NYCPlaywrights October 8, 2022
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NYCPlaywrights
Oct 8, 2022, 5:12:52 PM10/8/22
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Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
THE 2022 BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE FESTIVAL
Coinciding with LGBTQ+ History Month and National Coming Out Day, Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival will bring together seven teams of TNB2S+ playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, stage managers, and performers (yes, even in roles written for cis folx!) to develop and showcase work created by and for a wide range of voices within the TNB2S+ community.
Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival defines a “TNB2S+ artist” as any artist who does not correspond with the male and female binary and is transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, agender, gender expansive, bigender, gender fluid, or otherwise lives outside of the cisnormative gender binary.
TNB2S+ artists have long been misrepresented and underpaid for their work in the American theatre. Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival is a space for over 100 TNB2S+ artists to reclaim their stories and artistic liberty: all creative decisions will be made exclusively by TNB2S+ artists. Each participant will be compensated equitably for their time and labor, with all wages based upon New York’s living wage of $21.50 an hour.
Each process rehearses over the course of approximately 29 hours, culminating in a public reading presentation the week of October 10 - 16, 2022 at Theatre Row. Located in the heart of the Theatre District on 42nd Street, Theatre Row welcomes over 160,000 patrons each year. https://www.btb-nyc.com
FREE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR OCTOBER 16 - 17 SHOWS
https://bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/breaking-the-binary-theatre-festival/
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Suits and Sage Magazine open for submissions
Looking for plays and monologues 15 page or less: no excerpts
To be published in the November issue of the bimonthly virtual publication
***
The Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) is seeking theatrical works (plays, musicals, and solo performances) for its 21st season to be held in Spring 2023 in New York City.
DUAF supports diverse, new, and emerging voices from America’s burgeoning multicultural landscape. Over 200 playwrights have participated in DUAF and some have gone on to greater success on Broadway and have claimed top prizes such as Pulitizer, Tony, and Obie awards and nominations.
Submission Categories:
Short-length play (under 45 minutes)
Full-length play (not exceeding 70 minutes)
***
Women Playwrights Series (WPS)
Plays presented in the developmental WPS program are finalists in the Susan Glaspell Award Competition, and are under consideration for full production in a subsequent season at the Centenary Stage Company, the professional theatre in residence on the campus of Centenary University. Due to COVID-19, this opportunity may be delayed.
Playwrights selected for the workshop process will receive a $200 honorarium. Additional funds for travel and housing is available for one playwright each season.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** THE LIFE & TIMES OF THEATER CRITICS ***
Modern tradition mandates that theater critics attend a specific performance set aside for press invitations. On and off Broadway, the nights for review are usually a few of the final preview performances, before opening night. As I often explain, opening night is virtually never the production’s first performance; some shows on Broadway run in previews for a month or more before inviting critics. In Washington, owing to the relative brevity of most engagements, the convention varies from company to company, but the “press night” and opening night — a designated evening after only a few previews — often coincide.
Most of the time, the powers that be leave a critic to his or her own devices. But on some rare, misguided occasions, I’m aware of overeager attendees who have somehow managed to secure seats all around me. Guffaws at every punchline and standing ovations that start before the chorus comes on for its curtain call are their tells.
More...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/i-watch-plays-for-a-living-the-most-dramatic-moments-arent-always-onstage/2019/04/17/bce54ed0-5f94-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60_story.html
***
I went to see a play for the second time recently and changed my mind about it. If that sounds like an innocent statement in itself, it is surely a mea culpa for a critic who delivered a damning star-rated judgment the first time around.
Or is it? The production was Ryan Calais Cameron’s For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, which is currently at the Royal Court. I reviewed it in October 2021, when it was first mounted at the New Diorama theatre, and I was unequivocally disappointed. All the more so because I was sure I was going to like it, having been blown away by Cameron’s previous drama, Typical, streamed during lockdown. That play drew on the last day in the life of Christopher Alder, and I was so moved by its story, so exhilarated by its language, that it took me several cups of tea to calm down afterwards.
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/03/theatre-criticism-views-change-and-so-do-plays
***
Making people happy... being a positive influence... that’s the mentality that I brought to the table when I began writing entertainment reviews for Chicago’s Northwest Herald in 2017. I set out to be a champion of the arts. I set out to celebrate the people involved in putting on a show while providing an informational service to the people reading the reviews to see if they want to buy tickets.
Honesty is important. So, I vowed that I would never lie and say a bad production was good or a terrible performer was great. However, that doesn’t mean I need to concentrate so much on flaws.
