HowlRound Theatre Commons' Podcasts

By David Dower. As folks are gathering in Boston this weekend for the annual TCG Conference , I thought it would be a good idea to check in with the indefatigable Laurie Baskin, TCG's Director of Government & Education Programs. For over fifteen years Laurie has been leading the charge for TCG and its members on the legislative agenda. Laurie takes the time to highlight some of the highest priority hot button issues for theater institutions and artists this election year, including the NEA budget battle, the SOPA/PIPA battle, and the challenge around White Space broadcast frequencies. Oh, and the gathering storm on Capitol Hill around the charitable tax deduction. What I found surprising, and not in a good way, was the degree of engagement with these issues among Laurie's constituents. I make a pledge to do better, myself. Perhaps you will listen and make the same pledge? Listen to weekly podcasts hosted...

By David Dower. As folks are gathering in Boston this weekend for the annual TCG Conference , I thought it would be a good idea to check in with the indefatigable Laurie Baskin, TCG's Director of Government & Education Programs. For over fifteen years Laurie has been leading the charge for TCG and its members on the legislative agenda. Laurie takes the time to highlight some of the highest priority hot button issues for theater institutions and artists this election year, including the NEA budget battle, the SOPA/PIPA battle, and the challenge around White Space broadcast frequencies. Oh, and the gathering storm on Capitol Hill around the charitable tax deduction. What I found surprising, and not in a good way, was the degree of engagement with these issues among Laurie's constituents. I make a pledge to do better, myself. Perhaps you will listen and make the same pledge? Listen to weekly podcasts hosted...

By David Dower, Erik Ehn, Melanie Joseph, Morgan Jenness. Listen to weekly podcasts hosted by David Dower as he interviews theater artists from around the country to highlight #newplay bright spots.

By David Dower. OK, guys. We got a little wild here. I wanted to talk to people involved with the Foundry's This Is How We Do It event which we streamed some weeks back . So it was going to be five people. And I messed up the start time so two of them weren't able to join us. While we were waiting to see if they would join us, the conversation started rolling between Morgan Jenness, Melanie Joseph, and Erik Ehn. So I just started recording it from the middle of it and let them talk to each other. You're going to be coming in at the deep end. I know you can swim—stay with it and let it reveal itself slowly to you. I promise it is worth it! First you hear Melanie restate a question to Erik. Then him responding. Soon Morgan is in the mix as well. And these...

By David Dower. OK, guys. We got a little wild here. I wanted to talk to people involved with the Foundry's This Is How We Do It event which we streamed some weeks back . So it was going to be five people. And I messed up the start time so two of them weren't able to join us. While we were waiting to see if they would join us, the conversation started rolling between Morgan Jenness, Melanie Joseph, and Erik Ehn. So I just started recording it from the middle of it and let them talk to each other. You're going to be coming in at the deep end. I know you can swim—stay with it and let it reveal itself slowly to you. I promise it is worth it! First you hear Melanie restate a question to Erik. Then him responding. Soon Morgan is in the mix as well. And these...

By David Dower, Mark Clayton Southers. Listen to weekly podcasts hosted by David Dower as he interviews theatre artists from around the country to highlight #newplay bright spots.

By David Dower. Today I talk with the very busy Mark Clayton Southers who is both the Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company and the Artistic Director of Theatre Initiatives at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture . Mark is a really good story teller and he spent significant moments in his life in the presence of August Wilson. I loved hearing his stories about Wilson here, but he's a natural "bright spotter" and the call is full of interesting writers and performers who have influenced and his work in Pittsburgh and around the country. This is also a man who has supported most of his career in theater through day jobs-- until recently a long stint in a Pittsburgh steel mill-- and is raising a young family; all the while putting in the time to create and manage these resources and environments for other Pittsburgh theater makers. It's refreshing,...

