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 […]
Destruction and Rebirth in Coney Island
[Originally published in TDF Stages, July 17, 2018.] How Superstorm Sandy changed the trajectory of Fire in Dreamland Playwright Rinne Groff is obsessed with the obsessed, whether it’s an inventor’s […]
This Play Wouldn’t Exist Without Her Students
[Full article published in TDF Stages, April 24, 2018.] How Lucy Thurber’s new drama was inspired by a pair of her pupils Obie-winning playwright Lucy Thurber is as interested in talking […]
Can Conservative Values and Progressive Politics Coexist?
[Original published in TDF Stages, March 30, 2018.] Playwright Abby Rosebrock tries to work that out in Dido of Idaho Abby Rosebrock did sketch comedy and worked in academia before becoming a performer-playwright. She […]
Putting the Pageant Cart Before the Plague
[Original published in TDF Stages, February 23, 2018.] Tony-winning designer David Zinn creates a playful medieval world for The Amateurs David Zinn created an underwater extravaganza by designing the sets and […]
How a Tennis Match Changed the Conversation
[Original published in TDF Stages, January 25, 2018.] Balls uses a legendary game to examine gender inequality It’s fitting that a coed creative team decided to theatricalize the 1973 “Battle […]
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 […]
Teaching Manners to Build a Community
[article as originally published in TDF Stages, September 18, 2017.] MCC Theater’s new drama focuses on a one-of-a-kind charm school Northlight Theatre‘s artistic director, BJ Jones, was so taken with a […]
Are You Ready for a Resurrection?
[Original published in TDF Stages, September 13, 2017.] How a multimedia artist is bringing a Long Island family back to life — Alison S. M. Kobayashi has an offbeat hobby. […]
Making More Space for Latinx Artists
[Original published in TDF Stages, May 5, 2017.] The Sol Project returns with a new production — A traumatized doctor named Moisés sits in a washtub filled with pineapples that […]
Finding the Personal in the Political
[Original published in TDF Stages, May 1, 2017.] How one social justice theatre company uses real-life stories to inspire its art — Last summer, Houses on the Moon, a socially focused, […]
Wrestling With the Legacy of a Real-Life Attorney
[article as originally published in TDF Stages, March 1, 2017.] A new play takes on William Kunstler — Playwright Jeffrey Sweet was inspired by a shock of hair and a lanky swagger. […]
2016: excavation review themes
After six annual marathons captured in “what Martha has seen” lists of theater and film adventuring (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), I’ve learned a few things. I’ve learned that […]
Why Does a Play About the Internet Have a Realistic Set?
[article as originally published at TDF Stages, December 13, 2016.] The meaningful space of Tiny Beautiful Things. It might be about strangers communicating on the vast and anonymous internet, but […]
urban excavations 