Recent Essays

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. 

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).

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.   

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.

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. 

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.

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.  

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. 

To make theatre with forced migrants in Serbia, Dmitrii Zenkov knew he had to slow down. He reflects on the ethics of tempo in the slow-motion Phiz-Drama project and offers exercises for others to bring into their own work.