By David Dower. Today I talk with the very busy Mark Clayton Southers who is both the Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company and the Artistic Director of Theatre Initiatives at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture . Mark is a really good story teller and he spent significant moments in his life in the presence of August Wilson. I loved hearing his stories about Wilson here, but he's a natural "bright spotter" and the call is full of interesting writers and performers who have influenced and his work in Pittsburgh and around the country. This is also a man who has supported most of his career in theater through day jobs-- until recently a long stint in a Pittsburgh steel mill-- and is raising a young family; all the while putting in the time to create and manage these resources and environments for other Pittsburgh theater makers. It's refreshing,...

By David Dower, Tony Taccone. Listen to weekly podcasts hosted by David Dower as he interviews theater artists from around the country to highlight #newplay bright spots.

By David Dower. This week I talk to Tony Taccone, artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre . I've been in conversations with Tony over the last twenty years— he was an early mentor, an artistic neighbor, a producer of my work, and a fellow traveler in the "spirit of inquiry" around the place of theater in the world. It's a joy for me to catch up with him now, as he's on the verge of launching the ambitious new play development program at Berkeley Rep they're calling The Ground Floor . We take a trip around the program, his vision and ambition around it, his sense of how we get to this moment of abundance in relation to the new play world, and the importance of giving the audience the tools to appreciate what we're up to. As usual, some shout outs to his bright spots are sprinkled throughout. Listen to weekly podcasts...

By David Dower. This week I talk to Tony Taccone, artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre . I've been in conversations with Tony over the last twenty years— he was an early mentor, an artistic neighbor, a producer of my work, and a fellow traveler in the "spirit of inquiry" around the place of theater in the world. It's a joy for me to catch up with him now, as he's on the verge of launching the ambitious new play development program at Berkeley Rep they're calling The Ground Floor . We take a trip around the program, his vision and ambition around it, his sense of how we get to this moment of abundance in relation to the new play world, and the importance of giving the audience the tools to appreciate what we're up to. As usual, some shout outs to his bright spots are sprinkled throughout. Listen to weekly podcasts...

By David Dower. This time around I talk with Peter Brosius, Artistic Director of Children's Theatre Company , in Minneapolis. Peter has got to be the prototype for that old energizer-bunny campaign—he is always lit up, banging the drum for big thinking, and just goes and goes and goes. You have to listen to the things he's saying about what CTC does, who they are doing it with and for, and why they are doing it at all. I'm always astonished to be reminded that this is one of the largest theaters in the country, period—over 16,000 subscribers and a staff of more than 100 people. It's a very traditionally modeled big institution. And yet the picture Peter paints of CTC is a very different one than the one we expect, and almost none of that difference seems to be specifically emanating from their focus on young people. In other words, the things...

By David Dower, Peter Brosius. Listen to weekly podcasts hosted by David Dower as he interviews theater artists from around the country to highlight #newplay bright spots.

By David Dower. This time around I talk with Peter Brosius, Artistic Director of Children's Theatre Company , in Minneapolis. Peter has got to be the prototype for that old energizer-bunny campaign—he is always lit up, banging the drum for big thinking, and just goes and goes and goes. You have to listen to the things he's saying about what CTC does, who they are doing it with and for, and why they are doing it at all. I'm always astonished to be reminded that this is one of the largest theaters in the country, period—over 16,000 subscribers and a staff of more than 100 people. It's a very traditionally modeled big institution. And yet the picture Peter paints of CTC is a very different one than the one we expect, and almost none of that difference seems to be specifically emanating from their focus on young people. In other words, the things...

By David Dower. Today I'm talking to Tony Graham, a UK Theater for Young Audiences director who was also recently a Fellow here . I have to admit that I have had very little direct experience with the front edge of this sector and I am just so impressed by the depth of thinking, the complexity of the issues involved, the range of aesthetic and thematic approaches, and frankly the many different ways I am wrong about what I presume the issues to be. Not that I ever thought that the thinking wasn't deep or the issues complex but hearing the ways in which they are diving into the issues, and the trails the thinking is going down is a rush of inspiration for me. I am moved by his discussion of censorship; it's more complex than you think it is if this is not your field. I am inspired by the specifics...