Theater
Writers include:
Jacquie Wolf has periodically adds her 2 Cents
Wendy Caster, an award-winning writer living in New York City. Her reviews appear regularly on the blog Show Showdown. Her short plays You Look Just Like Him and The Morning After were performed as part of Estrogenius festivals. Her published works include short
stories, essays, and one book. (2016-2019)
Robert W. Bethune of Ann Arbor, MI, was our regular contributo from 1999- January 2015. He was actively engaged in theatrical production, research, teaching, and criticism for about 25 years.
Guest writers contribute to the Theater pages.
Lifespan of a Fact Jacquie Wolf (October 12, 2022)
The Crossword Play Jacquie Wolf (July 24, 2022)
Black Stories Matter The TMI Project Jacquie Wolf (February 25, 2020)
Flint Jacquie Wolf (October 4, 2019)
Whose Opinion Matters Wendy Caster (August 14, 2019)
Gloria: A Life by Jacquie Wolf (March 16, 2019)
It's 2019! Start the Year Right with Three Unmmisable Shows Justine Bayod Espoz (January 2, 2019)
What We Can Do When We Work Together Wendy Caster (November 14, 2018)
Choreography: Intrinsic or Replaceable? Wendy Caster (July 28, 2018)
Theatre Vs. Theater: Does It Matter? Wendy Caster (July 4, 2018)
What is Theater For? Wendy Caster (May 24, 2018)
The Thing About Revivals Wendy Caster (March 17, 2018)
Cross That River Jacquie Wolf (February 14, 2018)
Let’s Make Sure Their Time Is Up Wendy Caster (January 1, 2018)
Oldish Woman and the Show Wendy Caster (November 16, 2017)
My 2 Cents: Tiny, Beautiful Things Jacquie Wolf (November 16, 2017)
Staring Fear in the Face: Documentary Art and Mortality Justine Bayod Espoz (Nov 1, 2017)
Trust the Author Wendy Caster (July 26, 2017)
My 2 Cents: Shadowland Stages Noises Off Jacquie Wolf (July 4, 2017)
Is Broadway Invulnerable? Wendy Caster (June 17, 2017)
Musicals for a Penny Jacquie Wolf (May 10, 2017)
Musical Theater at The Public, NYC; Gently Down The Stream Jacquie Wolf (May 10, 2017)
Solving Diversity Problems in 1 Hire Wendy Caster (April 6, 2017)
What is Good Acting Wendy Caster (Feb. 8, 2017
Vanishing Point Plays by Justine Bayod Espoz (January 15, 2017)
Ode to Anticipation Wendy Caster ( November 2016)
From Bootleg to Time Machine by Wendy Caster (October 1, 2016)
International Festival vs Fringe Justine Bayod Espoz (Oct 1, 2016)
Streetcar Named Desire revisited by Wendy Caster (Sept 16, 2016)
When Less is More: The 90-Minute PlayWendy Caster (July 2016 online)
Why Do Spoilers Suck? Because Art Is Always New Wendy Caster (Summer 2016)
The Joys of Theatricality Wendy Caster (Spring 2016)
The Tricky Limits of Color-Blind and Gender-Blind Casting Wendy Caster (April 2016 online)
To Stay or Not to Stay- leaving a play during intermission by Wendy Caster (Jan/ Feb 2016)
How to Love Musicals and Still Be Hip by Wendy Caster (Winter 2015)
What I learned Doing Theater by Wendy Caster ( November 2015 online)
The New Audience: How a Culture Evolves by Wendy Caster ( Fall 2015)
Ode to Anticipation Wendy Caster ( November 2016)
Previously published essays all written by Robert W. Bethune:
Being Harrowed by Theater (January online 2015)
Can Theater still do its Job? (Winter 2014)
Threading a Needle (November 2014 online)
No need to Justifying the arts (Oct 2014 online)
The false dichotomy: Performance in straight spoken drama and comedy, musical theater and opera, ballet and modern dance (Fall 2014)
What: Peperangan Bintang? What? Malaysian Puppetry(August 2014)
Senses, skin, and live performance(July 2014)
The anonymous audience (Summer 2014)
Supersize that? Or make it a slider?(May 2014)
When is a play not a play (Spring 2014)
Suppply and Demand: actors payment for performing in national tours of musicals.(February online 2014)
The Performance the Public Never Sees(Oct online 2013)
Unimportant productions matter as they are the talent pool of theater professionals and more(Fall 2013)
Theatre vs Theater (July online 2013)
Why theater matters less than it used to (Summer 2013)
Dream Cast & Dream Production (Spring 2013)
Can Theater be localvore? (January/ February 2013)
Can Theater be Democratic? (November/ December 2012)
Live Theatre vs Cinema (September/ October 2012)
Ira Aldridge and Visual Evidence in Theater History (July/ August 2012)
What do we want from a theater review? (May/ June 2012)
Basic requirements for a theatre production (March/ April 2012)
