Category: Theatre

Sunday Morning Reading

Here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. From arts in space and on the stage, to booby trapped tombs and age-old pathogens thawing out of the ice, here’s an electic mix of topics that might or might not connect together as we sweat and swelter through the Dog Days of Summer. Enjoy.

Terracottaai

The Lunar Codex is an archive of various forms of creativity including contemporary art, poetry, podcasts, film, images, and other Earth bound cultural artifacts that’s on it’s way to the Moon. Headed up by Samuel Peralta it will travel on several rockets and include works of 30,000 artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers from 157 countries. J.D. Biersdorfer tells us about it in the New York Times.

Back to Earth it seems that archaeologists are afraid to look inside the tomb of China’s first emperor. You know the one guarded by the Terra Cotta army among other things. Apparently it’s not just what might be disturbed by digging or what might be disturbing if they do, but there’s a theory that the place is booby trapped. Sounds very Indiana Jonesish. Tom Hale writes about it in IFLSCIENCE.

The Stage Is Yours according to Natasha MH in this Medium post on Ellemeno. It’s a great piece about arts, artists, dance, theatre, authenticity, and those hidden fears and secrets inside of us all. You know, the ones we choose not to share when we offer ourselves up. Or do we?

The strikes by the actors and writers unions have pointed a spotlight on AI and how that might replace creatives in film, TV and other industries. Studios see financial savings from reduced costs. But maybe they should take a look at Michael Grothaus’ piece in Fast Company as he theorizes that AI might even replace the studios themselves.

In what sounds like science fiction, scientists have woken up a 46,000-year-old roundworm from the Siberian permafrost. Carolyn Y. Johnson in the Washington Post tells us about that. But if tinkering with what many might think should be left alone doesn’t sound John Carpenterish enough for you, we’re also hearing about frozen pathogens that are waking up on their own in cold places that are warming up. (Can you say Climate Change?) Corey J.A. Bradshaw and Giovannie Strona wrote about this in The Conversation and I caught the article from Science Alert.

Ryan Busse is a former gun company exec who is now warning about the dangerous growing radicalization in his former industry. Corey G, Johnson talked to him for this article in ProPublica.

The social media world is certainly in a state of flux given all the damage Elon Musk has done to Twitter and the scramble by others to provide venues that might offer some of what Twitter used to be before it was X-ed out. Craig Grannell has a great piece called X Marks the Rot. Don’t Buy Into Elon Musk’s Lifelong Crusade.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

On Lake Time this weekend so a smaller edition of Sunday Morning Reading to share. 

IMG 2196

First up are two articles about the recent launch of Threads and the continued demise of Twitter. It’s all a bit nuts in the social media-verse. But to be honest, it’s also all a bit fun. Too early to tell how this shakes out. 

First up Taylor Lorenz talks about How Twitter Lost It’s Place As The Global Town Square. Good piece. I’m not a fan of the “global town square” analogy. It’s a clever bit of spin. Nothing more.

Eugene Wei offers a terrffic long read on this whole thing entitled How to Blow Up a Timeline.Highly recommended reading.

And a depressing piece if you’re of the theatre or enjoy the theatre, but it is where we are. Peter Marks takes on the challenging moment many theatres find themselves in currently in Theater Is In Freefall, And The Pandemic Isn’t The Only Thing to Blame.

If you’re interseted in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

And if you’re interested you can find me on Threads here.

Off Axis

“Off Axis” is a description I use when directing plays quite a bit. It’s simple really. It’s when a character does something that’s different than we’ve expected from the character. Or it’s when circumstances change around the character, forcing adjustment to new realities.

Lights orbiting planet earth royalty free illustration 1660241936

Being “off axis” is an uncomfortable state. Which in story telling increases the stakes for drama, comedy, or some combination of both. It’s where you want your stories to live whether on a stage, on a screen, or on a page.

Here in the real world I think we’re getting far too comfortable being “off axis” to be comfortable.

Sunday Morning Reading

As the picture says, I’m on lake time this Sunday morning. So the list of suggested Sunday Morning Reading topics is a shorter one. Here’s hoping you find a little weekend time to chill as well.

OnLakeTime

Theatre and opera director Adele Thomas talks about her beginnings, her art and her career and how artists and the challenges (financial and otherwise) that directors face trying to get a career going. Good interview by Fiona Maddocks.

A great piece from Lisa Melton: My Coming Out Party

A couple of interesting pieces on Artificial Intelligence:

Artificial Stimulated Stupidty by Robert E. Wright and Is AI a Snake That Eats Itself? by Om Malik both reflect some of my thoughts on the topic.

And while the world is watching Orcas attack yachts and other sea-going craft, here’s a piece on The Giant Whale That Terrorized Constantinople.

If you’re interseted in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Creating a Bit of Magic with The Egyptian Bride

Fantastic time last night (and this past weekend) working on a new play in development. The play in question is Fouad Teymour’s Egyptian Bride. It’s been in development for several years and this year The International Voices Project picked it up to present its current iteration in a staged reading. I was asked by Fouad to direct and immediately jumped at the chance.

IMG 1959

We put together a stellar cast featuring Catherine Dildilian, Tina El Gamal, Annalise Raziq, Bassam Abedlfattah, Donaldson Cardenas and Anelga Hajjar. We spent a few rehearsals over the weekend working through the piece and the story. Fouad managed to take advantage of the short period of time and slip in a few re-writes. Last night we presented the reading to a very enthusiastic audience. (The photo above is from the talk back after the reading.)

Based on that response the play has legs. Here’s hoping we can keep those legs moving forward for the next iteration.

Congratulations to all invovled and thanks to Patrizia Acerra, the driving force behind the International Voices Project. Fantastic work, proving once again if you put talented artists in a room with a great story you can create a bit of magic.

Ink Diaries: And the Reviews Start Coming In

The cast did a glorious job at Friday night’s opening of Ink at Playhouse on the Square. They received a well deserved standing ovation. And now we’ve got our first review in from the Memphis Flyer, headlined Murdoch’s Legacy: Fast-Paced Ink Delivers at Circuit Playhouse. 

The Circuit cast is solid and the production smartly executed. It’s entertaining from the get-go and stirs up enough issues to provoke discussions long after the final bows.

P1040603

 

Check it out.