158. FORWARD
went to wisconsin and all i got was this awesome new play
this week i learned that wisconsin’s state motto is “forward.” i tried three different kinds of cheese curds. i logged upwards of four hundred miles on wisconsin roads. i even got up close and personal with some actual roadkill.
road kills tickets are officially on sale (!!!), which feels a little surreal. i didn’t imagine i’d have the chance to actually spend time in wisconsin before rehearsals began, but sophie’s parents generously offered to fly us for a few days. it’s been such a gift to get to experience the setting of our script firsthand, and i can’t wait to start putting the show on its feet. forward, indeed.
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reading.
i devoured lisa grunwald’s sweeping historical romance time after time in just a few days. i won’t ever look at grand central terminal the same way again.
this deep dive interview with director anne washburn on the state of theater. (yes to the 13p shoutout!) some thought-provoking excerpts below.
this profile of danya taymor, the director behind the extraordinary john proctor is the villain.
this piece reexamining the “taylor’s version” of it all.
this interview in which walton goggins and aimee lou wood finally set rumors of a feud to rest.
this interview with whitney white and the team of macbeth in stride.
this piece on the rise of “verticals” in entertainment made me feel… dispirited, to say the least.
i love the “bills, bills, bills” series from nothing for the group, and i really loved this special edition, featuring the smartest purchase that various artists made in the last year, their number one financial recommendations, and more.
this piece from the new york times featuring the tony nominees talking about the obstacles that shaped them.
this longread from the new yorker on chinese adoptees who were stolen from their birth families.
this piece on the muny, the massive outdoor theater in st. louis that won the regional theater tony award this year.
seeing.
the tony awards. despite the fact that i am a professional director who runs a full-on theater company, the thing about me that most screams “theater kid” is that every year, i watch the tony awards (and make tonys bingo). also, in case you’re curious, i tied for 2nd place in my local tonys pool, having predicted 20 out of 26 categories correctly. some favorite televised performances were dead outlaw (featuring my dear jeb!), gypsy, sunset boulevard, and — seriously, it was really that good — the 10th anniversary reunion performance of hamilton. (you actually do have to watch it if you haven’t already.)
the movie version of jesus christ superstar. somehow, i’d seen the stage show, but not the movie. it is so unbelievably wild. the music goes so hard.
and did i mention i went to wisconsin?
hearing.
the great lisa grunwald sent me this excellent audio recording of sondheim talking about how they created “rose’s turn.”
making.
did i mention… TICKETS ARE ON SALE for road kills! if you read this newsletter, you probably know that good apples collective’s annual show is incredibly important to me. if you’re going to come see one thing of mine, make it this. i’ll love you forever.
i’m also doing a bunch of research for road kills, including reading all (!) of feathers and fur on the turnpike, that seminal classic from 1938 by james raymond simmons, “the patron saint of roadkill.” (the entire book is available to read for free online! the wonders of the internet!) much of the book is taken up with dry lists and charts, but every so often, simmons goes existential. “why do they come to the road?” he muses in chapter five. “why do men go to war?” earlier, simmons on the (death) drive: “collectively we seem to think nothing of annihilating distance, time, wildlife and occasionally ourselves as we step on the gas.” (this book also taught me the word “sessile”!)
watched the archival video for harawi as part of my rehearsal prep. and maybe will have something else cool to announce in the opera sphere soon…
