Talking Theater

Isaac Butler is a writer and theater director, recently of The Trump Card, about the rise of Donald Trump with solo performer Mike Daisey.

Isaac also wrote and directed Real Enemies, which was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and named one of the top ten live events of 2015 by The New York Times.

Along with Dan Kois, he is the co-author of the critically-acclaimed The World Only Spins Forward, a history of Angels in America which was just released this year.

And, most recently, Isaac hosts a new podcast miniseries for Slate called Lend Me Your Ears, about Shakespeare’s plays and our modern views on politics.

Isaac holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Minnesota, and his writing has appeared in the Guardian, Slate, American Theatre, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications.

He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Idris Goodwin is an award-winning playwright, poet, performer, and essayist. This summer, he will become the Producing Artistic Director of StageOne Family Theater in Louisville, KY.

For StageOne, Idris penned American Tales and the widely produced And In This Corner: Cassius Clay. Other plays include: How We Got On, Bars and Measures, The Raid, Hype Man: a break beat play, Blackademics, The Way the Mountain Moved, commissioned as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions Series, and will world premiere this summer, and This Is Modern Art co-written with Kevin Coval (which is getting a Blessed Unrest production in June 2018, in New York City).

Just a few of the accolades Idris has earned include awards from the Hip Hop Theater Festival, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, the Blue Ink Playwriting Award, and the InterAct Theater’s 20/20 Prize.

These Are the Breaks, Idris’s debut collection of essays and poetry, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and his poetry has been featured on HBO, The Discovery Channel, Sesame Street and National Public Radio. 

Ken Urban is a playwright, screenwriter, and musician based in New York.

His plays include Sense of an Ending, The Correspondent, A Future Perfect, The Awake, The Happy Sad, Nibbler, A Guide for the Homesick which recently premiered just a few months ago at the Huntington Theater in Boston, and his newest work, a darkly-comic play called The Remains, which opens in May 2018 at Studio Theatre in Washington D.C.

His work has been produced Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 59E59 Theatres, The Summer Play Festival at The Public, and Studio 42. Ken's work has also been produced in London and at theaters all across the States.

Just a few of Ken’s awards include the Weissberger Playwriting Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Playwriting, and the Dramatist Guild Fellowship.

He is a member playwright at New Dramatists in New York, and an Affiliated Writer at the Playwrights’ Center in my city of Minneapolis. 

And, he’s also an accomplished musician playing with his band Occurrence.

Ken earned his BA with Honors from Bucknell University and his Ph.D. in English Literature from Rutgers. And he is currently the Senior Lecturer at MIT leading the Playwriting track.

Jessica Burr is the artistic director of Blessed Unrest, an ensemble-based experimental theatre company in New York City, co-founded with Matt Opatrny.

In 2011, Jessica received the Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, in recognition of her work as a director and the body of work that Blessed Unrest has created under her leadership.

With Blessed Unrest, just a few of the productions she has directed include Body: Anatomies of Being, Eurydice’s Dream (for which she and Sonia Villani received the 2013 NY Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Choreography/Movement), ArtCamp SexyTime FootBall, 365 Days/365 Plays Festival, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, and The Sworn Virgin and Doruntine (both with Florent Mehmeti of Teatri Oda of Kosovo).

And most recently, The Snow Queen, developed in residency at the New Victory Theater, and now running, Platonov – an adaptation and translation of Chekhov’s play by Laura Wickens.

Jessica talks with Marc about starting Blessed Unrest after traveling and teaching abroad, her study with Anne Bogart, creating a culture of love, support, and trust in the rehearsal room for dangerous things to happen, her commitment to diversity on stage and in the audience, and the need for actors to always work and train!

Dámaso Rodriguez is a Cuban American director based in Portland, Oregon, where he serves as artistic director of Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland's longest-running professional theatre company, which became a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) under his leadership.

Prior to joining Artists Rep, Dámaso served as the associate artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse and co-founder and co-artistic director of the Furious Theatre in Los Angeles.

And upcoming projects include work for Artists Rep, Actors Theater of Louisville and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Dámaso talks with Marc about his decision to leave Los Angeles and take over the leadership of Artists Rep, how he chooses a season for his audiences, his commitment to diversity and an Equity Diversity Inclusion Statement, and lots of details about his directing process and working with actors!

Julia Sirna-Frest is an actor and singer based in New York.

She was most recently seen as Margit in Seder at Hartford Stage.  