Sure, there may be some questionable casting or a less than magnificent set. If it needs to be pointed out, I will – but politely.
Actors, directors, set designers, costumers – all the people involved in putting on a play – are just that: people. They have feelings. It is not my job to hurt their feelings. Even criticism can be done in a way that doesn’t emotionally injure anyone.
More...
https://lifeandtimesofrikkileetravolta.wordpress.com/2022/04/25/anatomy-of-a-theatrical-review-does-a-theatre-critic-have-to-criticize/
***
When does criticism become a form of verbal abuse?
MARCO: When the feedback is directed to the person and not about his/her work, then it becomes a form of verbal abuse. The use of offensive language also qualifies as abuse. It is important for directors, theater teachers, and artist managers to give informed comments to help improve the work or challenge the artists to grow, based on their expected output and not because of personal prejudices. Equally important is the actors/artists’ maturity to listen and accept feedback, dissect the motivation behind it, and see it as an opportunity to improve.
TEETIN: When you can clearly see that the intention of the remark is not to help someone improve on something, rather to intentionally inflict pain. More often than not, it tends to be too personal or even below the belt. When you’re a recipient of criticism, you are somehow pointed toward what is expected of you, you get an idea of what you can work on. When you’re a victim of verbal abuse, you don’t really get anything out of it other than trauma. You’re directionless.
More...
https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/01/in-theater-when-does-criticism-become-too-much-to-a-point-that-it-is-verbal-abuse/
***
GREEN
Comedy is more personal than tragedy. I laughed and laughed — no doubt in part because of the performances but also for the very reason you were disappointed: It didn’t try to explain itself. Also, it gave us characters, most of them Black and Latino, without a white filter, which for me was a pleasure and a relief. Also a pleasure and a relief: The characters (spoiler alert) escaped their purgatory. Which is not to say I don’t understand your criticisms; I find them useful because one person can only absorb one idea of a play at a time. I wonder if you feel the same way, or whether it’s just annoying when we disagree?
PHILLIPS
What you say about comedy being more personal is exactly right. I had issues with the allegory to begin with, and because it’s so prevalent, I was looking for other dimensions or nuances to latch onto but was just left with the element of the play — the main element — that I found unappealing.
But I never find our disagreements annoying! At first I found them unsettling. I’m not sure if you still get the anxiety I do — that you’ve missed something that your fellow critics haven’t, and that must be the root of the disagreement, that you’re just wrong. Now I find our disagreements informative. Like with your review of “Clyde’s,” you pointed out the same problems I had with it, but while those issues couldn’t redeem the show for me, for you there was more to it. What’s most important to me there was that we saw the same things and just had different responses.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/theater/live-theater-critics-debate.html
***
It’s a warm Saturday evening sometime in the early 1990s.
I’m standing at the foot of that marble staircase in the lobby of Herberger Theater Center, surrounded by other drama critics: Betty Webb from The Scottsdale Progress, Chris Curcio of The Arizona Republic, the Mesa Tribune’s Max McQueen, Phoenix Gazette columnist Christopher McPherson. It’s intermission, and we’re talking about anything but the first act of the play we’ve just seen – maybe something by August Wilson, or an umpteenth production of Cabaret, or some kicky new musical from Actors Theatre. There’s an unspoken rule among us: We don’t share notes at intermission. We chat instead about the weather, groan about deadlines. We admire one another’s shoes.
Looking back, I wonder: Did we really work as full-time critics? Did people actually care what we had to say?
More...
https://www.phoenixmag.com/2022/07/07/gone-critic-gone/
***
New York Magazine/Vulture Job Posting for a Theater Critic
WHAT YOU'LL DO
• Review approximately 120 to 150 shows a year
• See many more than that, to keep up
• Provide short recommendations of promising productions throughout the year, especially for seasonal previews and the To Do pages of our biweekly print magazine
• Offer suggestions for the Approval Matrix
• Join in planning for any theater-related coverage, both for Vulture and the print magazine
WHO YOU ARE
Although we (obviously) are looking for someone who is passionate about theater, and we expect (also obviously) that many applicants will have written a lot about theater, we don't require that you have been a drama critic! If you are a movies or TV or economics or food writer who is also an enthusiastic theatergoer, let's hear from you. Ditto if you are a playwright or director who cannot keep your opinions to yourself. The only unbreakable requirement is that you live close enough and have enough schedule flexibility (not to mention sitzfleisch) to be in a theater seat 200-plus nights per year.
