide, a community and the country must confront its own expectations and prejudices about motherhood, identity, and gender roles in a post-modern world.…
Holly L. Derr 