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A woman with black hair sits at a desk onstage.

Chapter II: The Brotherhood by Carolina Bianchi at the Festival d’Automne in Paris, France. Photo by Mayra Azzi. From "On a Theatrical Pilgrimage to See Carolina Bianchi and Cara de Cavalo's Chapter II: The Brotherhood" by Amanda L. Andrei.

HowlRound Journal

Essay
13 May 2026
A promotional graphic for I Don't Know How They Do It.

This month’s diarist is in rehearsals for a theatre for young audiences (TYA) show and prepping for her next freelance project. The busy work week doesn’t stop her from enjoying a winter festival with her family or hosting a fourteen-person holiday. 

Essay
11 May 2026
A group of people stand on a balcony surrounded by protest signs.

On 12 April 2026, Hungarians voted by overwhelming majority to end authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s reign. Todd London celebrates the theatre kids who helped make that happen and offers ten things we can learn from the 2020 protest movement at the University of Theater and Film Arts (SZFE).

Essay
07 May 2026
A group of people pose for a candid photo.

Martine Dennewald highlights the many artists retrieving ideas from the past to embed them in their artistic practices. She poses ideas that arts programmers need to be carrying forward into the future.   

Essay
06 May 2026
A person in a red suit sings in front of a person playing guitar.

Daniel Alexander Jones draws evidence from the archive as an offering to our current crossroads, sharing insights about story as a means of connection and a matter of consciousness.

Essay
05 May 2026
a person cuddles up to a skeleton in bed.

Shayok Misha Chowdhury shares a story about the creation of their show Rheology, and how that process highlighted the value in making space for the unimaginable to occur. 

Essay
04 May 2026
A person addresses a room on a microphone.

This year’s Under the Radar Symposium featured three keynotes, a dozen provocative presentations, and a generative roundtable session all led by artists. Ashley Malafronte reports on the day’s activities, highlighting the ways artists called participants to center innovation, listening, and care.

Essay
29 April 2026
A group of people dance in front of a screen.

The Apartheid Free Zone (AFZ) campaign is a form of nonviolent action aimed to end complicity with apartheid Israel. In this interview, Theater Workers for a Ceasefire joins representatives of the first three AFZ theatres to discuss the role of theatre in the international struggle for peace and justice. 

Essay
27 April 2026
A set of sheets with projections onstage.

Facing Backlash: Performance in the Age of Reactionary Politics gathered Canadian artists and academics to contend with the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Mariló Núñez and Marlis Schweitzer distill the two-day symposium into ten actions theatremakers can take into their own work.  

Essay
22 April 2026
A promotional graphic for I Don't Know How They Do It.

After moving his family cross-country to be closer to other relatives, this month’s diarist is balancing especially full home and work calendars. His tight schedule has him taking meetings during his young daughter’s naptimes and fitting in marathon training after teaching undergraduates. 

HowlRound Podcasts

Podcast
21 May 2026
A promotional graphic for Kunafa and Shay.

This episode is a deep dive into Golden Thread’s ReOrient Festival and the MENATMA convening, exploring how short plays, artistic experimentation, and community infrastructure shape the evolving landscape of Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian theatre in the United States.

Podcast
19 May 2026
A promotional graphic for Gender Euphoria.

In part two of their discussion on The Trans History Project, host Nicolas Shannon Savard and Bo Fraizer explore how the initiative is building networks for support for the cohort of playwrights and collaborating with theatres across the US to produce trans stories.

Podcast
14 May 2026
A promotional graphic for Kunafa and Shay.

Marina and Nabra explore how Golden Thread Productions amplifies women’s voices and mobilizes global artistic solidarity through What Do the Women Say? and 24 Hours for Palestine, where performance becomes archive, resistance, and collective action.

Podcast
12 May 2026
A promotional graphic for Gender Euphoria

This episode is an interview with Baltimore Center Stage’s artist-in-residence Bo Frazier on the Trans History Project. The conversation covers what the initiative is doing to create counter-narratives in a political moment defined by trans erasure, plus a taste of the first five plays in development. 

Podcast
07 May 2026
A promotional graphic for Kunafa and Shay.

Evren Odcikin joins Marina and Nabra to unpack new play development as a site of cultural translation, experimentation, and refusal, exploring Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian dramaturgies and artistic processes.

Podcast
05 May 2026
A promotional graphic for Gender Euphoria.

Nicolas continues their conversation with Keyshia Pearl and Roney Jones, digging into LOUD Queer Youth Theatre’s youth-led, adult-supported program model and how the ensemble provides long-term community, and artistic and professional development for Black and indigenous trans and queer youth. 

Podcast
30 April 2026
A promotional graphic for Kunafa and Shay.

A decade after landmark convenings, Nabra and Marina revisit the “Middle Eastern American Theatre Artists’ Bill of Rights” and “Dear Producers and Artistic Directors of the American Theatre” (an open letter to producers), asking how these calls for agency and equity continue to shape MENA/SWANA theatre today.

Podcast
28 April 2026
A promotional graphic for Gender Euphoria.

Gender Euphoria: The Podcast returns for season three. Host Nicolas Shannon Savard interviews Miss Keyshia Pearl and Roney Jones of LOUD Queer Youth Theatre about the ensemble’s programming, devising practices, and political education with Black and Indigenous trans and queer youth in New Orleans.