More...
https://www.showbizjobs.com/jobs/new-york-magazine--theater-critic-new-york-magazine-and-vulture-in-new-york/jid-rze003
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
THE 2022 BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE FESTIVAL
Coinciding with LGBTQ+ History Month and National Coming Out Day, Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival will bring together seven teams of TNB2S+ playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, stage managers, and performers (yes, even in roles written for cis folx!) to develop and showcase work created by and for a wide range of voices within the TNB2S+ community.
Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival defines a “TNB2S+ artist” as any artist who does not correspond with the male and female binary and is transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, agender, gender expansive, bigender, gender fluid, or otherwise lives outside of the cisnormative gender binary.
TNB2S+ artists have long been misrepresented and underpaid for their work in the American theatre. Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival is a space for over 100 TNB2S+ artists to reclaim their stories and artistic liberty: all creative decisions will be made exclusively by TNB2S+ artists. Each participant will be compensated equitably for their time and labor, with all wages based upon New York’s living wage of $21.50 an hour.
Each process rehearses over the course of approximately 29 hours, culminating in a public reading presentation the week of October 10 - 16, 2022 at Theatre Row. Located in the heart of the Theatre District on 42nd Street, Theatre Row welcomes over 160,000 patrons each year. https://www.btb-nyc.com
FREE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR OCTOBER 16 - 17 SHOWS
https://bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/breaking-the-binary-theatre-festival/
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Suits and Sage Magazine open for submissions
Looking for plays and monologues 15 page or less: no excerpts
To be published in the November issue of the bimonthly virtual publication
***
The Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) is seeking theatrical works (plays, musicals, and solo performances) for its 21st season to be held in Spring 2023 in New York City.
DUAF supports diverse, new, and emerging voices from America’s burgeoning multicultural landscape. Over 200 playwrights have participated in DUAF and some have gone on to greater success on Broadway and have claimed top prizes such as Pulitizer, Tony, and Obie awards and nominations.
Submission Categories:
Short-length play (under 45 minutes)
Full-length play (not exceeding 70 minutes)
***
Women Playwrights Series (WPS)
Plays presented in the developmental WPS program are finalists in the Susan Glaspell Award Competition, and are under consideration for full production in a subsequent season at the Centenary Stage Company, the professional theatre in residence on the campus of Centenary University. Due to COVID-19, this opportunity may be delayed.
Playwrights selected for the workshop process will receive a $200 honorarium. Additional funds for travel and housing is available for one playwright each season.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** THE LIFE & TIMES OF THEATER CRITICS ***
Modern tradition mandates that theater critics attend a specific performance set aside for press invitations. On and off Broadway, the nights for review are usually a few of the final preview performances, before opening night. As I often explain, opening night is virtually never the production’s first performance; some shows on Broadway run in previews for a month or more before inviting critics. In Washington, owing to the relative brevity of most engagements, the convention varies from company to company, but the “press night” and opening night — a designated evening after only a few previews — often coincide.
Most of the time, the powers that be leave a critic to his or her own devices. But on some rare, misguided occasions, I’m aware of overeager attendees who have somehow managed to secure seats all around me. Guffaws at every punchline and standing ovations that start before the chorus comes on for its curtain call are their tells.
More...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/i-watch-plays-for-a-living-the-most-dramatic-moments-arent-always-onstage/2019/04/17/bce54ed0-5f94-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60_story.html
***
I went to see a play for the second time recently and changed my mind about it. If that sounds like an innocent statement in itself, it is surely a mea culpa for a critic who delivered a damning star-rated judgment the first time around.
Or is it? The production was Ryan Calais Cameron’s For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, which is currently at the Royal Court. I reviewed it in October 2021, when it was first mounted at the New Diorama theatre, and I was unequivocally disappointed. All the more so because I was sure I was going to like it, having been blown away by Cameron’s previous drama, Typical, streamed during lockdown. That play drew on the last day in the life of Christopher Alder, and I was so moved by its story, so exhilarated by its language, that it took me several cups of tea to calm down afterwards.
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/03/theatre-criticism-views-change-and-so-do-plays
***
Making people happy... being a positive influence... that’s the mentality that I brought to the table when I began writing entertainment reviews for Chicago’s Northwest Herald in 2017. I set out to be a champion of the arts. I set out to celebrate the people involved in putting on a show while providing an informational service to the people reading the reviews to see if they want to buy tickets.
Honesty is important. So, I vowed that I would never lie and say a bad production was good or a terrible performer was great. However, that doesn’t mean I need to concentrate so much on flaws.
Sure, there may be some questionable casting or a less than magnificent set. If it needs to be pointed out, I will – but politely.
