Author Archives: Jessie Baxter

#StaffChat: Next Theatre (Chicago) Closing

Staff chat posts feature articles and news that the C1 team discusses as part of our weekly all-staff meeting. We’d love to hear your thoughts too — hit us up on Facebook or Twitter!

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On her Bitter Gertrude blog early last month, theatre artist Melissa Hillman’s post “The Most Important Thing in Theatre You’re Not Talking About” brings up an issue in the non-profit world that could use wider attention:

THEATRES ARE CLOSING.

Nonprofit theatres all over the country are in trouble. While larger theatres are doing better than they were during the recession, a jaw-dropping amount of small, indie theatres and even midsize theatres are in trouble.

Her post came on the heels of an announcement from Next Theatre that they would be shutting down mid-season. Hillman gives an interesting perspective to the news reported by Chicago Times and American Theatre Magazine and at this week’s staff meeting, we’ll be looking at a few articles about Next Theatre as a case study for the issues Hillman discusses:

Amy J. Carle and Jerry McKinnon in “Luce,” Next Theatre’s final production after 34 years. (Photo by Michael Brosilow)

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Post-Show chat with THE CHRONICLES OF KALKI team

On Thursday, November 20th, following a performance of THE CHRONICLES OF KALKI, the cast of the show, SHIV director Summer L. Williams, and dramaturgs Ilana Brownstein and Jessie Baxter spoke to the audience about the play and the process of bringing the trilogy to life.

The audience questions ranged from the practical to the abstract – we discussed the logistic of rehearsals and tech for such a complex piece, and everyone shared their thoughts about feeling displaced or outcast themselves and how that impacted their individual process. Stephanie Recio, the actress who played Girl 1, even shared some anecdotes about how her day job working with teens impacted her character work — it turns out she learned a lot from observing her high school students!

Link Roundup! – 1/9/15

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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Mona, 28, narrates during a rehearsal of Antigone. “I feel that Antigone resembles me a lot,” says the former resident of Damascus and mother of two. Photo by Dalia Khamissy for NPR.

NPR has a story about a group of Syrian refugee women who are performing an adaptation of Antigone as a form of healing, incorporating their own experiences into the text.

Mona goes on to say she now feels Antigone with her when she’s cooking and cleaning, even in her dreams. Sometimes she feels brave and defiant like the tragic heroine, even if at other moments — like when she’s harassed on the street by men — she is timorous and silent.

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This Illustrated Guide to Superhero Movies that pass the Bechdel Test is the perfect article for anyone who shares our interest in gender parity and general geekery.

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#LinkRoundup! – 12/26/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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Company One was well represented at last week’s welcome for Julie Burros, Boston’s new chief of arts and culture, hosted by ArtsEmerson. This week, WBUR’s The Artery has a feature about community expectations and hopes for Burros new role.

Julie Burros, fourth from right, with artists at the Susie Smith Gallery (Courtesy of Napolean Jones-Henderson)

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The Artists Against Police Brutality tumblr has a beautiful and varied collection of artistic responses to recent police violence across the US.

New Age of Slavery by Patrick Campbell, 2014

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#LinkRoundup! – 12/12/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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This game is a visual representation of how societies become segregated — try it out and see how bias happens for yourself:

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This quote from Jacqueline Lawton, recently featured on the Art Works Blog, is right up C1’s alley and is always a great reminder about the importance of art as a tool for social change:

I think of art work as social activism. I live as an artist in the world to tell the stories of people who live on the margins. Our work as artists is to evoke emotion and inspire thought, whether it’s a direct call to action or simply seeing the person next to you who you might have ignored before because they are so different from you.

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This article from The Root examines Boston’s recent outpouring of support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It’s an encouraging sign after so many years of racial tension in the city.

Demonstrators chant and hold signs in Boston City Hall Plaza on Dec. 4, 2014.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images

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#LinkRoundup! – 12/5/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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The diversity building initiatives and programs featured in this Boston Globe article called 12 Ideas for Making Boston More Inclusive are varied and certainly worth reading up on — check out number 11 for a nice shout-out to C1!