Podcast
23 April 2026
A promotional graphic for Kunafa and Shay.

This episode explores how Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian folklore and performance create joy, belonging, and political imagination for young audiences in Fairytale Players. These plays also address gaps in representation and the urgent need for culturally specific youth theatre.

HowlRound TV

Upcoming Video
01 June 2026
A conversation with Normandy Sherwood event poster.
TORCHES: 30+ Years of Downtown Performance

On 1 June 2026, TORCHES continues with a conversation with the ingenious award-winning writer, director, and designer of costumes, objects and scenery Normandy Sherwood.

Upcoming Video
04 June 2026
book launch event teaser for "Latinidad in Musical Theatre".
Hosted by the Drama Book Shop, New York

Latinidad in Musical Theatre offers an accessible exploration of the substantial contribution of Latine artists, specifically via music, dance, and choreography to American musical, from Carmen Miranda to Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Upcoming Video
08 June 2026
a conversation with susan bernfield event poster.
TORCHES: 30+ Years of Downtown Performance

On 8 June 2026, TORCHES continues with a conversation with Susan Bernfield, a playwright and the artistic director and producer of the award-winning New Georges.

Upcoming Video
08 June 2026
conversation with hungarian theatre artists event poster
Theatre From The Streets, Where Are They Now?

Join New Perspectives Theatre Company’s Gilder-Coigney International Theatre Forum for a live international panel bringing together artists from the second round of Theatre From The Streets. What has changed? What has remained the same? How might shifts in Hungary resonate with artists and activists across the globe?

Upcoming Video
15 June 2026
IETM open session and pitchorama event poster.
Can I Bite the Hand that Feeds Me? Power and Responsibility in Arts Funding

IETM Oulu Plenary Meeting 2026 livestreams the opening session which confronts the power structures embedded in arts funding as well as livestreams the "pitchorama".

Upcoming Video
15 June 2026
event poster for watch me work with suzan lori parks.
A Playwriting Masterclass

Watch Me Work, facilitated by Suzan-Lori Parks, is a virtual communal work session for nurturing creativity. Hosted by the Public Theater, these Zoom and HowlRound livestream sessions are accessible worldwide, allowing participants to join from home, school, or anywhere with internet access.

Video Available
22 May 2026
Stages of Change event poster with four panelists pictures.

A discussion with artists at the intersection of performance, community engagement, and social change.

Video Available
19 May 2026
BIPOC Theatre event poster.
ArtsBoston's Network for Arts Administrators of Color 
With

Join the Network for Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC) and some of Boston’s most talented theatre trailblazers of color for a compelling conversation around the state of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) led theatre.

Video Available
18 May 2026
event poster for world voices with marius von mayenburg germany.
World Voices

Join us for an evening with one of Germany's most celebrated playwrights, dramaturgs, and translators.

HowlRound Recommends

Happy May Day! To celebrate International Workers' Day, we're highlighting some of our favorite pieces from the HowlRound archive that amplify and support the rights of workers worldwide.

Series
Image
Curated by

A series of posts about Los Angeles theatre, the values applied to our art and business choices, and how we collectively address the challenges and the need for change.

Essay
20 June 2018
a group of people

LA arts administrator David Mack explores the topic of labor law, proposing that complying with it will help create and sustain a more equitable theatre community—both in his city and across the country.

Essay
07 February 2019
Workers on strike

Cason Murphy speaks with Jill Stevenson of the American Society for Theatre Research about the last-minute cancellation of their 2018 conference due to a strike held by the union workers from the conference’s hotel venue.

Essay
20 April 2021
The author, Chris Mayers (left), and Rachel Nicks (right) in a hospital scene for the play WAR.

Chris Myers talks about the importance of class politics and makes a case for why artists ought to reckon with it, both as creative people and just plain workers.

Essay
05 February 2024
Chris Myers sits at a table at the East Village Zine fair.

Theatremaker and political educator Chris Myers writes a companion piece to Ife Olujobi’s “$5000.” He explains the structural reasons behind Ife’s struggle to gain more money for playwrights, why this struggle belongs to us all, and the organizing it will take to change it. 

Essay
23 January 2025
A collage of front of house theater staff.

Although theatres depend on front-of-house workers for a smooth audience experience, these employees are often isolated from the rest of the theatre’s staff and subject to mistreatment by patrons. Taylor Hunsberger advocates for organizational changes to promote respect, dignity, and professional development for front of…

Essay
12 March 2025
Three people dressed in pink aprons and hats present a pink vat to someone dressed as a manager on stage.

How do you write a union play that doesn’t end in everyone yelling “Strike!”? Abby Schoering explores one answer to this question offered by Gwen Kingston’s Café Utopia, which engaged Notch Theatre’s community-responsive methods, verbatim interludes, and enough juicery puns to keep the laughs coming.

Video Available
06 May 2024
Poster image for ART/New York panel.
Presented by ART/New York

Notes from the Field: A Frank Conversation on Pay Equity in the American Theatre is the first session in a three-part series on Pay Equity with A.R.T/New York.

Essay
02 September 2021
A black and white image of a flower and a raised fist drawn on a portion of a wooden door with a hinge.

Genevieve Beller and Elsa Hiltner discuss exploitation and abuse in the theatre field, pay equity, how there should always be space for people to learn and move forward in a better way, and more.

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