Actors, directors, set designers, costumers – all the people involved in putting on a play – are just that: people. They have feelings. It is not my job to hurt their feelings. Even criticism can be done in a way that doesn’t emotionally injure anyone.
More...
https://lifeandtimesofrikkileetravolta.wordpress.com/2022/04/25/anatomy-of-a-theatrical-review-does-a-theatre-critic-have-to-criticize/
***
When does criticism become a form of verbal abuse?
MARCO: When the feedback is directed to the person and not about his/her work, then it becomes a form of verbal abuse. The use of offensive language also qualifies as abuse. It is important for directors, theater teachers, and artist managers to give informed comments to help improve the work or challenge the artists to grow, based on their expected output and not because of personal prejudices. Equally important is the actors/artists’ maturity to listen and accept feedback, dissect the motivation behind it, and see it as an opportunity to improve.
TEETIN: When you can clearly see that the intention of the remark is not to help someone improve on something, rather to intentionally inflict pain. More often than not, it tends to be too personal or even below the belt. When you’re a recipient of criticism, you are somehow pointed toward what is expected of you, you get an idea of what you can work on. When you’re a victim of verbal abuse, you don’t really get anything out of it other than trauma. You’re directionless.
More...
https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/01/in-theater-when-does-criticism-become-too-much-to-a-point-that-it-is-verbal-abuse/
***
GREEN
Comedy is more personal than tragedy. I laughed and laughed — no doubt in part because of the performances but also for the very reason you were disappointed: It didn’t try to explain itself. Also, it gave us characters, most of them Black and Latino, without a white filter, which for me was a pleasure and a relief. Also a pleasure and a relief: The characters (spoiler alert) escaped their purgatory. Which is not to say I don’t understand your criticisms; I find them useful because one person can only absorb one idea of a play at a time. I wonder if you feel the same way, or whether it’s just annoying when we disagree?
PHILLIPS
What you say about comedy being more personal is exactly right. I had issues with the allegory to begin with, and because it’s so prevalent, I was looking for other dimensions or nuances to latch onto but was just left with the element of the play — the main element — that I found unappealing.
But I never find our disagreements annoying! At first I found them unsettling. I’m not sure if you still get the anxiety I do — that you’ve missed something that your fellow critics haven’t, and that must be the root of the disagreement, that you’re just wrong. Now I find our disagreements informative. Like with your review of “Clyde’s,” you pointed out the same problems I had with it, but while those issues couldn’t redeem the show for me, for you there was more to it. What’s most important to me there was that we saw the same things and just had different responses.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/theater/live-theater-critics-debate.html
***
It’s a warm Saturday evening sometime in the early 1990s.
I’m standing at the foot of that marble staircase in the lobby of Herberger Theater Center, surrounded by other drama critics: Betty Webb from The Scottsdale Progress, Chris Curcio of The Arizona Republic, the Mesa Tribune’s Max McQueen, Phoenix Gazette columnist Christopher McPherson. It’s intermission, and we’re talking about anything but the first act of the play we’ve just seen – maybe something by August Wilson, or an umpteenth production of Cabaret, or some kicky new musical from Actors Theatre. There’s an unspoken rule among us: We don’t share notes at intermission. We chat instead about the weather, groan about deadlines. We admire one another’s shoes.
Looking back, I wonder: Did we really work as full-time critics? Did people actually care what we had to say?
More...
https://www.phoenixmag.com/2022/07/07/gone-critic-gone/
***
New York Magazine/Vulture Job Posting for a Theater Critic
WHAT YOU'LL DO
• Review approximately 120 to 150 shows a year
• See many more than that, to keep up
• Provide short recommendations of promising productions throughout the year, especially for seasonal previews and the To Do pages of our biweekly print magazine
• Offer suggestions for the Approval Matrix
• Join in planning for any theater-related coverage, both for Vulture and the print magazine
WHO YOU ARE
Although we (obviously) are looking for someone who is passionate about theater, and we expect (also obviously) that many applicants will have written a lot about theater, we don't require that you have been a drama critic! If you are a movies or TV or economics or food writer who is also an enthusiastic theatergoer, let's hear from you. Ditto if you are a playwright or director who cannot keep your opinions to yourself. The only unbreakable requirement is that you live close enough and have enough schedule flexibility (not to mention sitzfleisch) to be in a theater seat 200-plus nights per year.
More...
https://www.showbizjobs.com/jobs/new-york-magazine--theater-critic-new-york-magazine-and-vulture-in-new-york/jid-rze003
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