Jessica Stone: Ready for a Long Conversation at La Jolla Playhouse
For this actor-turned-director, the job of running one of the U.S.’s biggest nonprofit theatres is less about finding an artistic home for herself than making a home for others.
Stories by Rob Weinert-Kendt
Rob Weinert-Kendt is editor-in-chief of American Theatre. He was the founding editor-in-chief of Back Stage West and writes about theatre for the New York Times, Time Out NY, and the Los Angeles Times. He studied film at USC and is a composer member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
Tough Love and Liberation
In our Spring issue, we look at some long-standing structural and systemic challenges facing the regional theatre movement—and celebrate the luminous new work still being made in spite of them.
Books in New Editions in ‘Flower Drum Song’ and ‘Brigadoon’
How David Henry Hwang and Alexandra Silber seek to honor 2 classic musicals’ intentions while keeping them fresh.
‘Schmigadoon’s Secret Sauce: The Sincerity Is in the Sound
The show’s creator, Cinco Paul, explains how his score pays cock-eyed tribute to the mid-century American musical.
Chekhov Unhinged, ‘Cats’ Unleashed
How 2 Russian directors and 1 American one are making Chekhov’s work speak to the moment, and how a seasoned community-based theatremaker is having a ball on Broadway.
Sorry-Grateful: 2 New Books Show the Many Sides of Sondheim
Daniel Okrent’s biography seeks the composer/lyricist’s motivation and finds complication and nuance, while Barry Joseph’s book asks what Sondheim’s games and puzzles can tell us about him.
Terrence McNally’s Name to Grace NYC’s Rattlestick Theater
The renaming accompanies a renovation of the 99-seat Off-Broadway venue in the heart of the West Village.
Loop Dreams: The Long Journey of ‘Mexodus’
How Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson’s historical musical went from concept album to crackling live show to audio play with a timely tale of migrant and fugitive solidarity.
Gonna Sing It Again: The Art of Musician-Actors, in Hades and Above
What The Bengsons’ ‘My Joy Is Heavy’ and a new ‘Hadestown’ cast featuring Gaby Moreno have in common.
Ro Reddick, Hannah Doran Both Win Blackburn Prize
The time the judges honored both Reddick’s surreal ‘Cold War Choir Practice’ and Doran’s gritty ‘The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights.’