And in the title role of: [Porto] which played at The Bushwick Starr last year where it was an NYT Critics Pick and The Times review said it was quote: “an excellent cast led by the wonderful Ms. Sirna-Frest”

 Porto makes its Off-Broadway premiere at the WP Theater. 

Other productions include: A Tunnel Year (The Chocolate Factory), and The Offending Gesture  (The Connelly); 

 Julia is also a Founding member of the Obie award-winning Half Straddle Company, where just a few of her shows include: Ghost Rings, Ancient Lives; Seagull (Thinking of you), and In the Pony Palace Football.

Julia also fronts Doll Parts, Brooklyn's premiere Dolly Parton cover band, and composes music with Shane Chapman for productions such as Welcome to the Gun Show (Ars Nova) and IceBand (HERE Arts Center).

Julia talks with Marc about creating wild, inventive theater, devising works by composing rock music with the dialogue of playwrights like O'Neill and Chekhov, her upcoming Broadway run of [Porto], audition stories, and gaining more control over her career by creating many artistic outlets - like her Dolly Parton cover band!

Jose Solís, as a theater critic, has been writing about film and theater since 2003, and his work has appeared in major film and theater publications including (links are reviews or articles): The New York Times, American Theatre, and Backstage. 

 Jose is a member of the Drama Desk, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and the Online Film Critics Society.

Jose is putting together a panel called Being a Critic of Color for BroadwayCon 2018.

 And, when he's not at a show, a screening or writing about all the art he loves, you can find him singing along to any cast recording featuring Kelli O'Hara.

Jose talks with Marc about his passion for all theater and the arts, the distinction between a review versus an interpretation, racial disparity on stage and in theater criticism, and his newest projects to address inclusion and diversity among theater critics.

Jamil Jude is a director, producer, playwright, and dramaturg. Self-identifying as an "Artist Plus", Jamil feels most at home bringing socially relevant art to the community.

Jamil is the Associate Artistic Director at Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta, GA as well as the Co-Founder of The New Griots Festival.

He was a participant in the Leadership U: One-on-One program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group. The program provided him a residency at  Park Square Theatre, in St. Paul, MN, where he worked as Artistic Programming Associate.

Prior to that, he served as the National New Play Network (NNPN) Producer-in-Residence at Mixed Blood Theatre Company.

Jamil has helmed productions for companies such as the Olney Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Curious Theatre, as well as various Twin Cities’ theatre companies, including Park Square Theatre, History Theatre, Freshwater Theatre, Stages Theatre Company, and Daleko Arts.

Jamil's next directing project is KING HEDLEY II at True Colors, running 2/13 through 3/11/2018.

Jamil talks with Marc about sharing the African Diaspora experience through his work, his new role with True Colors Theatre, his vision for 21st century theater with more community conversations around the art, his deep appreciation for the plays of August Wilson, and his desire and hope for more diversity and opportunities for people of color in theater communities.

Brendan Hines is a versatile actor and singer-songwriter. He currently stars in Amazon's The Tick as Superian.  The show is based on Ben Edlund's comic book of the same name, with new episodes in February 2018.

Brendan is also performing Histrionics, a one-man show at New York's Theater for the New City through mid-December of this year.

Brendan has also appeared in fan-favorite shows including Suits, Scandal, and Lie To Me, as well as a number of other films and television shows. 

Recently on stage, Brendan played Pip and Theo in the South Coast Repertory production of Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain. 

Outside of acting, Brendan focuses on his music career. He released his third album, QUALMS, in October, offering a lyrically urgent collection of songs written in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Brendan shares with Marc about acting in a one-man show, the latest about Season One of The Tick, his music career, auditioning in Los Angeles, and building a career as an actor.

Rachel Grossman is the Ensemble Director and a co-founder of dog & pony dc where audience integration is their guiding artistic principle.

She is also a theater artist and engagement strategist. She likes to explore the triangulation between art, artist, and audience.

Rachel is a member of HowlRound’s National Advisory Committee and is a regular presenter with National Arts Market Project on audience engagement and empowering staff to serve as change-agents.

Rachel is responsible for launching Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s “connectivity” initiative and served as the first Connectivity Director.

She has also facilitated sessions and workshops at Theatre Communications Group conferences, as well as the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. She is a two-time recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities’ Artist Fellowship grant.

And, quite importantly, Rachel likes such as beets, brussels sprouts, bourbon, infographics, action movies, and well-facilitated discussions.

Rachel shares with Marc about dog & pony dc, the process and steps of devising new work, audience integration, her work with the deaf and hard of hearing community, and her commitment to diversity as a tool and inclusivity as a practice.