American Theatre magazine

17/10/2025

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/disney-ishmael-reed-amanuensis-21101123.php

In “The Amanuensis,” the prolific satirist Ishmael Reed takes on dreck from the Disney vault and its equally racist back story.

17/10/2025

17/10/2025

“After leaving the Kennedy Center, I felt that protesting the Trump administration or even sharing my story seemed pointless. Gaza is in a humanitarian crisis, ICE agents are abducting people across America, and D.C. now resembles a military state patrolled by the National Guard—and I want to complain about voluntarily leaving a job? But Trump’s attempt to control artists and educators is about controlling Americans’ access to storytelling, history, even objective truth. We should take this ‘culture war’ seriously. A political takeover of the arts is more than just symbolic; it’s indicative of a very real takeover of American thought and imagination.

Providing new gateways to the arts, supporting marginalized people around D.C., and speaking up will not be easy. It will also require personal sacrifice. By simply writing this essay, I may be putting myself in an even more vulnerable position. But it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. It is my own small contribution to enriching the life of our people, with ‘our people’ including any American who’s willing to listen.” -Nathan Pugh

A former copywriter for the D.C. organization reflects on the tenuous position of arts workers under the Trump administration.

15/10/2025

A number of theatre artists and institutions have signed on to “Fall of Freedom,” a national decentralized, open-sourced initiative against authoritarianism, and are inviting others to join in resistance.

(Photo by Nate Palmer for The New York Times)

15/10/2025

After managing coverage for dozens of Fringe shows, Alaina Johns is proud of the BSR team’s work, proud of Philly artists, and ready to share her top…

15/10/2025

“Part of me hates myself for leaving the job. Isn’t this the coward’s way out? Isn’t this exactly what Trump and Grenell want—for dissenters to leave so they can fill their organizations with yes men? But the Kennedy Center can’t be a ‘reform from within’ situation right now, as much as I’d like it to be. Kennedy Center workers who collaborate with the new management in good faith can still be unceremoniously fired, like the dance programming team was this August. LBJ believed the role of both the arts and government was to ‘enrich the life of our people,’ but Trump and Grenell are making devastating decisions on who ‘our people’ includes. Just as Trump is trying to legally redefine what it means to be ‘American,’ he is also attempting to redefine which Americans can make and see art. Our work as Americans right now, as citizens and artists, is to continually expand the definition of ‘our people.’” -Nathan Pugh

A former copywriter for the D.C. organization reflects on the tenuous position of arts workers under the Trump administration.

15/10/2025

The university’s American Music Theatre Project will debut the Chicago Musical Theater Writers Workshop, offering instruction and support in musical theater writing for local writers and composers.

15/10/2025

Today is your last chance to enjoy our Somos Teatro book sale! Through Wednesday, October 15, we’re offering 50% off must-read titles by amazing Latine playwrights! Use the code HHM50 to unlock savings. https://indiepubs.com/collections/hispanic-heritage-month

14/10/2025

“Hwang’s career has not been about moments so much as it has been about playing the long game: figuring out how not to be crushed by early expectations or shattered by disappointments; learning how to fuel yourself as a fledgling playwright; refilling your tank as a midcareer artist; and tapping your reserves in your later years, always coming up with new incentives to go back to that desk. His consistency and range over the decades offer several valuable lessons in how to have a life as a playwright, and in how to survive as an artist. And if his work is currently attracting a brighter-than-usual spotlight, it isn’t because he has suddenly tailored his obsessions to suit the times but because the times have caught up with the subjects and approaches to which Hwang, following his creative instincts and his political passions, has always been drawn.” - Mark Harris

Long the leading Asian American playwright, he was writing autofictional works about identity politics decades before those were cultural obsessions.