The Asterisked 2019-2020 Season: Drama Desk Nominations in the Time of the Virus
[A full listing of the 2019-2020 Drama Desk nominations appears here and here (as PDF) — the product of 11 months of effort, given with love for the art form […]
RDU On Stage: Live Chat with Martha Wade Steketee and Lauren Van Hemert
[Originally posted at RDU On Stage April 12, 2020. Martha Wade Steketee and Lauren Van Hemert in conversation.] My colleague Lauren Van Hemert has an active theater web site and […]
Women Making (Sound) Waves: Reflections From Six Leading Sound Designers
[Full article published in Dramatics Magazine April 6, 2020. By Martha Wade Steketee and Anita Martin.] SOUND DESIGNER Palmer Hefferan has noticed that, when watching a theatrical production, people have a […]
Celebrating Sondheim’s Birthday with Garland and Others and “Songs I Wish I’d Written”
On the occasion of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday a decade ago, I called upon a list of songs published on the occasion of his 70th that he said he wished […]
Women Count V: Women Hired Off-Broadway 2014/15 through 2018/19
[Selection from February 2020 report, published February 26, 2020 on the Women Count report series page.] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WOMEN COUNT V, 2014/15 THROUGH 2018/19 The Women Count report series collects and […]
2019: excavation review themes
My travels this year were limited compared to travel in prior years: several days in Washington DC (where i lived in the late ’90s and early 2000s), ATCA-related trips to […]
2019: excavation review
I lived thousands of hours in roving artistic communities that move from theater to reading room to cabaret venue in the course of 2019. By my rough count, during 2019 […]
Chairs, Tables, and the American Theatre Critics Association
When I was 10 years old in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, I was in a class at Wealthy Street Elementary School comprised of kids selected for their smarts (maybe) and to […]
Calm and Coiled: Musings on the Lolling styles of Hepburn and Garland
Back in 2010 and 2011 I played with a theme, a meme, of “lolling” through two of my favorite film divas Lolling served as a way for me to select among […]
2018: excavation review themes
I squeezed adventures in Norway, Sweden, the wilds of central Wisconsin, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island into 2018, a year of paring, sifting and sorting of involvement on professional boards […]
2018: excavation review
Live and filmed performances, as well as readings of works in progress, filled my days in calendar year 2018. I usually attend solo, and yet often host my spouse or […]
Women Count IV: Women Hired Off-Broadway 2013-14 — 2017-18
[Selection from November 2018 report, published on the Women Count project page.] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WOMEN COUNT IV, 2013-14 THROUGH 2017-18 Since 2014, the Women Count report series collects and publishes analyses of […]
Film Review: A Problematic Stage ‘Funny Girl’ To Appear on Screens World Wide
Funny Girl is a late 20th-century show built on the bones of the singular performer Barbra Streisand. This musical with a grand set list that has moved into the […]
Women Count III: Women Hired Off-Broadway 2010-2017
[Selection from February 2018 report, published May 4, 2018 on the Women Count project page.] Women Count: Women Hired Off-Broadway 2010-2017 by Martha Wade Steketee with Judith Binus February 2018 Third in a report series I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WOMEN COUNT 2010-2017 Whose plays are being done, who is directing them, and how many women are being hired for theatrical off-stage roles […]
When John Lithgow Called, He Said Yes
[Full article published in TDF Stages, January 11, 2018.] How director Daniel Sullivan is helping the actor honor his father Tony-winning director Daniel Sullivan is known for helming complex, multicharacter plays […]
2017: excavation review themes
Simplifying, complicating, simplifying again. This has been a year of expanding and paring involvement on professional boards and projects, resuming old roles and assuming new ones. I continue into 2018 […]
urban excavations 