Scott Bakal for The Boston Globe

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This Love Letter to Dramaturgs, penned by playwright Sarah Ruhl, is a good look at the writer’s perspective during the development process:

We need you to be publicly articulate about our plays when we feel dumb about them, so we can do the more private, blunted and blind task of writing. We need you to be as articulate about unconventional structure as you are about conventional structure. We need you to fight the mania for clarity and help create a mania for beauty instead. We need you to ask: is the play too clear? Is it predictable? Is this play big enough? Is it about something that matters?

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#blacklivesmatter: C1 Artists Respond

Since the Ferguson and Eric Garner grand jury decisions this fall, members of the C1 staff and many of our affiliated artists have found various ways to participate in the #blacklivesmatter movement. Whether by joining the protests happening around the country, responding through their art, or posting their perspectives on social media, artists are making their voices heard in important ways. We’ve collected some of those responses and perspectives here – they are an important reminder that the fight for equality and social justice must continue into the new year, and beyond.

Earlier this month, several local performers, including C1 affiliated artist Obehi Janice, organized the Creative Witness rally. Actor Brandon Green performed the piece below at the rally:

Post by Micah Eglinton-Woods.

Walter Sickert from The Army of Broken Toys, one of our SHOCKHEADED PETER collaborators, posted two images he created on Facebook (click to enlarge):

: NO JUSTICE #FergusonIsEverywhere by Walter Sickert

: “TRUST US” by Walter Sickert

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#LinkRoundup! – 1/2/15

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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Over at NPR’s Code Switch blog, Eric Deggans looks at the how the Sony hack revealed Hollywood’s racial bias and looks at representation in films from 2014:

It is, perhaps, the worst nightmare for those of us constantly trying to get a white-dominated Hollywood to widen its doors of opportunity for people of color: All those executives who say the right things in public and give to the right causes, just might think something much less admirable about diversity behind closed doors.

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Kwanzaa ended yesterday, but you can still take this quiz to find out which Kwanzaa principle you are:

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#StaffChat: Accessibility in Theatre

Staff chat posts feature articles and news that the C1 team discusses as part of our weekly all-staff meeting. We’d love to hear your thoughts too — hit us up on Facebook or Twitter!

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Believe it or not, the C1 team is already gearing up for our upcoming summer show, COLOSSAL by Andrew Hinderaker! To prep for our early conversations about the play, we’ve been looking for resources about accessibility. It’s important for all of us to feel comfortable with the language we’re using as we head into the audition, workshop, and production process for the play. This week, the staff is looking at a few articles and tips for interacting with people with physical disabilities:

One thing that’s key is making sure you’re using person-first language — language that puts the focus on the individual, rather than on a disability. Here’s a helpful chart!

As Zachary Fenell, the author of this article from Huffington Post writes:

No matter the word you use, aim to showcase the person. Ideally a person’s name will always come before his or her condition. So I’m Zachary Fenell, an author with cerebral palsy. Not, an author with cerebral palsy, Zachary Fenell. Introducing name first, condition second will maintain a person-first narrative.

Margaret Keller (l), executive director of Community Access to the Arts, applauds along with teachers and students after a poetry reading in Pittsfield, Mass. last July. CATA provides access to visual and performance arts to people with disabilities

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#LinkRoundup! — 11/21/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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Toni Morrison appeared on an episode of The Colbert Report this week and shared some lovely perspective about why she writes the kind of stories she does:

You know, I thought everything in the world that I wanted to read had been written. And then in my 30s, I wanted something else. I wanted to show how painful this constructed, horrible racism was on the most vulnerable people in the society – girls, black girls, poor girls – and that it really and truly can hurt you, so that’s what I was looking for. And no one, I thought, had written that book. So since I really wanted to read it, I thought I should write it.

You can view the full interview below:

The Colbert Report
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This week, HowlRound is featuring a fabulous series on ensemble theatre, curated by Boston artist Meg Taintor. Continue reading →