Big Fish, Small Pond: the dilemma of the theatre professional (Jan/ Feb 2012)
Make money the old-fashioned way: earn it (Nov/ Dec 2011)
Paying attention to the physicality of performers (Sept/ Oct 2011)
Wonderful stuff. Not theater. How to tell the difference (July/ August 2011)
What the heck, I'm already here, how bad can it be?About a theater critic who travels beyond his town to look at plays. (May/ Jun 2011)
It Never Lets up, Does it? Economics of Theatre survival and what Actors can do
(March/ April 2011)
The Mysteries of Theatre "But oh, that Tenth" (Jan/ Feb 2011)
Our Last, Best Hope (Nov/ Dec 2010)
When theater artists don't go to the theater (Sep/ Oct 2010)
A Need for an Old Theater (July/ August 2010)
Would we rather have Live or Memorex (May/ June 2010)
News from around the world leaves us wondering what is Truth (Mar/ Apr 2010)
The Simplest Moments are the Best: Christmas Pagentry & the ancient role of Theatre (Jan/ Feb 2010
Checklist for Directors (Nov/ Dec 2009
Nudity Laid Bare — & that about covers it! (Sept/ Oct 2009
Why Don't Just Shoot the Messenger? (Jul/Aug 2009
Why Don't we do it in the Round? (June 2009
Thoughts on Stage Nudity (May 2009
Self-censorship (Apr 2009
The
Sickness of the Standing O (March
2009
Stiff
Competition (Jan/Feb 2009)
Getting
the Details Right (December
2008
What
is this Theater Thing About? (November
2008
The
Resolute Pretense (October
2008
Aeschylus
and Klytaimnestra(Septrember
2008
Theater
for Truthtellers (July/
August 2008)
We
Could Use a Little More Imagination Around Here (June
2008)
Will
Theatre Go the way of Vaudeville? (May 2008)
Should
the Repertory company Come Back? (April
2008)
Local
Audience Support for Local Professional Theatre (March
2008)
What
Actors want from Directors (January/February
2008)
Honesty
with the Audience (December 2007)
The
Drum One Beats and the One who Beats the Drum (November 2007)
Sometimes
the Work Hurts
Fundamental
Creativity for Theater Companies
What
goes on in the actor's brain?
Windy
City and Wit, or, The Power of Thought (May 2007)
Performance,
Memory and the Aging Actor (April 2007)
The Outraged Actor Needs
to Grow Up (March
2007)
Copyright,
Creative Control, and a Toe Permit (January/February 2007)
Casey
at the Bat (December 2006)
When is an actor not an actor?
Building
Your Audience (September 2006)
The Mask
of the Playwright (July/August
2006)
An Art not made but Done (June 2006)
Talking
Like Real People (May 2006)
Hatred,
Loathing, Fear, Terror, and Getting Reviewed (April 2006)
Acting
Stands on Three Legs (March 2006)
Theater on the Flat Floor (Jan/Feb 2006)
What do we do about Costumes? (December
2005)
Action Words and Speech (November
2005)
Life and Death (October 2005)
Please
Take Your Seats…in Red Bank, NJ (September 2005)
Ancient Wisdom (September 2005)
You Have to Know How it Feels (August,
2005)
Theater on the Brain (July, 2005)
Getting rid of park benches and getting
back to them (June, 2005)
Is There Another Way? (May, 2005)
The Power of Language (April, 2005)
Comedy, Tragedy, Sex and Death - the Key to
it All (March, 2005)
Parallel Imagination (Jan/Feb, 2005)
The Two Things That Have to Happen When You
Translate Drama (Dec, 2004)
Audition Feedback (Nov, 2004)
The Artistic Risk of theNew Play (Oct,
2004)
Are New Plays Risky? (Sept, 2004)
The dysfunctional market (Aug, 2004)
Mooning - A Theatrical Art (Jul, 2004)
Brownian Motion (May, 2004)
Just An Action is Not Enough (Jun,
2004)
Evanescence (Apr, 2004)
Finding the Right Dialect (Mar, 2004)
Giving it What It Needs (Jan/Feb, 2004)
On Politics and Theatre (Dec, 2003)
Staging An Idea (Nov, 2003)
Authenticity Versus Reality (Oct, 2003)
Simple Rules for Playing Strindberg (Sept,
2003)
The Art of the Aside (Aug, 2003)
Wakey-Wakey! It's a Beautiful Day! (Jul,
2003)
Tragedy, Comedy, & Doors (Jun, 2003)
Video & Theatre (May, 2003)
Don't Tell the Actors What to Do! (April, 2003)
The Useless Knowledge of the Actor (March, 2003)
Is This How Adults Behave? (January/February,
2003)
Before the Fourth Wall (December, 2002)
We Are Not Above the World (November,
2002)
Can We Laugh at 9/11? (October, 2002)
Theatricality (September, 2002)
To Translate is to Betray? (August, 2002)
The Secret Mind of the Theatre Artist (July,
2002)
Prepare the Performer, Not the Performance (June, 2002)
Jes' sittin' on the ol' theater front porch (September, 1999)