“While some college theatre programs are more rigorous than others, there are definitely tips that can help make the first year both fun and enlightening.”
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“Instead of telling young actors, amateur or otherwise, to get ready for a “real world” that promotes fatphobia, disordered eating behaviors, and shame, it’s time for us to create a new “real world” – one where equity for actors is guaranteed, regardless of size and body type. We can do better.”
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"I’m sick of seeing fat women sing about being fat - because we have so much more to say. I’m sick of seeing fat women defend their fatness or worse -- cry because of it. I’m sick of seeing people love fat women not because of their bodies, but in spite of their bodies."
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“I have to admit, there was a lot more tenderness, depth, and sincerity here than I’d initially anticipated.”
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“Evan makes a really bad, hurtful choice. He takes advantage of other people. Evan also was left by his father, tried to kill himself, and suffers from a mental illness that significantly impacts his life. These facts about him can all exist simultaneously – and they all elicit an emotional response within us. We are forced to live with the dichotomy of Evan’s vulnerability and his deceit.”
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“Positive encouragement and the sense of family in the theatre world should include trans and queer people,” Taylor affirms. “On stage and off.”
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“Elphaba has never been played by a Black woman full time in the United States. A character, who is painted green for the entire production, has almost always been played by a white woman full-time in America. One argument defending this is that theatre should not “be political,” or “politically correct,” and that the role should just go to “the best person.” To this, I ask you – why do you believe that the best person is never Black?”
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“If the performing arts are so good for us, and bring us abundant benefits, why do they also influence us so negatively? How can a space be our absolute safest, and also the source of our distress?”
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“It’s not that a musical can’t ever translate well on screen. Grease, Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Annie, West Side Story, Hello Dolly! – these worked. I also have hope for other upcoming adaptations, such as Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights. In cases like these, the switch in medium makes sense and serves an artistic purpose. For Spelling Bee, it has the potential to do the opposite.”
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"Even even in communities outside of theatre, such as sports or academics, honoring a kid for “participation” is looked upon as frivolous nonsense. If “everybody wins,” then doesn’t nobody win? Doesn’t this create only extrinsic, rather than intrinsic, motivation? My answer is a resounding no.”
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“I can’t think of anything less fun than a Grease prequel – especially one that details the tumultuous, yet still somehow boring relationship between Danny and Sandy. That is because Danny and Sandy’s relationship is the least important aspect of Grease.”
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“The reality is that the theatre community is facing a huge dichotomy in mindset. Some argue that this is a time to be hyper-vigilant and exist in a state of manic productivity. Then, there is the polar opposite view – that we should be doing nothing. What is the point of producing theatre coldly and impersonally, over a computer screen? What is the logic of preparing for auditions that won’t happen? Neither of these views serve us as artists. In fact, they are destroying us.”
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