From the Ground Up

Summary of Season 3:

S03E01: What Ensemble Touring can Learn from Dance

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Founder, Chief Visioning Partner, and MacArthur Genius at Urban Bush Women and I connect to talk about touring, the festival circuit, and strategy necessary to sustain a company for 30 years.

S03E02: Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International

Carlos Uriona and Jennifer Johnson, Co-Artistic Directors at Double Edge Theatre connect with me to discuss how working in rural Massachusetts for over 30 years has enabled them to share content on the world stage.

S03E03: A Living History of Ensemble Theater (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)

Bob Leonard chronicles his work from the People’s Bicentenial Commission and The Road Company through the founding of the Network of Ensemble Theatres and Alternate ROOTS. Together we connect the dots through the middle-wave of ensemble-based theater in the United States.

S03E04: Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary

Producer and Executive Director at Los Angeles Performance Practice, Miranda Wright and I discuss how she’s developed a presenting organization for sharing ambitious collaboratively created work over the last ten years, as well as what she’s learned from some major arts funding research.

S03E05: Philanthropies, Foundations, & Boards (Oh, wow.)

Since the great pause, funders have shifted their giving models. Ben Cameron has seen it from every side – and he tells us all about it. From TED Talks to TCG, we have a lot to learn from his insights into how ensemble fits in a thriving theatre ecosystem.

S03E06: Looking for Another Way

Playwright and Director Karen Malpede joins us to talk about her career and connections from The Open Theatre to Theatre Three Collaborative, as well as her partner George Bartenieff – actor and champion for the avant-garde.

S0307: The City We Make Together: City Council Meeting’s Primer for Participation

Creatives and book authors Mallory Catlett and Aaron Landsman dig into their new book based on their piece City Council Meeting. An exciting piece rooted in a commonplace bureaucratic event which develops dynamic participatory relationships with audiences and local government.

S03E08: SoulWork and Soul Searching

Culture Worker and theatre practitioner Dr. Cristal Chanelle Truscott provides a primer on her SoulWork process, applies it to her present processes, and expands our horizons as artists.

S03E09: Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors

Artistic Director of Belgian theatre company, Ontroerend Goed, Alexander Devrient takes us through their process for imagining and developing participatory content. We also dig into financing art in Europe, the cost of touring internationally and how COVID has affected it, and sustaining family and art simultaneously.

S03E10: Generating Ensemble-Based Work at the National Theatre of London

Stewart Pringle, Senior Dramaturg sheds light on the National Theatre’s Generate program. We discuss the problem with the term “Literary Department”, when to take a risk, and why it’s important that the big fish in the big pond makes the investment in smaller-scale ensemble-based companies.