Every other week, the editors of American Theatre curate a free-ranging discussion about the lively arts in our Offscript podcast.
This week, editor-in-chief Rob Weinert-Kendt, associate editor Diep Tran, and editorial assistant Allison Considine discuss our December ’15 issue about science fiction and theatre. Plus we discuss recent casting controversies over university productions of plays by Lloyd Suh and Katori Hall, and catch listeners up with what’s been going on at TCG lately, with its Fall Forum on Governance (where the focus was on engagement and funding strategies), gala, and board meeting.
The board gathering, in fact, gave us a chance to sit down with board member Francine Reynolds, artistic director of New Stage Theatre in Mississippi, the state’s only Equity theatre.
Download the episode here. Subscribe via iTunes or RSS.
This week’s recommendations:
- Gigantic—with book by Randy Blair and Tim Drucker, music by Matthew Roi Berger, and lyrics by Blair—at the Vineyard Theatre, about teens at a weight-loss camp. To quote Rob quoting Donald Trump, it’s gonna be “yuge.”
- Catherine Wheels Theatre Company‘s touring production of White, an interactive show for toddlers. Rob saw it with his sons at the New Victory Theater in NYC and they loved it. Rob also singled out the fearless, easy-to-overlook performances of Daniel Oreskes as a stroke victim in Hir at Playwrights Horizons and Lauren Klein as a dementia-addled grandma in the Roundabout’s The Humans.
- “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” a television show that blends dark comedy, mental disorder, and musical theatre! Don’t believe us? Check out the clip below, featuring cast member/Broadway heartthrob Santino Fontana. Diep implores you to look past the horrible title and watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjWe8KoWFZE