Join in on the conversation!

Welcome to our new blog. For posts from 2017 and prior, check out our archives.

A Post-Electric Play

Jan 29, 2018

Dramaturg Ann Marley shares what the world will look like after electricity below! What’s Happening in the MR. BURNS Apocalypse?   POWER OUTAGE The initial problem in this apocalypse is the collapse of the electronic grid. The loss of electricity would see the deaths of thousands. We need electricity for water and can only survive for…

Read More

Creating MR BURNS

Jan 16, 2018

  Hear from Mr. Burns dramaturg Ann Marley on the creation of the show and why playwright Anne Washburn chose The Simpsons. The Civilians, New York based theatre group commissioned Anne Washburn to write Mr. Burns in 2008. They gave her the following prompt- “What pop culture stories of this era would survive a post-apocalyptic society and…

Read More

INTIMATE APPAREL- The Tenderloin

Nov 1, 2017

Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel takes place in 1905 Manhattan and follows Esther Mills as she goes about her business as a personal seamstress. Esther’s clientele lives all over New York City and range from the wealthy, upper class Mrs. Van Buren to Mayme, a prostitute from The Tenderloin. Turn of the century prostitution, however, had two distinct faces: brothels and saloons.   What’s the difference between…

Read More

Lynn Nottage and INTIMATE APPAREL

Oct 27, 2017

​During an interview with journalist Alexis Soloski, Nottage told the story of cleaning out her grandmother’s home. Here she found an old passport photo of her great-grandmother and her two young daughters. All Nottage knew of her great-grandmother was that she had been a seamstress and had married a Barbadian immigrant. Nottage began “searching for…

Read More

Re-imagining GODSPELL with a gender-blind cast

Aug 25, 2017

Hear from our artistic director, Michael Hollinger, about our production of Godspell and the choice to cast a woman in the role of Jesus: Godspell is one of the most widely-produced musicals of the past half century, and many Americans have seen one or more productions of this beloved show.  (This is my fifth!)  Because games, role-play,…

Read More

Our Blogs Have Moved

May 25, 2017

As of the 17-18 Season, we will be posting all of our blogs to our main website, which you an access on our main menu or by clicking here. You can read any of our earlier blogs here!  

Read More